UEFA rule bars Liverpool from hosting Real Madrid in 2026-27 Champions League league phase
Liverpool cannot be drawn to host Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League 2026-27 league phase, UEFA has confirmed ahead of the competition draw in Monaco on Thursday, August 27. The ruling removes the possibility of another Anfield meeting between the two clubs during the league phase before the draw even takes place.
The Champions League league phase draw is scheduled for Monaco on Thursday, August 27, when clubs will learn their group-stage fixtures. UEFA introduced new draw conditions that preclude certain matchups from being assigned with the same home team multiple seasons running. One of the specific restrictions applies to a Liverpool home tie with Real Madrid, which UEFA will not allow in the 2026-27 league phase.
The restriction is grounded in the Champions League regulations under paragraph 16.03, which state that UEFA can introduce “alternative conditions” to “avoid deadlock situations.” The published rule adds: “The UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined… that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons,” the rule said. The regulation further explains: “This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season.”
Liverpool hosted Real Madrid at Anfield in the league phase in both 2024-25 and 2025-26. In 2024-25 the Merseyside club won 2-0, with Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo scoring for the hosts, and last season Mac Allister scored the winner in a 1-0 victory.
Because those two Anfield fixtures occurred in consecutive seasons, UEFA regulations bar the same fixture being scheduled at the same venue for a third straight season, which is why organisers will not permit Liverpool to be drawn at home to Real Madrid in 2026-27. The organisers have applied that condition specifically to prevent a repeat Anfield meeting.
There is no corresponding prohibition on the reverse fixture: the draw can still produce a Liverpool versus Real Madrid match to be played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid if the two clubs are paired. That possibility remains open under the regulations cited by UEFA.
Liverpool are therefore unbeaten in their last two home meetings with Real Madrid, winning 2-0 in 2024-25 and 1-0 in 2025-26, with Alexis Mac Allister scoring in both matches. The upcoming draw in Monaco on Thursday, August 27 will determine whether the clubs are paired again and, if so, the fixture would not be held at Anfield under the stated UEFA rule.
