Who is the favourite to win the UCL after the draw tonight?
Qualifying is done and the 36-club field is locked in for the 2026/27 Champions League. PSG head into the new campaign as back-to-back winners chasing an unprecedented three-peat, having edged Arsenal on penalties in May's Budapest final. England and Spain both send five representatives this season, with heavyweights like Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético all back for another crack at Europe's biggest prize. With the field now set and matches getting underway in September, here's where the outright market stands - and which of the leading contenders have the strongest case to finally dethrone the French champions.
Champions League Odds
Who is the favourite to win the Champions League?
PSG (5/1) are the clear market leaders. Luis Enrique's side have won the last two finals outright - a 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan followed by a penalty shootout win over Arsenal - and that run makes them the first club to go back-to-back since Real Madrid's treble between 2016 and 2018. Only Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich have ever managed a genuine three-peat in this competition's history, which tells you exactly how hard PSG's target actually is. Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha and João Neves give them arguably the most complete squad in Europe on paper.
Arsenal (13/2) go into the season as reigning Premier League champions for the first time since 2004, and last May they were 90 minutes and a shootout away from the double. Their case rests on squad depth that genuinely has no equal in England right now - Rice, Zubimendi, Ødegaard, Eze and a newly arrived Bruno Guimarães are all fighting for two midfield spots, which is the kind of problem most Champions League squads would love to have. The concern is what happens in the moments that actually decide these ties: Arsenal's cutting edge deserted them in last term's final, and question marks over their front-line efficiency in the biggest games haven't gone away just because the trophy cabinet has a new addition in it.
Barcelona (13/2) carry maybe the most compelling redemption story of the four. This is a club that hasn't lifted this trophy since 2015 and went out at the quarter-final stage of both the Champions League and Copa del Rey last season - to Atlético Madrid. Hansi Flick's response has been to build the squad around Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Raphinha with fresh reinforcements added up front, and there are eight World Cup winners in the squad following Spain's triumph over the summer. The concern for backers is defensive cover: beyond Pau Cubarsí and Éric García, Barça's centre-back options thin out fast, and a campaign this long tends to find exactly that kind of gap.
Bayern Munich (13/2) enter as arguably the form team of the four. Vincent Kompany's side scored 122 goals last season, went unbeaten for long stretches, and lifted both the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with room to spare - Bayern have now topped their domestic league in 13 of the last 14 campaigns. They also reached last season's semi-final, losing only to eventual champions PSG. The recurring issue is a tactical one rather than a talent one: Bayern have repeatedly struggled to break down disciplined, counter-attacking opposition in Europe, and until that's solved in a knockout tie that actually matters, their price will keep carrying an asterisk regardless of how many goals they rack up domestically.
