Football’s biggest club competition gets underway on Tuesday afternoon, and there are some great matches to look forward to straight away, while last year's runners-up Arsenal look at a very reasonable price to go on and win the whole thing for the first time in their history.
Best Champions League Betting Tips
- Arsenal to win the Champions League
- Porto on the Double Chance market against Manchester City
- Liverpool to beat Atletico Madrid + Over 2.5 goals
Champions League Winner Odds
PSG, who have won it in the last two seasons, are 6.0 favourites for a three-peat. The team they beat in last season’s final, Arsenal, are the next shortest in the betting at 7.0, the same price as last year’s La Liga winners Barcelona, who exited the Champions League last year at the quarter-final stage.
At a slightly bigger 7.5, you can take your pick from Real Madrid or another side who know what it takes to win this: six-time winners (to go with a further five finals) Bayern Munich, whose main man Harry Kane was our pick for top scorer.
English trio Manchester City (10.00), Liverpool (13) and Manchester United (21) are next, with Atletico at 34.0.
Winner market tip
Arsenal (7.0) came as close as you can without winning it last year- losing on penalties to PSG- will have learnt from the experience, strengthened their squad in key areas and have won all their four matches so far, including beating Manchester City in the Community Shield and Chelsea in the league on Sunday.
The extra numbers in their squad will mean they’ll be able to rotate better and have arguably the best defence in Europe, so they have all the tools to go one better this year.
The Best Matches of Week 1
One of the nice things about the change in format to a one-group preliminary phase is that every week throws up some truly intriguing matches, and that’s certainly the case in the opening week.
The Pick of Tuesday’s Games
On Tuesday, record 15-time winners (including wins in the European Cup in the pre-Champions League era) Real Madrid start as 1.62 favourites against Inter Milan in Madrid, who have won the competition three times themselves. To add to the intrigue, when they last won it in 2010, it was under Jose Mourinho, who is now Real's manager. Inter are 5.0 and the draw 4.4.
Mourinho’s influence is everywhere because another intriguing tie on Tuesday – Porto v Manchester City – features two sides who have both won the trophy in the Champions League era. And who managed Porto when they won it in 2004? Yes, Mourinho. Porto are 4.6 to beat a City side who won it in 2023, while City are 1.7, and the draw is 4.1.
Two Big Games on Wednesday
On Wednesday, it’s Liverpool v Atletico Madrid. Liverpool are no strangers to success in this competition themselves, with six wins in it, and though Atletico have never won it, they’ve made three finals, so they know what it takes to go deep in this tournament. There may be some business for Atletico on the Double Chance market at 2.1 while over 2.5 goals looks to be on the cards, albeit at just 1.6.
At the same time as that one, there’s Napoli v Arsenal where the Gunners are short 1.75 favourites away from home, but then again, they made the final last year and have a 100% domestic winning record so far this season, so you can see why they’re that sort of price.
Best Bets for Week 1 of Champions League
Porto started the season very strongly with five wins in the Superliga, four of them without conceding. While City have also been winning over in the Premier League, it hasn’t been easy, and they’ve either conceded or had keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to thank for some fine saves to allow them to keep on winning. At home and remembering this fixture ended 0-0 a couple of years ago, Porto look a good price at 2.1 on the Double Chance market.
Atletico Madrid have had a mixed start to their season with two wins, a draw and a loss and may find Liverpool at home too hot to handle in a match that promises to have goals. Liverpool beat Atleti in each of the last three, 3-2, 2-0 and 3-2, so another win with over 2.5 goals in it looks a good prospect at 2.4.
UEFA Champions League 2026/7 Overview
The 2026-7 Champions League season starts on Tuesday, September 8, with six matches, followed by another six on Wednesday and the last six of the round on Thursday, an innovation whereby every week’s matches are now played across three days rather than two.
In total, each of the 32 teams plays eight Group Stage matches, four at home, four away.
At the end of the Group Stage, the Top 8 progress automatically to the Last 16, while those finishing between ninth and 24th contest a play-off round, with those progressing from the Play-Off Round joining the Top 8 in the Last 16.
After that, it’s the usual knock-out system all the way to the final; teams dropping out of the Champions League no longer ‘fall’ into the Europa League as a consolation prize.
