NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Record 15-time European champion Real Madrid will start the league phase of the Champions League on Sept. 8 when it hosts Inter Milan.
Match dates for each of the 36 teams' eight-game schedules were published Saturday by UEFA, two days after the draw in Monaco.
In two early starts on the opening day, Club Brugge will host Aston Villa and AEK Athens will welcome LASK, the newcomer from Austria. Both games will kick off at 6:45 p.m. (1645 GMT).
One day later, defending champion Paris Saint-Germain will host Slovan Bratislava — coached by Yaya Touré, the first African leading a team at the league phase — and Liverpool will host Atletico Madrid, a repeat of their opening game last season. That was a 3-2 win for Liverpool at Anfield.
Debut-making Sabah of Azerbaijan will start at Manchester United on Sept. 10, the same day Como hosts Leipzig and Bayern Munich welcomes Bodø/Glimt.
Manchester City hosting PSG on Oct. 14 is a highlight of the second round of games played more than one month later, after the new and extended four-game slate for national teams.
PSG will then face Barcelona at Parc des Princes on Oct. 20, one day before Bayern Munich hosts Arsenal.
Barcelona’s next trip will then be a long way east to play Sabah in Baku on Nov. 25, before the Spanish champion hosts Man City on Dec. 8.
Arsenal will host Real Madrid on Dec. 9 for the first of coach Jose Mourinho's scheduled two visits to London.
Madrid will return on the final match day, Jan. 27, to face Shakhtar Donetsk at Chelsea, where Mourinho won three Premier League titles for the club's Russian then-owner Roman Abramovich. Stamford Bridge is the Ukrainian champion’s choice of neutral venue for its four home games.
The two Norwegian teams each must have a home game in January, during their domestic offseason when the weather should be most severe, and both will be in the seventh round.
Bodø/Glimt will welcome host Atletico Madrid to the Arctic Circle at its tiny stadium on Jan. 19 and Viking will welcome PSV Eindhoven to Stavanger one day later.
The final round on Jan. 27 sees all 18 games start at the same time, when it’s 9 p.m. in central Europe, and Barcelona will host newcomer Como coached by its former star Cesc Fabregas.
Como gets the toughest January run-in after hosting PSG one week earlier.
PSG will finish by hosting Galatasaray, Arsenal will host Sabah and Bayern will host Real Betis.
The top eight teams in the final standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams placed ninth to 24th enter the knockout playoffs in February to decide the other eight teams in the round of 16. Teams placed 25th to 36th are eliminated.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Manchester City's Erling Haaland applauds the fans at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City in London, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring during the La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Voters in Iceland went to the polls Saturday to decide whether the country should resume long-stalled negotiations to become a member of the European Union, in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to control nearby Greenland.
The yes-or-no referendum question is simple enough for the 265,000 or so eligible voters: Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?
A yes vote would trigger negotiations with the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, covering 35 areas, from the economy to human rights. Some supporters believe the European Union could offer protections if Trump ever made similar threats against Iceland. They also see economic stability in joining the bloc.
If voters reject the proposal, that’s it, for a generation at least. Opponents have rallied around the threat EU membership would pose to Iceland’s rich fishing stocks and the fact that Iceland already reaps benefits from being in the EU’s frictionless single market and the Schengen free-travel zone.
Experts expect a close vote.
More than 20% of voters cast early ballots in advance of election day, Iceland’s national broadcaster RÚV said.
When Trump talked about U.S. control of Greenland, particularly at the start of this year, he shifted the mood in Iceland, just 180 miles (290 km) from the self-governing territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally. Some Icelanders were particularly alarmed when he mistakenly named their country four times while speaking about his designs on Greenland.
Though Trump has indicated he won't use force to seize Greenland, his interest doesn't appear to have cooled.
The underlying worry among many in Iceland is clear — if Greenland is seized, is Iceland next?
The ensuing question is clear too: if yes, does EU membership provide a bulwark against any new Trump ambition in the North Atlantic?
Iceland’s left-leaning coalition government, elected in 2024, certainly thinks so, and that’s largely why it moved forward with the EU referendum that it had planned for next year.
“We can’t really trust the U.S. anymore,” said Hildur Knútsdóttir, a horror fiction writer who plans to vote in favor of EU membership.
EU talk is nothing new in Iceland, which formally ended its previous effort to join the bloc in 2015, largely over concerns of what membership would mean for its rich fish resources.
The hefty cod and haddock catches from the chilled Arctic waters around Iceland are central to the national identity too. Descendants of Vikings who settled in Iceland have lived off the sea for centuries.
With much of the country's economy geared toward its lucrative and well-managed fishing industry, fishing rights have been a talking point in the run-up to the referendum.
Joining the 27-nation EU would require Iceland to be part of the bloc’s common fisheries policy that would allow Spanish, Dutch and other trawlers into its waters. The government has indicated it would seek a special arrangement, potentially a full opt-out from the policy.
In the final days ahead of the vote, Iceland’s prime minister, Kristrún Frostadóttir, has sought to remind voters that the referendum is not the end of the matter, and that there will be another referendum if and when Iceland reaches a membership agreement with the EU.
“This is not an election about membership and not about adaptation, as there will be another referendum on an accession agreement if the result is yes,” Frostadóttir told a rally.
For many, Iceland's national identity and ultimately its culture is on the ballot too.
Iceland, which gained independence from Denmark in 1944, has a proud history of refusing to be pushed around by bigger and richer European nations. It even fought — and won — the so-called Cod Wars with Britain in the 1970s over its fishing grounds.
Backers of EU membership say it’s best for Iceland to get closer to its European neighbors to combat issues that don't respect borders, such as climate change. They also say the euro would bring more stability than Iceland's volatile króna currency.
Opponents say the current setup is just right and that Iceland already enjoys all the benefits of European integration without the sovereignty compromises that inevitably come with full membership. They cite trade deals, such as one with China, that are more favorable.
“I think Iceland is better off outside of the EU, within the close collaboration with the EU,” former prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, told The Associated Press.
Melley reported from London. Pan Pylas contributed to this story.
Former Icelandic Prime Minister and former Left-Green Movement leader Katrín Jakobsdóttir reacts at an "Afram Island," "Forward, Iceland" rally opposing the resumption of European Union accession talks at Austurvollur in Reykjavik, Iceland, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
People hold a banner reading "No" as they listen to speakers at an "Afram Island," "Forward, Iceland," rally opposing the resumption of European Union accession talks at Austurvollur in Reykjavik, Iceland, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir speaks at a public event about a referendum on whether to resume accession negotiations with the European Union in Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdottir, center, sits among the participants at a public event about a referendum on whether to resume accession negotiations with the European Union in Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
People gather for an "Afram Island," "Forward, Iceland," rally opposing the resumption of European Union accession talks at Austurvollur in Reykjavik, Iceland, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
