Who should Chelsea fans support in the Champions League this season?

September 7, 2026
by Aaron Mateer

This week sees the return of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) - Europe’s elite, men’s tournament. Chelsea failed to qualify last season after a 10th-placed finish, but that doesn’t mean you have to skip out on the fun. So, who should Chelsea fans support this season?

To the initiated, it goes without saying that Arsenal, City, United, and Liverpool are all easy No’s.

• Arsenal: London rivals, and they can never win it to preserve our bragging rights.

• City: recent drama with the two Enzos (Maresca and Fernandez).

• United: the 2008 final still stings.

• Liverpool: too many reasons, but most of them centering on the 2005-2010 period when they knocked us out multiple times.

Out of the English teams in it, that leaves Aston Villa.

Aston Villa

Villa are a decent shout for a team to support in the UCL because they’re English, they’ve got a solid manager, and they did us major favors taking Garnacho and Jackson, and selling us Rogers and Martinez. Last time they were in the competition they beat giants Bayern Munich. Though they're rebuilding after a large number of exits, expect the current Europa League holders to go deep in the tournament.

Group Stage Matches: Club Brugge, Fenerbahçe, Viking, Barcelona, Galatasaray, PSG, Dortmund, Slavia Praha

Odds: +4000

Barcelona

I asked ChatGPT who it would suggest, and it suggested Barcelona. Similarly to Liverpool, Barcelona caused Chelsea a lot of heartbreak in the 2000’s. Personally, I couldn’t bring myself to cheer for Barcelona, but if you can stomach them the Spanish champions are one of the favorites this year.

Group Stage Matches: Feyenoord, Galatasaray, PSG, Aston Villa, Sabah, Man City, Sporting, Como

Odds: +550

Real Madrid

I definitely think Real Madrid have a decent shout. The 15-time winners will be itching to get back to the summit of European football. It’s time for Mbappé, Vini Jr., and Bellingham to deliver for Madrid. Plus, Chelsea legend, José Mourinho is their coach this year, and I wouldn’t bet against Mourinho winning a third UCL title. For added drama, Mourinho faces former clubs Inter and Roma in the first two matches in the group stage.

Group Stage Matches: Inter, Roma, RB Leipzig, AEK Athens, PSV, Arsenal, LASK, Shakhtar

Odds: +650

Dortmund

Dortmund are the perennial dark horse team. They won the title in 1997, and got close with two more recent appearances in the final (2013 and 2024). They don’t have the big name stars like the Madrids, PSGs, and Man Citys of the tournament. What they lack in star power they make up for in teamwork. They didn’t make it past the Round of 16 last year, but if you want an underdog, Dortmund is a solid choice.

Group Stage Matches: Villareal, Bodø/Glimt, Sabah, Real Betis, Arsenal, Inter, Aston Villa, AEK Athens

Odds: +6600

Shakhtar

Even though the Blues won't be participating, Stamford Bridge will host four group stage matches. Shakhtar and Chelsea agreed for the Ukrainian champions to play their matches in London due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Though Shakhtar's chances of winning the whole thing are small, it would be amazing to see them go on a run and also host knockout games at Stamford Bridge.

Group Stage Matches: PSV, AEK Athens, Inter, Sporting, Fenerbahçe, Slovan Bratislava, Real Madrid

Odds: +50000

Anyone But X, Y, or Z

Another fun option is to pick a team you hate, for example Arsenal, and choose to cheer for their opponent every matchweek. In Arsenal’s case, however, you may just end up watching a lot of Arsenal wins - they won all 8 group matches last season. If there’s another, middle-of-the-pack team you detest, don’t underestimate the enjoyment of the hate-watch.

Biggest Games

Something I’ve done in the past is look at the fixtures each round and pick the big match-up from that week. The current tournament format pits heavyweights against each other from the group stage. Below are my picks for must-watch games for each matchweek.

• Matchweek 1:
  Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid

• Matchweek 2:
  Man City vs PSG

• Matchweek 3:
  PSG vs Barcelona
  Bayern Munich vs Arsenal

• Matchweek 4:
  Barcelona vs Aston Villa

• Matchweek 5:
  Arsenal vs Dortmund

• Matchweek 6:
  Barcelona vs Man City
  Arsenal vs Real Madrid

• Matchweek 7:
  Inter vs Liverpool
  Man Utd vs Bayern Munich

• Matchweek 8:
  Dealer’s Choice

Note: All UEFA Champions League matches are available to stream in the US through Paramount+
All odds provided by BETMGM, as of 9/6/2026.