Champions League Kick-Off Times 2026 — Full Schedule & How to Watch

The Champions League plays on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in Europe throughout the season, building to the knockout rounds and the final in late May. Because every kick-off is set in UK and Central European time, American fans watch in the middle of the working day, so knowing the conversion, the channel and the odd weeks when the clocks disagree is what lets you plan around it.

Champions League Kick-Off Times

Champions League matches use two standard kick-off slots, both fixed in European time:

• 5:45 PM UK (6:45 PM CET) — the early slot, carrying a smaller number of matches each matchday
• 8:00 PM UK (9:00 PM CET) — the main slot, carrying the majority of matches, including the high-profile fixtures

Both slots are used on Tuesday and Wednesday matchdays. The UK runs on BST (British Summer Time) from late March to late October and on GMT through the winter, but the slots stay pinned to local clock time: it is 8:00 PM in London whether that is BST in September or GMT in December. The kick-off only moves for viewers whose own clocks change on different dates, which is the American situation covered below.

Champions League Kick-Off Times in US Time Zones

For most of the season, the two slots land at 12:45 PM and 3:00 PM Eastern, which is 9:45 AM and noon on the West Coast. The table converts both slots for the four mainland US time zones during the normal five-hour gap between London and New York.

Arizona is the exception to remember: most of the state does not observe daylight saving time, so its offset to the UK shifts by an hour between summer and winter. If you are in Arizona, check the kick-off against your phone's world clock rather than the Mountain row.

When the Clocks Change: The Weeks That Shift by an Hour

Twice a season, US kick-offs move an hour later for a short spell because Europe and the US change their clocks on different Sundays. The UK puts its clocks back on the last Sunday of October, but the US waits until the first Sunday of November. For the matchdays that fall between those two dates, London is only four hours ahead of New York, so the slots land at 1:45 PM and 4:00 PM Eastern.

The same thing happens in spring, in reverse. The US moves its clocks forward on the second Sunday of March, while the UK waits until the last Sunday of March. Champions League knockout ties played in that window also kick off at 1:45 PM and 4:00 PM Eastern. Calendar apps that store the match in UK time handle this automatically; reminders you typed in by hand in Eastern time will be an hour early.

Champions League TV Channels

In the UK, TNT Sports carries most live matches and Amazon Prime Video shows one Tuesday match per matchday; in the US, CBS Sports holds the English-language rights, with every match streaming on Paramount+. The detail for each broadcaster is below.

TNT Sports

TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) holds the primary UK Champions League rights for the 2024-27 cycle, covering the league phase, knockout rounds and final. From 2027-28, Paramount+ takes over most UK matches, as IBC reported.

TNT Sports 1 carries the primary fixture each week. TNT Sports 2, 3, and 4 carry simultaneous matches where several fixtures kick off in the same slot.

TNT Sports Ultimate (4K UHD)

TNT Sports Ultimate broadcasts selected Champions League matches in 4K UHD, including knockout rounds and the final. To get a true 4K picture you also need a 4K-capable player and a connection that can sustain it, which our guide to watching live sport in 4K walks through.

CBS Sports and Paramount+ (US)

In the United States, CBS Sports holds the English-language Champions League rights, with the bulk of matches streaming on Paramount+ and a selection shown on CBS itself. Kick-off times on the US broadcast are the converted times in the table above.

Amazon Prime Video (UK, Tuesdays)

Prime Video has first pick of one Tuesday-night match on each matchday, 17 matches a season, included with a Prime membership, according to Groupon's 2026-27 UK viewing guide. Amazon keeps that Tuesday pick in the 2027-31 cycle.

BBC (Free-to-Air Highlights)

The BBC holds the UK highlights rights for the 2024-27 cycle, its first Champions League rights according to Versus, with highlights on BBC television, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app. There is no free live match coverage in the UK.

Champions League Match Day Schedule 2026

The season runs from a league phase in September through to a single final in late May or early June, with every round except the final played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Two scheduling details catch viewers out. On the last league-phase matchday every match kicks off at the same time, so there is no early slot and you have to pick one game or follow several at once. The final is also scheduled separately from the midweek slots: UEFA moved it to 18:00 CEST from 2026, which is noon Eastern, so confirm its kick-off on its own; our guide to how to watch the Champions League final covers that day in full.

How to Watch Every Champions League Match in the USA

The official US route is Paramount+, which streams every match, with selected games on CBS and CBS Sports Network. If you watch through an IPTV service instead, TVNado carries 55,000+ live channels, including international sports channels; lineups change, so use the free 24-hour trial to check the channels you need before a matchday.

The EPG in TVNado shows the listings in your device's time zone, so the 8:00 PM UK main slot appears in the guide at 3:00 PM if you are on Eastern time. If the guide looks an hour or more out, the cause is almost always the time zone or an EPG time-offset setting in your player rather than the schedule itself; our fix for an IPTV guide showing the wrong times covers both.

Planning a Champions League Matchday From the US

The practical answer for American viewers is to decide in advance whether you are watching live at lunchtime or later on replay, because the two need different preparation.

1. Check the matchday the night before. Open the fixture list or your TV guide and note which fixtures sit in the early slot and which in the main slot. The bigger matches usually take the main slot, which is 3:00 PM Eastern.
2. Set reminders in UK time. If your calendar lets you choose a time zone for an event, save it as 8:00 PM London time. That way the clock-change weeks in March and late October take care of themselves.
3. Test the stream before kick-off. Open the channel ten minutes early on the device you will actually use. A login or playback problem found at 2:50 PM is a minor fix; found at 3:05 PM it costs you the opening goals.
4. Pick your device for the setting. At work, a phone or laptop app is the realistic option; at home, a TV app gives you the 4K channel. The same subscription works on both.
5. Plan the replay if you cannot watch live. If your player supports catch-up, the match stays available after full time. Mute sports apps and team accounts until you have watched it, because score alerts arrive within seconds of each goal.

On nights when two big fixtures share the 3:00 PM Eastern slot, a player with a multi-view mode lets you keep both on screen. Fans following their club across Europe will find the time-zone detail for each host city in our guide to watching Champions League away games, and a wider look at sports streaming is in our comparison of the best IPTV services for sports.