Why are there Champions League games on Thursday?
Champions League on a Thursday night? The fixture calendar has thrown that anomaly at us this week, with Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Roma among the teams in action.
When the format for the men’s Champions League was changed for the 2024-25 campaign a week was set aside each season exclusively for European club football’s tip tier, with matches being played on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night, and no other Uefa competitions - Europa or Conference League - taking place that week.
And there was no waiting around for it this season as it was assigned to round one of the league phase - with games spread across 8-10 September.
Supporters and audiences have been accustomed to a diet of Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, followed by Europa League and Conference League on Thursdays, and by and large that will be the format again in 2026-27.
The Europa League and Conference League also each have one exclusive week.
For the Europa League exclusive week, matches will be played across two days - Wednesday, 16 September and Thursday, 17 September.
In the case of the Conference League, the exclusive week is a one-night situation - with matches taking place on Thursday, 17 December, while there are no other European competition games billed for the Tuesday or Wednesday.
Six Champions League matches will take place this Thursday: Fenerbahce vs AS Roma (17:45 BST), PSV Eindhoven vs Shakhtar Donetsk (17:45 BST), Bayern Munich vs Bodo/Glimt (20:00 BST), Como 1907 vs RB Leipzig (20:00 BST), Manchester United vs Sabah FK (20:00 BST), Slavia Prague vs Lens (20:00 BST).
