Five Colombians in the 2026/27 Champions League league phase

Five Colombians in the Champions League league phase. That's as simple, and as big, as the news kicking off the new European season. The 2026/27 edition of club soccer's most important competition once again has a Colombian flavor, this time with two new faces joining the regulars.

The familiar name is, of course, Luis Diaz. The Guajiro winger is entering his second season at Bayern Munich and his seventh straight Champions League campaign, a number that speaks volumes about the consistency of his career. Before Bayern he came through Porto and Liverpool, and along the way he's built up numbers that now make him Colombia's all-time leading scorer in the competition's history: 46 appearances and 17 goals. Bayern reached the semifinals last season and are back in Pot 1, among the clubs dreaming of fighting for the title from start to finish.

Davinson Sanchez is another familiar face. The center back is heading into his third straight Champions League campaign with Galatasaray, having previously played the competition with Ajax and Tottenham. He's now up to 38 appearances in the tournament and arrives as one of the leaders of a Turkish side that reached the round of 16 last season and will sit in Pot 3.

One player coming off a season to remember is Luis Javier Suarez. The forward from Santa Marta will play his third Champions League and second in a row with Sporting CP, after a season in which he scored 38 goals in 53 games and finished as the Primeira Liga's top scorer with 28 goals. In the Champions League he scored five goals, including a brace against none other than Paris Saint-Germain, the tournament's defending champions. Sporting will be in Pot 2.

The newcomers: Cucho and Deossa

The big story has a name: Cucho Hernandez. The forward from Pereira will play in the Champions League for the first time after being a key piece in Real Betis' return to the competition, something the Seville club hadn't managed since the 2005/06 season. Betis finished fifth in LaLiga, and Cucho closed out the year as the team's top scorer across all competitions. The confidence is showing already: he opened the season by setting up Rodrigo Riquelme in a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad. Joining him as a debutant is Nelson Deossa, a midfielder who has carved out an important role in Manuel Pellegrini's setup. He had previously played in the Europa League with other clubs, but never in the Champions League. Interestingly, Pellegrini tried him out as a center forward in several preseason matches, taking advantage of his physical power to attack space, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him used in positions beyond his usual role.

The league phase kicks off between September 8 and 10, under the now-familiar format: eight games per team, four at home and four away. The top eight advance straight to the round of 16, while teams finishing ninth through twenty-fourth battle it out for the remaining spots in a playoff round. Five Colombians, five different stories, one shared goal: leaving their mark on Europe's most demanding tournament.