2026-27 season start dates, and how to be ready
The club season starts 33 days after the World Cup final and the kickoffs come fast. Every verified date is in one table below — with the five-minute setup that gets your friends' prediction league scoring from matchday 1.
Sources linked under the table · last checked 7 August 2026
- Eleven competitions, every date from the league's own announcement
- Fixtures load themselves — nothing to copy into a spreadsheet
- Free, and no real money anywhere in it
The calendar
Every start date, verified
Each date comes from the competition's own announcement. Sources are linked under the table and were last checked on 7 August 2026.
| Competition | First matchday | Season ends | Prediction league guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Pro League | Thu 13 Aug 2026 | 29 May 2027 | Saudi Pro League guide |
| LaLiga (Spain) | Sun 16 Aug 2026 | May 2027 | LaLiga guide |
| Premier League (England) | Fri 21 Aug 2026 — Arsenal vs Coventry City | 30 May 2027 | Premier League guide |
| Israeli Premier League (Ligat Ha'Al) | Sat 22 Aug 2026 | May 2027 | Ligat Ha'Al guide (Hebrew) |
| Serie A (Italy) | Sun 23 Aug 2026 | May 2027 | Serie A guide |
| Ligue 1 (France) | Sun 23 Aug 2026 | May 2027 | Ligue 1 guide |
| Bundesliga (Germany) | Fri 28 Aug 2026 | May 2027 | Bundesliga guide |
| UEFA Champions League | Draw Thu 27 Aug · matchday 1 8-10 Sep 2026 | Final, May-Jun 2027 | Champions League guide |
| UEFA Europa League | Draw Fri 28 Aug · matchday 1 16-17 Sep 2026 | Final, May 2027 | Europa League guide |
| NFL (American football) | Wed 9 Sep 2026 — Seahawks vs Patriots, a Super Bowl LX rematch | Super Bowl LXI, Feb 2027 | NFL pick'em guide |
| NBA (basketball) | Opening night, October 2026 | Finals, Jun 2027 | NBA guide |
Sources — official league announcements, last checked 7 August 2026: Premier League, Lega Serie A, Ligue 1, Saudi Pro League, UEFA (Champions League), UEFA (Europa League), NFL. The full list of supported competitions is on the competitions page.
Why now
Why the league has to exist before matchday 1
Not urgency for its own sake — each of these is a specific way a season-long pool falls apart when it starts late.
A table only feels fair from round 1
Anyone who joins after the opening weekend starts behind, and that is the single biggest source of drop-outs in friend pools. One link sent this week removes the problem entirely.
The group forms around the opener
Opening-weekend hype is when your group chat actually downloads an app. By mid-September the same message reads as homework and half of them skip it.
Several competitions, one group
Add the Premier League and the Champions League to the same group — domestic weekends plus European midweeks keep the table moving all season.
Setup
Ready in about five minutes
No spreadsheet to build, no rulebook to write from scratch, no points to add up by hand.
Create a league
Pick your competition's 2026-27 season and every fixture loads automatically with kickoff times. How points work is on the scoring rules page.
Send one link
Drop it in the group chat you already argue about results in. Everyone predicts the opening matchday before kickoff, and BeTeam scores the whole season.
BeTeam in numbers
Updated 7 August 2026
Raw counts from production, not marketing estimates.
Those 226 leagues were created in the three weeks between 20 July and 7 August 2026 — friend groups rolling straight from the tournament into the club season. At the World Cup peak, about 80% of all registered users submitted predictions on a single matchday; the full story is in the World Cup 2026 case study.
Scoring
Points everyone agrees on
The default rewards accuracy without letting one lucky guess decide a nine-month season. The organiser can change the weights before kickoff.
Multipliers are what keep a season-long table open: a derby counts double, so does a doubled matchday at the run-in, and relative scoring pays double when almost nobody in the group called it. Predictions lock the second the match kicks off, so nobody edits at half-time. Want to tune it? Read the full scoring rulebook, compare other scoring systems, or design your own with the free scoring calculator.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
When does the 2026-27 football season start?
Mid-August 2026: Saudi Pro League 13 August, LaLiga 16 August, Premier League 21 August (Arsenal vs Coventry City), Israeli Premier League 22 August, Serie A and Ligue 1 23 August, Bundesliga 28 August. The Champions League league phase starts 8-10 September; the Europa League 16-17 September.
Which major league starts first in 2026-27?
The Saudi Pro League, on 13 August 2026. Among Europe's top five leagues, LaLiga is first on 16 August — five days before the Premier League.
When does the 2026-27 season end?
The Premier League ends on 30 May 2027 and the Saudi Pro League on 29 May 2027. The other major European leagues finish in May 2027, the Champions League final falls in May or June 2027, and the NBA Finals run to June 2027.
What is the best app to run a season-long prediction league with friends?
BeTeam — a free iOS and Android app for private prediction leagues. Pick any of 75+ competitions, invite friends with one link, and get automatic scoring on a live leaderboard all season. There is no real money involved.
How do I set up a prediction league before matchday 1?
Download BeTeam free, create a league, choose your competition's 2026-27 season, and share one invite link. About five minutes end to end, and every fixture loads automatically.
Can one group predict more than one competition?
Yes. The same group can run the Premier League and the Champions League side by side, each with its own table. Domestic weekends plus European midweeks keep the leaderboard moving all season without anyone being invited twice.
Can we join after the season has already started?
Yes. You can join at any point and start predicting from the next match. Missed fixtures score zero, so you begin behind, but multipliers and relative scoring make the gap recoverable across a full season.
What happens when a fixture is postponed?
The schedule updates itself. If a match moves, its prediction deadline moves with it and picks close at the new kickoff. Nobody has to re-enter anything and no points are lost.
Where do these dates come from?
Each one is taken from the competition's own announcement — the Premier League, Lega Serie A, Ligue 1, the Saudi Pro League, UEFA and the NFL — and the sources are linked under the table. They were last checked on 7 August 2026.
The first kickoff is 13 August. Have your league ready.
Download BeTeam, create your league, and send one link to the group before the season runs away. Free, and no real money.
On a computer? Scan to install it on your phone.
Now get the group in
Predicting alone is practice — a one-person table is not a competition. Send this to the group now, and the invite link follows the moment you create the league.
Think you know football? 🏆 I'm starting a prediction league for the 2026-27 season — we predict the score of every match, the app does the points, one table all season. Free, no money. Get BeTeam and I'll send you the invite link: https://beteamapp.com/get/
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