Shakhtar Donetsk discovered its opponents for the Champions League group stage on 27 August 2026. The Donetsk side were drawn into a group featuring Real Madrid, Inter and Sporting, alongside PSV, Fenerbahçe, RB Leipzig, AEK and Slovan Bratislava.
According to the report, Shakhtar entered the draw from the third pot. The group stage this year includes 36 teams under the new format; the eight best teams will advance directly to the round of 16, while clubs finishing 9th–24th proceed to a round-of-32 stage.
The draw leaves Shakhtar as the only Ukrainian club remaining in European competition after Dynamo Kyiv, LNZ Cherkasy and Polissia Zhytomyr were eliminated in qualifying. Dynamo Kyiv lost 2-0 to Qarabag, with the Azerbaijani side opening the scoring in the 12th minute.