Manchester City open their UEFA Champions League account with a league phase match-up against FC Porto in Portugal on Tuesday night.
Is this Ruben Dias' most important Manchester City season yet?
More Videos
Enzo Maresca takes his unbeaten City side from Premier League duties into Europe's premier club competition this week, beginning their run of eight matches in the Champions League's league phase with a trip to Portugal.
FC Porto are the club's first opponents this week, before meeting with the holders of the competition as Paris Saint-Germain visit the Etihad Stadium in the second week of October, followed by AEK Athens at the same venue one week later.
November will then see a visit to the Bundesliga side RB Leipzig before Kevin De Bruyne and Napoli make the trip to the Etihad Stadium for the second consecutive season at the end of the month.
The 2026 portion of the league phase schedule will conclude with a clash against FC Barcelona and Rodri at Camp Nou on December 8, while the calendar rounds up with an away clash against RC Lens in France and a home tie against Sporting on January 27.
Ahead of the meeting between FC Porto and Manchester City, UEFA have now announced the list of match officials to oversee proceedings at Estádio do Dragão!
Hugo Viana has said it will be ‘special’ to face ex-Manchester City stars Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri in the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League after Thursday’s group-stage draw.cityxtra.co.ukMan City Director Viana Relishing Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne Reunions
Hugo Viana has said it will be ‘special’ to face ex-Manchester City stars Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri in the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League after Thursday’s group-stage draw.
Match Referee
UEFA have this week confirmed that Szymon Marciniak of Poland will oversee proceedings between FC Porto and Manchester City in Portugal on Tuesday night - his seventh game across all competitions so far this season.
The 45-year-old match official has so far taken charge of games in the PKO BP Ekstraklasa and UEFA Champions League qualifiers, including Celtic's dramatic 5-1 defeat away to LASK.
Marciniak has overseen Manchester City on six different occasions, with the Sky Blues losing only just one of those matches and winning the other five, receiving nine yellow cards in the process without any red cards or penalties awarded in their favour.
Among those six outings involving Marciniak, City fans will most fondly remember the Polish referee for overseeing matters in their 4-0 home win over Real Madrid en route to the Champions League Final of 2023, and the Final victory itself over Inter in Istanbul.
The last time the two parties came across one another was in the league phase of last season's competition, and Manchester City's 4-1 victory over Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium.
Assistant Referees
Among the assistant referee for the meeting between FC Porto and Manchester City on Tuesday night will be Poland's Tomasz Listkiewicz, supporting Szymon Marciniak out on the field at Estádio do Dragão.
Video Assistant Referees
Watching proceedings from the VAR Hub on Tuesday night will be a Dutch match officials pairing of Pol van Boekel as Video Assistant Referee alongside Dennis Higler - the contest's Assistant Video Assistant Referee.
Fourth Official
UEFA are yet to confirm a fourth official publicly for FC Porto against Manchester City.