2025–26 UEFA Champions League Qualifying

2025–26 UEFA Champions League qualifying is the preliminary phase of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, prior to the competition proper. Qualification consists of the qualifying phase (first to third rounds) and the play-off round. It began on 8 July and will end on 27 August 2025.

A total of 53 teams will compete in the qualifying system of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, with 42 teams in Champions Path and 11 teams in League Path. The seven winners in the play-off round (five from Champions Path, two from League Path) advanced to the league stage, to join the 29 teams that entered in the league stage.

Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Format

The qualifying phase and play-off round will be split into two paths – the Champions Path and the League Path. The Champions Path will contain teams which qualified as the winners of their domestic league, and the League Path will contain teams which qualified as runners-up, third-placed or fourth-placed teams from their domestic league.

Each tie will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advances to the next round. If the aggregate score is level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time will be played, and if the same number of goals is scored by both teams during extra time, the tie will be determined by a penalty shoot-out.

In the draws for each round, teams will be seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. A seeded team will be drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw. As the identity of the winners of the previous round may not be known at the time of the draws, the seeding will be carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advanced to the subsequent round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient advances, it will simply take the seeding of its opponent. Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee purely for the convenience of the draw and not to resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA cannot be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie may be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.

Teams

The information below reflects Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA.

Champions Path

The Champions Path includes all league champions which do not qualify directly for the league phase, and consists of the following rounds:
*First qualifying round (28 teams): 28 teams which enter in this round.
*Second qualifying round (24 teams): 10 teams which enter in this round, and 14 winners of the first qualifying round.
*Third qualifying round (12 teams): 12 winners of the second qualifying round.
*Play-off round (10 teams): 4 teams which enter in this round, and 6 winners of the third qualifying round.

The default access list may be altered based on the qualifying teams' 2025 UEFA club coefficients should the winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League also qualify for the 2025–26 edition via their domestic league.

All teams eliminated from the Champions Path enter either the Europa League or the Conference League:
*The losers of the first qualifying round enter the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round unless drawn to receive a bye to the Conference League Champions Path third qualifying round.
*The 12 losers of the second qualifying round enter the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round
*The 6 losers of the third qualifying round enter the Europa League play-off round.
*The 5 losers of the play-off round enter the Europa League league phase.

Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2025 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.

League Path

The League Path includes all league non-champions which did not qualify directly for the league phase, and consisted of the following rounds:
*Second qualifying round (6 teams): 6 teams which enter in this round.
*Third qualifying round (8 teams): 5 teams which enter in this round, and 3 winners of the second qualifying round.
*Play-off round (4 teams): 4 winners of the third qualifying round.

All teams eliminated from the League Path enter the Europa League:
*The 3 losers of the second qualifying round enter the Main Path third qualifying round.
*The 4 losers of the third qualifying round enter the league phase.
*The 2 losers of the play-off round enter the league phase.

Below were the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2025 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 17 June 2025.

Seeding

A total of 28 teams will play in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA allocated the teams into three groups, two with five seeded and five unseeded teams and one with four seeded and four unseeded team per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.

Summary

The first legs were played on 8 and 9 July, and the second legs were played on 15 and 16 July 2025.

The winners of the ties advanced to the Champions Path second qualifying round. Twelve of the losing teams were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round, and the other two losing teams (selected via a draw) were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path third qualifying round.

Matches

''2–2 on aggregate. Hamrun Spartans won 11–10 on penalties.''
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''KuPS won 1–0 on aggregate.''
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''Shkëndija won 2–1 on aggregate.''
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''Malmö FF won 6–2 on aggregate.''
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''RFS won 2–0 on aggregate.''
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''Drita won 4–2 on aggregate.''
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''Lincoln Red Imps won 4–2 on aggregate.''
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''Breiðablik won 5–1 on aggregate.''
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''Shelbourne won 2–1 on aggregate.''
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''FCSB won 4–3 on aggregate.''
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''Zrinjski Mostar won 4–1 on aggregate.''
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''Kairat won 3–1 on aggregate.''
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''Noah won 3–2 on aggregate.''
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''Ludogorets Razgrad won 3–2 on aggregate.''

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 18 June 2025.

Seeding

A total of 30 teams will play in the second qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA allocated the teams into three groups of four seeded teams and four unseeded teams in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.

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Summary

The first legs will be played on 22 and 23 July, and the second legs will be played on 29 and 30 July 2025.

The winners of the ties will advance to the third qualifying round. The losers will be transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round.

Champions Path matches

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League Path matches

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Third qualifying round

Seeding

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Summary

The first legs will be played on 5 and 6 August, and the second legs will be played on 12 or 13 August 2025.

The winners of the ties will advance to the third qualifying round. The losers will be transferred to the Europa League play-off round.

Champions Path

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League Path

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Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round will be held on 4 August 2025.

Seeding

A total of 14 teams will play in the play-off round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.

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Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Uefa Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round 2025-26
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2025-26
July 2025 sports events in Europe
August 2025 sports events in Europe