If they hear anyone talk about the Champions League at the start of July, most fans will refer back to the incredible final we saw on the 31st of May 2025. PSG put a shell-shocked Inter Milan to the sword, recording a record-breaking 5-0 win. That sensational performance by the Paris side, who claimed their first Champions League/European Cup, was less than 50 days ago and yet on the 8th of July 2025, the 2025/26 edition of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) got underway.
For most football fans, be they supporters of one of the big European sides involved, or simply fans of other clubs from one of the main leagues, the start of the Champions League is usually associated with autumn. Indeed, the league phase, which is considered to be the competition proper, remains some months away.
The new format sees 36 teams play eight matches each in a single league, in the so-called Swiss format. The top sides, such as defending champions PSG, plus the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, beaten 24/25 finalists Inter Milan, and the whopping six English clubs that have qualified, will all enter at that stage.
That action, which for many will be seen as the start of the tournament, begins on the 16th of September. We will see the usual progression from that league phase and into the knockout play-offs, last 16 and so on, before the big final in Budapest on the 30th of May 2026. However, fully 326 days before the last two remaining heavyweights slug it out at the Puskas Arena, the minnows, the featherweights of the football world, get the competition started in the first qualifying round.
How Many Teams Enter the First Qualifying Round?
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â UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) June 25, 2025
Just 17 days after Luis Enriqueâs PSG mauled Inter Milan, the draw for the first qualifying round of the following seasonâs UEFA Champions League took place. That was on the 17th of June and decided who would play who on the 8th and 9th of July (first legs) and 15th and 16th of July (second legs).
There will be 14 ties held at this stage of the competition and you donât need to have attended every maths lesson at school to know that means there are 28 teams taking part at this stage of the 2025/26 UCL. There is British Isles interest with Walesâ New Saints facing North Macedonia’s ShkĂ«ndija, whilst perhaps the tie of the round is a north versus south battle of Ireland between Shelbourne from the Republic and Linfield from the North.
There are some relatively big teams involved at this stage of the competition. Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets Razgrad have made it to the group phase of the competition a number of times in the past. They even beat Lazio en route to the last 16 in the Europa League in 2013/14. We also have some familiar names who are regulars at this early stage of the Champions League, with Gibraltarâs Lincoln Red Imps falling into that category.
What Comes Next?
Those who struggle to follow the structure and format of the competition properâs league phase should probably not even bother trying to get to grips with the full complexity of the qualifying rounds. There are various pathways in and out of the competition, with those losing in the earlier stages being transferred into different stages of the Conference League or Europa League, depending on their status and the round at which they fall.
Keeping things simple, the 14 winners from the first qualifying round will move on⊠to the second qualifying round. Nice and easy. However, things do get slightly more complex as at this stage we have a Champions Path and a League Path. The 14 first-round winners play in the former, where they are joined by 10 new entrants to proceedings, creating 24 teams and 12 two-legged ties.
However, six new clubs, including relative giants such as Red Bull Salzburg, Rangers and Panathinaikos, also join and play each other in three ties in the League Path. Indeed, Rangers will host Panathinaikos on the 22nd of July before the second leg on the 30th of July. All the other games will be on the 22nd or 23rd and 29th or 30th. Among the stronger sides entering into the Champions Path are Dynamo Kyiv, Copenhagen and Red Star Belgrade.
The draw for the third and final qualifying round will take place on the 21st of July and this is where things get particularly complex, though mainly only from the point of view of seedings and which sides can face one another. The key point to note is that 20 teams will play in this round, with the 15 winners from the last round joined by Benfica, Club Brugge, Feyenoord, Fenerbahce and Nice.
And Then the League Phase?
Come now, we said this was complicated. After the third and final qualifying round, we have the play-off round. The draw for this takes place at the start of August and will feature the 10 winners from the third qualifying round, plus Celtic, Basel, Sturm Graz and Bodo/Glimt. Seeded and unseeded teams, as determined by the 2025 UEFA club coefficient, will be kept apart, with a Champions Path and a League Path further dividing clubs.
Ultimately, however, we will end up with 14 teams, seven of whom will indeed make it through to the League Phase. The likes of Celtic will need to prevail in just one round, over two games, whilst the likes of Lincoln Red Imps will face eight games if all goes well.
The reality is that none of the sides that enter at the earliest stage, early in July, are likely to remain when the draw for the League Phase takes place on the 28th of August. However, whichever seven teams do prevail, the following 29 are the ones they will come up against:
Teams Already in the League Phase
Note that the teams below are listed in order of their club co-efficient, with the highest 10 being placed in pot one for the draw.
- Real Madrid
- Manchester City
- Bayern Munich
- Liverpool
- PSG
- Inter Milan
- Chelsea
- Borussia Dortmund
- Barcelona
- Arsenal
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Atletico Madrid
- Atalanta
- Villarreal
- Juventus
- Eintracht Frankfurt
- Tottenham Hotspur
- PSV
- Ajax
- Napoli
- Sporting
- Olympiakos
- Slavia Prague
- Marseilles
- Monaco
- Galatasaray
- Union Saint-Gilloise
- Athletic Bilbao
- Newcastle United