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Champions League 2017-18: Qualifying rounds & teams explained

Champions League 2017-18: Qualifying rounds & teams explained

With the 2016-17 season nearly complete across Europe, only a few clubs are still fighting to book their place in next season's Champions League.

The route to next season's final in Kiev will be much longer for some clubs than others, with the first qualifying round kicking off as early as June - a full two-and-a-half months before the group stage begins in September.

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The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds will be made on June 19. In each qualifying round and the play-off round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded groups based on their UEFA club coefficient, a kind of rating of their past performances.

Seeded and unseeded teams are then drawn against each other in two-legged, home-and-away ties to advance to the next round leading into the group stage. Here is your complete guide to the teams that have qualified for each stage thus far.



FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND






The champions of Europe's smallest 10 leagues play in the first qualifying round, with the five winners progressing to the second qualifying round.

The draw for this round and the second qualifying round will be made on June 19, with the first legs being played on June 27 and 28 and the second legs following on July 4 and 5.

Team

Country

Club coefficient

The New Saints

Wales

5.775

Linfield

Northern Ireland

3.650

Vikingur Gota

Faroe Islands

2.950

Hibernians

Malta

2.800

FC Santa Coloma

Andorra

2.733

Alashkert

Armenia

2.525

La Fiorita

San Marino

1.566

Europa FC

Gibraltar

1.500

FCI Tallinn

Estonia

1.300

Trepca'89

Kosovo

0.000


SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND





Twenty-nine more teams - again, all champions of their respective leagues - enter in the second qualifying round. The five teams progressing from the first qualifying round make for 34 teams in total and 17 ties.

The draw for this round will be made at the same time as the first qualifying round, on June 19, with the teams progressing from the previous round to be confirmed once those ties have been played. The first legs will be played on July 11 and 12 and the second legs on July 18 and 19.


Team

Celtic

Scotland

42.785

Red Bull Salzburg

Austria

40.570

Copenhagen

Denmark

37.800

Ludogorets

Bulgaria

34.175

BATE Borisov

Belarus

29.475

Legia Warsaw

Poland

28.450

APOEL

Cyprus

26.210

Maribor

Slovenia

21.125

Qarabag

Azerbaijan

18.050

Malmo

Sweden

16.945

Astana

Kazakhstan

16.800

Partizan

Serbia

16.075

Rijeka

Croatia

15.550

Rosenborg

Norway

12.665

Sheriff Tiraspol

Moldova

11.150

Hapoel Be'er Sheva

Israel

10.875

FH

Iceland

6.175

Zilina

Slovakia

5.850

Zalgiris Vilnius

Lithuania

5.825

Dundalk

Ireland

5.815

Vardar

Macedonia

5.125

F91 Dudelange

Luxembourg

4.975

Kukesi

Albania

4.550

Zrinjski Mostar

Bosnia & Herzegovina

4.050

Buducnost Podgorica

Montenegro

3.300

Honved

Hungary

2.900

IFK Mariehamn

Finland

2.030

Spartaks Jurmala

Latvia

1.975

Samtredia

Georgia

1.525


THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND





The third qualifying round is split into two sections: the champions route and the league route. The draw for both sections will be made on July 14, with the first legs taking place on July 25 and 26 and the second legs following on August 1 and 2.

In the champions route, three more league champions (from Greece, the Czech Republic and Romania for 2017-18) join the 17 winners in the second qualifying round, making a total of 20 teams and 10 ties.


Team

Olympiacos

Greece

64.580

Slavia Prague

Czech Republic

8.135

Viitorul Constanta

Romania

5.870

In the league route, 10 teams that are not domestic champions but have finished in Champions League qualifying positions in their respective leagues face each other in five ties.


Team

Dynamo Kiev

Ukraine

67.526

Ajax

Netherlands

67.212

Viktoria Plzen

Czech Republic

40.635

CSKA Moscow

Russia

39.606

Club Brugge

Belgium

39.480

Steaua Bucharest

Romania

35.370

Young Boys

Switzerland

28.915

Nice

France

16.833

Istanbul Basaksehir

Turkey

10.340

AEK Athens

Greece

6.580


PLAY-OFF ROUND





The play-off round, the final round before the group stage, is also split into the champions route and the league route. The draw for both sections will be made on August 4, with the first legs taking place on August 15 and 16 and the second legs following on August 22 and 23.

There are no new teams added to the champions route; the 10 winners from that section in the third qualifying round are drawn against each other in another five ties, with the five winners advancing to the group stage.

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Five more teams are added to the league route, and join the five teams that progressed from that section in the third qualifying round. They play across 10 ties, and like the champions route the five winners advance to the group stage.


Team

Sevilla

Spain

112.999

Napoli

Italy

88.666

Liverpool

England

56.192

Sporting CP

Portugal

36.866

Hoffenheim

Germany

15.899


GROUP STAGE





The group stage is made up of five teams from the champions route, five teams from the league route and 22 new teams that enter the competition at this stage. The draw will be made on August 24 in Monaco, with the first matches taking place on September 12 and 13.

The draw is seeded via four pots of eight teams each. Pot 1 includes the Champions League holders and league winners of the top seven countries according to UEFA's coefficients. As next season's holders (Real Madrid or Juventus) will also be a top-seven league winner, a Pot 1 place is passed on to the eighth-ranked country, Ukraine.

Pots 2, 3 and 4 are decided based on the ranking of teams by their club coefficients.

So far, 22 teams have booked their place in the group stage, with the full lineup of direct qualification spots below. Teams to have confirmed their place in a particular pot are marked with the number of that pot - for example, (2) indicates Pot 2.


Team

Real Madrid (1)

Spain

176.999

Bayern Munich (1)

Germany

154.899

Barcelona (2)

Spain

151.999

Atletico Madrid (2)

Spain

142.999

Juventus (1)

Italy

140.666

Paris Saint-Germain (2)

France

126.333

Borussia Dortmund (2)

Germany

124.899

Benfica (1)

Portugal

111.866

Chelsea (1)

England

106.192

Manchester City (2)

England

100.192

Porto (2)

Portugal

98.866

Manchester United (2)

England*

95.192

Shakhtar Donetsk (1)

Ukraine

87.526

Tottenham

England

77.192

Basel (3)

Switzerland

74.415

Monaco (1)

France

62.333

Anderlecht (3)

Belgium

58.480

Roma

Italy

53.666

Besiktas

Turkey

45.840

Feyenoord

Netherlands

23.212

Spartak Moscow (1)

Russia

18.606

RB Leipzig

Germany

15.899

*Manchester United qualified for the Champions League group stage as winners of the Europa League. England will therefore have five Champions League entrants next season, with four already confirmed in the group stage.