The Champions League returned its verdict two weeks ago in Munich, with the magnificent 5-0 victory of PSG before Inter Milan in the final. And the 2025-2026 season will soon start! The first qualifying round is indeed planned on July 8 and 9 for the return meetings and on July 15 and 16 for the return rounds.
The 28 teams in the running for the first round will be set during the first draw for the season scheduled for next Tuesday (June 17). This start of competition welcomes national champions and therefore does not concern the OGC Nice, the last 4th in Ligue 1 which will start in the 3rd qualifying round of the LDC but in the “Ligue Way” (and not the “Champions Way”).
Among the series heads of the draw, we find the champion of Slovenia Ljubljana Olimpija, the champion of Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad, the Champion of Sweden Malmö, the champion of Romania the FCSB (ex-Steaua Bucuresti) or the champion of Finland Kuopion Palloseura. They will have the advantage of receiving on return. The other hat offers particularly distant trips with the champion of the Vikingeur Faroese, the champion of Kazakhstan Kairat Almaty, the Armenian champion Noah and the champion of Georgia Iberia 1999. The Andorra champion is called the Interd Escaldes and the that of Saint-Marin the Virtus.
LDC, Nice soon concerned
In the second round of qualifying for the Champions League, the Champions of Denmark (Copenhagen), Israel (the Maccabi Tel Aviv), Ukraine (Dynamo kyiv), Serbia (L'Etoile Rouge de Belgrade), Croatia (Rijeka), Poland (Lech Poznan), Hungary (Ferencvaros) d'Azerbaijan (Qarabag). Still within the framework of this second round, the Viktoria Plzen, the Rangers, the Servette de Genève, the Red Bull Salzburg, Brann Bergen and the Panathinaikos, all second in their respective championship, will enter the qualifications. The Niçois de Franck Haise will carefully follow this part of the table.
The third round of qualifiers is scheduled for August 5, 6, 12 and 13, with a draw made on July 21, before the second round. The LDC dams, qualifying for the league phase at 36 of the C1, are scheduled for August 19 and 20 and August 26 and 27. OM and AS Monaco are directly qualified in the company of PSG, French champion and therefore now reigning European champion.
