The 2025–26 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round will begin on 8 July and end on 27 August 2025.
A total of 53 teams will compete in the qualifying system of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, which will include the qualifying phase and the play-off round, 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.
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:
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:
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:
All teams eliminated from the League Path enter the Europa League:
Below were the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2025 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
First qualifying round.
<section begin=Q1 />The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 17 June 2025.<section end=Q1 />
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.
<section begin=Q1 />
The first legs will be played on 8 and 9 July, and the second legs will be played on 15 and 16 July 2025.
The winners of the ties will advance to the Champions Path second qualifying round. 12 losers will be transferred to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round, and 2 losers to the Conference League Champions Path third qualifying round.
<section end=Q1 />
Second qualifying round.
<section begin=Q2 />The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 18 June 2025.<section end=Q2 />
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.
Summary.
<section begin=Q2 />
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.
<section end=Q2 />
Third qualifying round.
<section begin=Q3 />The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 21 July 2025.
Seeding.
A total of 20 teams will play in the third qualifying 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.
<section end=Q3 />
Play-off round.
<section begin=PO />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.
<section end=PO />