While the elite European clubs are waiting for the Champions League group stage to kick off in September, there are a host of other renowned teams, including from various well-known leagues, that are doing battle for the six final tickets handed out at the end of five Champions League qualifying rounds concluding in August.
Those five qualifying rounds see some teams competing in the “champions path” reserved for teams that are champions of their domestic leagues. There are four Champions League group stage berths reserved for this pool that started with 42 teams and is now down to the final eight.
The remaining two spots in the 2022/23 Champions League group stage are up for grabs among 10 teams that finished in second or third place in their domestic leagues. These clubs hail from leagues deemed strong enough to deserve to compete in the Champions League and are said to be pursuing the “league path” during the qualifying rounds. That’s because it was their domestic league finish (and not a league title) that afforded them a chance to compete.
Champions League qualifying rounds: 5 Participating clubs in Champions League qualifying: 52 Available berths in Champions League group stage: 6
Whichever the qualifying path, once a team earns a spot in the group stage, the club is guaranteed six group stage games televised internationally, which can net clubs a significant sum of prize money. Here’s how qualifying for 2022/23 is shaping up so far:
Champions League Qualifying: Preliminary Round
The preliminary round was constructed as a four-team knockout mini bracket featuring the champions from the following countries that are at the bottom of the 2021 UEFA country coefficient list, which ranks Europe’s professional leagues by nation:
Andorra: Inter Club d’Escaldes Estonia: FCI Levadia Iceland: Vikingur Reykjavik San Marino: La Fiorita
Semifinals
Final
Champions League Qualifying: First Round
Icelandic champions Vikingur Reykjavik, who survived the Preliminary Round, joined the champions from the next 29 nations in the 2021 UEFA country coefficient list. Teams listed first hosted the first legs.
Champions League Qualifying: Second Round
Champions Path
The domestic league champions of the next five countries in the 2021 UEFA country coefficient list (Croatia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Israel and Greece) join the other league champions who are still standing. First team listed hosted the first leg.
League Path
The second-place teams in Denmark, Cyprus, Ukraine and Turkey contended for two spots in the Third Round of qualifying. First team listed was home for first leg.
Champions League Qualifying: Third Round
Champions Path
The 10 survivors of the Second Round were joined by the domestic league champions of the next two countries in the 2020/21 UEFA country coefficient list: Serbia (Red Star Belgrade) and Cyprus (Apollon Limassol).
The draw was held on Monday, July 18. The first team listed was home for the first leg.
League Path
These matchups involved clubs which did not win their domestic title last season, but which hailed from strong enough European leagues that they were given the chance to compete for two available spots in the Champions League group stage.
Six clubs from countries ranked No. 5 through No. 11 (Russia is excluded) in the country coefficient list joined the two clubs that survived the previous round (Dynamo Kyiv and FC Midtjylland). First team listed was home for the first leg.
The draw for these matchups was held on Monday, July 18 and the top seeds were determined by the 2022 UEFA club coefficient list.
Champions League Qualifying: Playoff Round
Six tickets to the lucrative group stage will be on the line in the playoff round. Four berths will be handed out in the Champions Path, while two berths are assigned to the League Path.
Turkish champions Trabzonspor and Danish champions FC Copenhagen, the next two countries in the 2021 country coefficient list, join the competition in this round. The first team listed was home in the first leg.
Champions Path
Seeds were determined based on the UEFA club coefficient. However, since the winner of the third-round matchups had not yet been decided at the time of the playoff draw, UEFA used the highest club coefficient between the two teams in each third-round matchup. The first team drawn played the first leg at home.
League Path
Seeds were determined based on the UEFA club coefficient. However, since the winner of the third-round matchups had not yet been decided at the time of the playoff draw, UEFA used the highest club coefficient between the two teams in each third-round matchup. The first team drawn played the first leg at home.
How to watch the 2022/23 Champions League
How do Champions League qualifying & playoff rounds work?
Before the highly-publicized Champions League group stage, there is a preliminary round, three qualifying rounds, and one playoff round for teams to progress through, hoping to reach the popular and lucrative group stage.
While 26 teams have already confirmed places in the group stage for the 2022/23 competition, there are still six spots available for teams that progress through the qualifying and playoff rounds.
Placement of teams in each phase is determined by UEFA’s 2021 country coefficient, which is a mathematical formula that accounts for the finishing position of teams from that league in European competitions over the previous five years. The higher the ranking of a nation and the more teams it will have in cup competitions and in later rounds.
There is also the UEFA club coefficient that is used to determine seeds from round to round. It is a formula that UEFA uses to rank clubs against one another based on performance.
The second qualifying round introduced a Champions Path and a League Path, which are both constructed as they sound. The Champions Path included only teams that qualified for the competition by winning their domestic league, while the League Path consisted of teams that qualified by domestic table finish but did not earn a league title.
Champions League schedule 2022/23
Qualifying rounds schedule
Group stage schedule
The draw for the 2022/23 Champions League group stage will take place on August 25, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Knockout stage schedule
The draw for the 2022/23 Champions League Round of 16 will take place on November 7, 2022. The draw for the rest of the 2022/23 Champions League knockout stage will take place on March 17, 2023.
