The draw for the playoff round qualifying for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the 2026-2027 season, which took place today, Monday, in Nyon, Switzerland, resulted in decisive matchups between clubs aiming to secure the last seven spots.
The draw placed the winner of the Turkish team Fenerbahçe against the winner of the match between Czech team Sparta Prague and French team Olympique Lyon, while Scottish team Celtic will face Austrian team LASK Linz.
The winner of the Bulgarian team Levski Sofia and the Kazakh team Kairat Almaty will meet the Greek team AEK Athens, and the winner of the Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb and Lithuanian team Zalgiris will face Norwegian team Viking.
Additionally, the winner of the Swedish team Mjällby and Slovak team Slovan Bratislava will play against the winner of the Armenian team Ararat and Slovenian team Celje, while the winner of the match between Hapoel and Serbian team Red Star will face the winner of the match between Danish team Aarhus and Azerbaijani team Sabah.
The winner of the match between Greek team Olympiacos and Dutch team Nijmegen will meet the winner of the match between Belgian team Union Saint-Gilloise and Norwegian team Bodø/Glimt.
The first leg will be held on August 18 and 19, with the return leg on August 25 and 26, and the seven winning teams will qualify directly to join the 29 teams that have qualified automatically, with the draw for the group stage taking place on August 27.
In the UEFA Europa League playoff matches, the draw placed Turkish team Trabzonspor against the winner of the match between Hungarian team Ferencvárosi and Polish team Górnik Zabrze, while Beşiktaş will face Czech team Hradec Králové in the third qualifying round.
If Beşiktaş wins against its opponent, it will qualify for the playoff round to meet the loser of the match between Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb and Lithuanian team Zalgiris.