A total of between 52 and 54 teams will compete in the qualifying system of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League, which will include the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 42 or 43 teams in Champions Path and 10 or 11 teams in League Path. The seven winners in the play-off round (five from Champions Path, two from League Path) will advance to the league phase, to join the 29 teams that entered it.[2]
The qualifying phase and play-off round is split into two paths – the Champions Path and the League Path. The Champions Path contains teams which qualify as the winners of their domestic league and the League Path contains teams which qualify as runners-up, third-placed or fourth-placed team from their domestic league.
Each tie will played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs will advance 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 decided by a penalty shoot-out.[3]
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 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 advances 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 can 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 can not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie can be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
A total of 28 teams will play in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[5] 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.[6] The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
The first legs will be played on 9 and 10 July, and the second legs will be played on 16 and 17 July 2024.
The winners of the ties will advance to the Champions Path second qualifying round. 12 of the 14 losers will be transferred to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round and 2 will be transferred to the Conference League Champions Path qualifying and receive a bye to the third qualifying round.
A total of 28 teams will play in the second qualifying round – 24 in the Champions Path and 4 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[5] 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.
A total of 20 teams will play in the third qualifying round – 12 in the Champions Path and 8 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[5] 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.
A total of 14 teams will play in the play-off round – 10 in the Champions Path and 4 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[5] 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.
Note: In 1991–92, the competition was still known as the European Cup, but is included as it was the first to use a group stage format. In that season and 1992–93, there was no knockout phase between the group stage and final.
Struga
Dečić
Egnatia
Lincoln Red Imps
UE Santa Coloma
Celje
Differdange 03
HJK
Larne
Shamrock Rovers
FCSB
Dinamo Batumi
Petrocub Hîncești
Pyunik
Sparta Prague
Midtjylland
Jagiellonia Białystok
Qarabağ
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Fenerbahçe
Partizan