The final is in Budapest this year. The holders are PSG of course, they'll be joined by a number of league champions, the Europa League champions and then a bunch of pity clubs who get to enter without winning anything 29 teams have already qualified for the league phase so there's seven teams yet to be decided that need to qualify. The draw for the first and second round of qualifying was done this week and there's some British interest so I figured I'd start a thread for the upcoming season. Round 1 The New Saints v Shkendija Shelbourne v Linfield Round 2 Rangers v Panathinaikos Celtic will join in the playoff round and will be seeded. Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Newcastle, Chelsea and Spurs go straight to the league phase of course.
Napoli being a pot 3 side is a pain. The pots have lost their relevance since the reshuffle but you don't want the four teams from pot 1 and 2 AND Napoli too.
6 clubs from 1 league straight to the league stage yet the champions of another have to qualify. Laughable how it can still claim to be a champions league
I wonder if whoever starts of like a train and wins handfuls to start with will be labelled favourites and bomb out in the first knockout round they play......... to be fair PSG were worthy winners of competition if only arguably that tie, does show how little the league phase matters other than not to be knocked out of course! does seem somewhat unfair to have 36 teams in the league phase and one league/country boast 1/6......... whilst I don't like the format would be fair if revised that regardless how their teams got there one league cannot have more than 4 or at a push 5 straight into the league phase. Isn't like they should be worried about having to play a qualifier, not good enough to win that then your participation in the league phase would be purely for the £££
8th of July & the Qualifying rounds with UK clubs start with TNS v KF Shkendija Live on S4C 7pm kick off straight after Germany v Denmark in Women's Euro's .
UEFA have announced changes to the seeding system for the knock out stages . https://x.com/DaleJohnsonESPN/status/1942666837348487235
Here's hoping the return leg is a bit better than last night's match which will also be shown live on S4C & where the North Macedonian's should have taken an away lead home with them but for some poor finishing from headers , but fair play to the around 20 away fans & their 2 flags that made the trip , can't see 20 TNS fans making the away trip from Oswestry next week , but please , some goals .
