The draw for the second qualifying round of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League happened on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 12:00 CET at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland. The matches will be played over two legs on July 22/23 and July 29/30, 2025, and the exact match dates and kick-off times will be confirmed by June 23, 2025.
Number of Teams: 24 (10 entering directly, 14 coming from the first qualifying round)
Matches: 12 two-legged ties
Draw Structure: The teams were split into three groups of eight, with an equal number of seeded and unseeded teams in each group. The seeding was determined by the 2025 UEFA club coefficients. For the winners of the first qualifying round (which were not known at the time of the draw), the team with the higher coefficient in each undecided match was used for seeding.
The New Saints FC (WAL) / KF Shkëndija (MKD) vs. FCSB (ROU) / Inter Club d’Escaldes (AND)
The winners of the Fotbal (ROU) match will face either ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK) or Qarabağ FK (AZE)
FK Žalgiris (LTU) / Hamrun Spartans FC (MLT) will play against FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), FC Crvena Zvezda (SRB), Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR), or FC Iberia 1999 Tbilisi (GEO) / Malmö FF (SWE)
FC Virtus AC 1964 (SMR) / HŠK Zrinjski Mostar (BIH) will have potential opponents including FCSB (ROU)
KuPS Kuopio (FIN) / FC Milsami Orhei (MDA) will also face potential opponents including FCSB (ROU)
Shelbourne FC (IRL) / Linfield FC (NIR) will have potential opponents as well.
Who Will Advance? UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round Preview
Seeded Teams (based on coefficients): FC København (DEN, 44.875), Red Star Belgrade (SRB, 44.000), Ferencváros (HUN, 39.000), Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR, 37.500), Slovan Bratislava (SVK, 33.500), Qarabağ FK (AZE, 32.000), Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL, 24.000), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR, 23.500), FCSB (ROU, 22.500), Lech Poznan (POL, 19.000), Olimpija Ljubljana (SLO, 17.375), Malmö FF (SWE, 14.500).
Unseeded Teams (according to coefficients): NK Rijeka (CRO, 12.000), Zalgiris Vilnius (LTU, 12.000), Pafos FC (CYP, 11.125), RFS Riga (LAT, 11.000), Zrinjski Mostar (BIH, 10.000), Lincoln Red Imps (GIB, 10.000), KuPS Kuopio (FIN, 10.000), The New Saints (WAL, 9.000), FC Drita (KOS, 9.000), Breidablik (ISL, 9.000), Linfield Belfast (NIR, 8.500), Buducnost Podgorica (MNE, 8.000).
Rules: Teams from specific associations (like Armenia-Azerbaijan, Kosovo-Serbia, Ukraine-Belarus) cannot play against each other because of UEFA rules. The first team picked in each matchup gets to host the first game.
League Path
Number of Teams: 6
Seeded Teams: 3 (Rangers, Salzburg, Viktoria Plzeň)
Unseeded Teams: 3 (Panathinaikos, Servette, Brann)
Matches: 3 two-legged ties
Draw Structure: Teams are seeded based on the 2025 UEFA club coefficients, and they will be drawn into three matchups. The first team drawn will host the first leg.
Advancement: The teams that win in the Champions Path second qualifying round will move on to the third qualifying round (Champions Path). The teams that lose will go into the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round. The winners of the League Path second qualifying round will also advance to the third qualifying round (League Path), while the losers will enter the Europa League Main Path third qualifying round.
Context for Transfers: About your previous questions, Napoli (who are interested in Darwin Nunez) have made it directly to the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase, so they are not part of the second qualifying round. Kyle Walker’s current team, AC Milan, isn’t mentioned in the qualifying rounds, which means they might have qualified directly or are not taking part. Everton and Fenerbahçe, possible teams for Walker, are not listed in the Champions League second qualifying round, and Fenerbahçe is probably in the Europa League or Conference League qualifying rounds based on how they did in their domestic league.
