How Can Teams Qualify For The Champions League?

With the qualification process for the Champions League having been underway for two weeks now, it’s time to look at how qualification for these European competitions work. From automatic qualification spots to teams having to battle it out in the qualification phase, there’s two ways clubs can book their place in the league phase of next year’s Champions League.

How Do Teams Automatically Qualify For The Champions League?

Due to the new format of the UEFA Champions League introduced in the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will compete in this year’s tournament. Out of these 36 places available, 29 teams have automatically qualified for the competition’s league phase, with a further seven teams to be added to the league phase through the qualification process.

These 29 automatic spots are split across the best leagues in Europe, with UEFA’s coefficient ranking system allocating more positions to leagues that have performed well in European competitions over the last five years. Points are awarded for wins and draws, as well as advancing to the latter stages of the competitions. The number of points each team has accumulated over the last five years is then divided by the number of teams from the same domestic league also competing in European competitions. Clubs are then ranked based on how high their coefficient is.

29/36 clubs qualified for the 2025/26 Champions League ✅

7 spots remain... ⏳#UCL pic.twitter.com/mDTQCZIQE1

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) July 23, 2025

This is why the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A all have their top four teams from the 2024/25 campaign qualify for the 2025/26 tournament. Their success of progressing far in the Champions League coupled with their rich history in the tournament are two of many reasons why these four leagues are guaranteed four places each.

Ligue 1 are allocated three spots, whilst the Eredivisie are allowed two places. The winners of the highest leagues in Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic and Turkey are all granted one position, with the winner of the Europa League also given a place in the competition if they didn’t qualify through their league position. Last season's winners Tottenham Hotspur therefore are allocated a place in the 2025/26 Champions League.

As well as the Europa League winner getting a spot, the winner of the previous Champions League campaign is also granted a place in the tournament if they failed to qualify through their league position. However, as the 2024/25 Champions League winners PSG have already secured their place via league position, this spot is instead given to the club with the highest coefficient ranking that is yet to qualify for the Champions League. This year that was Olympiacos, who had a coefficient of 56.500, who have now secured their place in the league phase.

This leaves two places up for grabs, which are given to the two leagues that performed the best across all European competitions in the previous campaign. The highest accomplishing nations from the 2024/25 season were England and Spain, which has resulted in the team finishing in fifth place from both leagues receiving a spot in the Champions League for next season.

📌 Race for an extra Champions League spot:

1⃣ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England - 4.000
2⃣ 🇪🇸 Spain - 3.750
3⃣ 🇮🇹 Italy - 3.428
4⃣ 🇩🇪 Germany - 3.428
5⃣ 🇫🇷 France - 2.571
6⃣ 🇳🇱 Netherlands - 2.166
7⃣ 🇧🇾 Belarus - 1.750
8⃣ 🇦🇩 Andorra - 1.666
9⃣ 🇧🇪 Belgium - 1.500 🆕
🔟 🇸🇪 Sweden - 1.500 🆕 pic.twitter.com/hBs32wUtRd

— Football Rankings (@FootRankings) July 25, 2025

How Does The Qualification Phase Of The Champions League Work?

The qualification phase for the UEFA Champions League began on the 8th July and runs all the way until the 27th August. This is where the seven remaining places are up for grabs, with 53 teams battling it out to try and secure a spot. Qualifying is split into two groups, with a Champions Path and a League Path. The Champions Path consists of all the clubs that have won their respective league campaign but failed to automatically qualify for the league phase. The League Path is made up of teams who finished runners-up, third place or fourth place in their league but didn’t automatically qualify for the league phase.

This qualification process is made up of three rounds as well as a play-off round. The winners of the play-off round will advance into the league phase of the Champions League. Teams will either be seeded or unseeded when the draws for each round commence, with clubs who have a higher UEFA club coefficient being the teams that will be seeded. There is an equal split between seeded and unseeded clubs, with ties to be played over two legs in each round. For obvious reasons, clubs from countries that have political conflict cannot be drawn against each other.

💥 Projected Champions League - QR3 ties:

🇸🇪 Malmö vs 🇩🇰 FC Copenhagen
🇫🇮 KuPS vs 🇸🇰 Slovan Bratislava
🇵🇱 Lech Poznań vs 🇷🇸 Crvena zvezda
🇧🇬 Ludogorets vs 🇭🇺 Ferencváros
🇺🇦 Dynamo Kyiv vs 🇮🇱 Maccabi Tel Aviv
🇷🇴 FCSB vs 🇦🇿 Qarabağ

📢 Check our Page (☝️ in bio) for % chances. pic.twitter.com/jKYjocM8wC

— Football Rankings (@FootRankings) July 24, 2025

Champions Path

Clubs enter the qualifying stage at different points depending on their 2025 UEFA club coefficient ranking. 28 teams enter the first qualifying round, with the 14 winners entering the second qualifying round. The 14 losers drop down to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round, unless they receive a bye to the third qualifying round in the draw for the second qualifying round. 24 teams play in the second qualifying round, with a further 10 clubs joining the 14 winners from round one. The 12 winners advance to the third qualifying round, with the 12 losers going down into the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round.

The 12 clubs that made it to the third qualifying round then battle it out to make the play-off round, with the six winners advancing to this stage. The six clubs that lost enter the Europa League play-off round. As well as the six winners from the third round, four more teams enter the play-off stage. The winners of these five matches earn qualification to the league phase of the Champions League, with the five losing teams securing a place in the league phase of the Europa League.

League Path

The qualifying process begins in the second qualifying round as there is no first round of qualifying. Six teams enter this round, with the three winners advancing to the third qualifying round. The three losing clubs enter the Europa League third qualifying round. Five extra teams join the three winners to make eight teams in the third round of qualifying. The four winners then enter the play-off round, with the four losers entering the league phase of the Europa League. The two winners of the play-off round make it into the league phase of the Champions League. As for the two losing clubs, they enter the league phase of the Europa League.