The 2024–25 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 9 July and ended on 28 August 2024.[1]
A total of 52 teams competed in the qualifying system, which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 42 teams in the Champions Path and 10 teams in the League Path. The seven winners in the play-off round (five from Champions Path, two from League Path) advanced to the league phase, to join the 29 teams that entered it.[2]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
The qualifying phase and play-off round was split into two paths – the Champions Path and the League Path. The Champions Path contained teams which qualified as the winners of their domestic league, and the League Path contained teams which qualified as runners-up, third-placed or fourth-placed teams from their domestic league.
Each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals was scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was determined by a penalty shoot-out.[3]
In the draws for each round, teams were 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 was 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 have been known at the time of the draws, the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advanced to the subsequent round, which meant if the team with the lower coefficient advanced, it would simply take the seeding of its opponent. Prior to the draws, UEFA could 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 could not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie could be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
The schedule of the competition was as follows. All matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.[1]
| Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round | 18 June 2024 | 9–10 July 2024 | 16–17 July 2024 | |
| Second qualifying round | 19 June 2024 | 23–24 July 2024 | 30–31 July 2024 | |
| Third qualifying round | 22 July 2024 | 6–7 August 2024 | 13 August 2024 | |
| Play-off round | 5 August 2024 | 20–21 August 2024 | 27–28 August 2024 |
The Champions Path included all league champions which did not qualify directly for the league phase, and consisted of the following rounds:
All teams eliminated from the Champions Path entered either the Europa League or the Conference League:
Below were the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2024 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
| Key to colours | |
|---|---|
| Winners of play-off round advanced to league phase | |
| Losers of play-off round entered Europa League league phase | |
| Losers of third qualifying round entered Europa League play-off round | |
| Losers of second qualifying round entered Europa League third qualifying round | |
| Losers of the first qualifying round that received a bye entered Conference League third qualifying round | |
| Losers of the first qualifying round entered Conference League second qualifying round |
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The League Path included all league non-champions which did not qualify directly for the league phase, and consisted of the following rounds:
All teams eliminated from the League Path entered the Europa League:
Below were the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2024 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
| Key to colours | |
|---|---|
| Winners of play-off round advanced to league phase | |
| Losers of play-off round entered Europa League league phase | |
| Losers of third qualifying round entered Europa League league phase | |
| Losers of second qualifying round entered Europa League third qualifying round |
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The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2024.
A total of 28 teams played in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. 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.[4] The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Seeded | width=17% | Unseeded | width=16% | Seeded | width=17% | Unseeded | width=16% | Seeded | width=17% | Unseeded | |
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | |||||||
The first legs were played on 9 and 10 July, and the second legs were played on 16 and 17 July 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Champions Path second qualifying round. 12 of the 14 losers were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round and 2 were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path qualifying and received a bye to the third qualifying round.
Slovan Bratislava won 6–3 on aggregate.----The New Saints won 4–1 on aggregate.----2–2 on aggregate. Borac Banja Luka won 4–1 on penalties.----1–1 on aggregate. Lincoln Red Imps won 5–4 on penalties.----3–3 on aggregate. UE Santa Coloma won 6–5 on penalties.----Celje won 7–1 on aggregate.----KÍ won 2–0 on aggregate.----Panevėžys won 4–1 on aggregate.----RFS won 7–0 on aggregate.----Shamrock Rovers won 2–1 on aggregate.----FCSB won 11–1 on aggregate.----Ludogorets Razgrad won 3–2 on aggregate.----Petrocub Hîncești won 1–0 on aggregate.----Dinamo Minsk won 1–0 on aggregate.
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2024.
A total of 28 teams played in the second qualifying round – 24 in the Champions Path and 4 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA allocated the teams into three groups of four seeded and four unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
| Group 2 | Group 3 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Seeded | width=17% | Unseeded | width=16% | Seeded | width=17% | Unseeded | width=16% | Seeded | width=17% | Unseeded | |
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | |||||||
| width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 23 and 24 July, and the second legs were played on 30 and 31 July 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round of their respective path. The Champions Path losers were transferred to the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round, while the League Path losers were transferred to the Europa League Main Path third qualifying round.
Ludogorets Razgrad won 2–1 on aggregate.----APOEL won 2–1 on aggregate.----Ferencváros won 7–1 on aggregate.----PAOK won 4–2 on aggregate.----Bodø/Glimt won 7–1 on aggregate.----Malmö FF won 6–4 on aggregate.----Sparta Prague won 6–2 on aggregate.----Midtjylland won 4–0 on aggregate.----Slovan Bratislava won 6–1 on aggregate.----Jagiellonia Białystok won 7–1 on aggregate.----Qarabağ won 7–0 on aggregate.----FCSB won 2–1 on aggregate.
Fenerbahçe won 6–4 on aggregate.----Dynamo Kyiv won 9–2 on aggregate.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 22 July 2024.
A total of 20 teams played in the third qualifying round – 12 in the Champions Path and 8 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
| Group 2 | ||||||||
| width=25% | Seeded | width=25% | Unseeded | width=25% | Seeded | width=25% | Unseeded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
| width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 6 and 7 August, and the second legs were played on 13 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective paths. The Champions Path losers were transferred to the Europa League play-off round, while the League Path losers were transferred to the Europa League league phase.
Qarabağ won 8–4 on aggregate.----Slovan Bratislava won 2–0 on aggregate.----Sparta Prague won 4–3 on aggregate.----Malmö FF won 6–5 on aggregate.----Midtjylland won 3–1 on aggregate.----Bodø/Glimt won 5–1 on aggregate.
Slavia Prague won 4–1 on aggregate.----Lille won 3–2 on aggregate.----Dynamo Kyiv won 3–1 on aggregate.----Red Bull Salzburg won 5–4 on aggregate.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2024.
A total of 14 teams played in the play-off round – 10 in the Champions Path and 4 in the League Path. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[5] Before the draw, UEFA could form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
| width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top |
| width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 20 and 21 August, and the second legs were played on 27 and 28 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the league phase. The losers were transferred to the Europa League league phase.
Young Boys won 4–2 on aggregate.----Dinamo Zagreb won 5–0 on aggregate.----Slovan Bratislava won 4–3 on aggregate.----Red Star Belgrade won 3–2 on aggregate.----Sparta Prague won 4–0 on aggregate.
Lille won 3–2 on aggregate.----Red Bull Salzburg won 3–1 on aggregate.