Football trips Champions League: These Clubs want to step up to the League stage

Champions League Football Trips with the dream destination, the final on May 30, 2026 in Budapest, are in high demand – round after round. We take a look at the teams for which you can purchase Champions League tickets, starting from the third qualifying round aiming for the league phase. 

No stars in Athens – But also no defeat for the Scottish co-record champion Glasgow Rangers FC on July 30, 2025. The "Gers" secured a 1-1 draw at Panathinaikos Athens to advance to the third round. The Rangers had previously won the first leg 2-0 at Ibrox. 

Champions League nights at Ibrox have a very special magic, as TV viewers across Europe last witnessed in 2022 during the then still existing group stage.

The Rangers missed out on the new league phase last year after a 1-1 and 0-2 against Dynamo Kyiv. They don’t want that to happen again this year. 

But experts like Rangers legend Kris Boyd see a lot of room for improvement under new coach Russell Martin: "They need to tighten up defensively, Panathinaikos posed many, many problems for the Rangers."

Champions League Football Trips: Glasgow Rangers and Djeidi Gassama, celebrating on July 30, 2025 after the 1-1 draw at Panathinaikos Athens, are also aiming for the league phase. Photo: Imago Images / Action Plus

Who do Glasgow Rangers play in the Champions League qualification?

These are the questions they must answer in the third round against Viktoria Plzen from the Czech Republic. Last year, after missing out on CL qualification, Rangers at least reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League against Athletic Bilbao (0:0 / 0:2). 

The third round also sees the third-placed Dutch team from last season, Feyenoord Rotterdam, entering the competition.

Feyenoord faces Fenerbahce Istanbul and star coach José Mourinho ("I never said I was the best, I just said I didn’t know anyone better.").

Tickets for Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Fenerbahce Istanbul are available on request.
The biggest local derby in the third qualifying round takes place on August 5 / 11, 2025 with Malmö FF vs FC Copenhagen. The perhaps greatest underdog ever in a Champions League or former European Cup final from Sweden (1979) has home advantage in the first leg against Danish FCK.

OGC Nice, who finished fourth in the French Ligue 1 for the 2024/2025 season, also has home advantage first at the Allianz Riviera against Portuguese record champions Benfica Lisbon.

Tickets for OGC Nice vs Benfica Lisbon are available on event-breaks.com upon request – for both legs.

A highlight of the third Champions League qualifying round is also the highly anticipated border duel between Red Bull Salzburg and Club Brugge. The Austrian serial champion clearly beat Brann Bergen from Norway 5-2 on aggregate and will play the first leg at home in Wals-Siezenheim.

When does Celtic Glasgow play in the Champions League?

The new Scottish co-record champion Celtic Glasgow will enter in the playoff round on August 19 / 27, 2025. The draw for these matches takes place on August 4. Last year, Celtic made it to the league phase and secured second place in the new CL table with a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava. 

When does the Champions League league phase begin?

The newly introduced league format of the Champions League by UEFA will start the 2025/2026 season on September 16 / 18.

Other matchdays include September 30 / October 1, October 21/22, November 4/5, November 25/26, December 9/10, January 20/21, 2026 and January 28, 2026. 

Which German clubs are automatically in the Champions League?

From the Bundesliga, the German champions FC Bayern Munich, runners-up Bayer Leverkusen, and third- and fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and BVB are automatically qualified for the league phase.

The English Premier League even sends six teams: champions FC Liverpool, runners-up FC Arsenal, FC Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur, who qualified via the Europa League win.

Who else is automatically qualified?

In addition to the Dutch teams PSV Eindhoven and Ajax Amsterdam, Olympiacos Piraeus has also secured a direct spot in the league phase. The two finalists of 2024/25, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, have already qualified through their domestic leagues, opening the path for the Greek champions to participate directly. 

Are there any debutants in the new Champions League season?

Yes. The Belgian champions Union Saint-Gilloise are already confirmed as the first newcomers in the Champions League before the playoffs.