Football Trips Champions League: Thrilling Playoffs on the Way to the League stage

Football Trips Champions League 2025/26 have the Final in Budapest as a dream destination. Four German teams and six clubs from the English Premier League are already set for the league phase, which will experience its second edition starting in September. But for twelve clubs, it's all about six remaining spots in the playoffs starting August 19, 2025.

From personal experience and after 20 turbulent years with SPORT BILD, I can tell you: the playoffs are incredibly intense.

I personally witnessed a do-or-die scenario in the Champions League playoffs in August 2022, when PSV Eindhoven and Glasgow Rangers Football Club battled for a spot in what was then still the group stage – the Scots came out on top, winning on an unforgettable day in Eindhoven 1-0.

Champions League Playoffs: All or Nothing with Rangers vs. Club Brugge

On August 27, Rangers will have to travel 175 kilometers southwest to the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges to fight for their ticket to the big CL stage.

Club Brugge launched a comeback in the second leg on August 12, 2025, in the third qualifying round against Austrian runners-up RB Salzburg, overturning a 0-2 halftime deficit to win 3-2 (first leg in Wals-Siezenheim: 1-0).

Carlos Forbs, who scored the pivotal 2-2 equalizer, electrified the Belgian fans and left the Austrian commentators on Servus TV speechless…

Glasgow Rangers prevailed over Viktoria Plzen with a 4-2 aggregate. Another dominant performance like their 3-0 win on August 5 will be needed against the traditional Belgian club from Bruges.

"Bruges is a good team, but that's what you expect in the Champions League," said Rangers midfielder Lyall Cameron after the game in Plzen to BBC Sport, "we want to prove we can compete at the highest level. Hopefully we’ll succeed."

Well, hopefully… Champions League trips and nights at Ibrox are magical. Tickets for Glasgow Rangers vs. Club Brugge are available on request at event-breaks.com.

Who will Celtic Glasgow face in the playoffs?

Magical Champions League nights are also well known in “Paradise”, Celtic Park, home of Rangers' city and arch-rivals Celtic FC.
The atmosphere is just as electric here, as "The Bhoys" will first host Qairat Almaty from Kazakhstan on August 20. The new Scottish co-record champions were seeded for the playoffs, having stormed to second place in the new league phase last year with a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava.

"I’d love it if the league ended now and we’d play Bayern in the final," joked Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers. And indeed, he got that final in the playoffs to the round of 16 – a 1:2 and 1:1 against FC Bayern Munich. Just seconds short of the first Scottish win in Munich.

Ticket inquiries for Celtic Glasgow vs. Qairat.

A high-profile direct duel is also the clash between FC Basel and FC Copenhagen. The Danish record champions come to Switzerland with former BVB star Youssoufa Moukoko and a 5-0 aggregate win over Malmö FF.

The Danish FCK has already appeared in the Champions League group stage seven times, most recently in 2023 in a group with BVB and Manchester City.

Back then, they reached the round of 16.

When does the Champions League league phase take place?

The new league format introduced by UEFA last year will begin its 2025/2026 season on September 16/18.

Further matchdays: 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 already qualified for the Champions League?

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

The English Premier League even provides 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 sides PSV Eindhoven and Ajax Amsterdam, Olympiakos Piraeus also secured a direct place in the league phase. The two finalists from 2024/25, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, qualified through their national leagues, which opened up a spot for the Greek champions.

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 competition before the playoffs.