2025–26 UEFA Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round
 | This article only references primary sources. (May 2025) |
The 2025–26 UEFA Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round will begin on 10 July and end on 28 August 2025.[1]
A total of 155 teams will compete in the qualifying system of the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League, which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 21 teams in the Champions Path and 134 teams in the Main Path. The 24 winners of the play-off round will advance to the league phase, to join the 12 losers of the Europa League play-off round.[2][3]
Format
[edit]The qualifying phase and play-off round will be split into two paths – the Champions Path and the Main Path. The Champions Path contains teams which were eliminated from the Champions League Champions Path, and the Europa League Champions Path and the Main Path contains teams which qualify through their domestic league or as domestic cup winners as well as teams eliminated from the Europa League Main Path.
Each tie will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs will advance to the next round. If the aggregate score is level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time will be played, and if the same number of goals is scored by both teams during extra time, the tie will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[4]
In the draws for each round, teams will be 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 will be 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 be known at the time of the draws, the seeding is carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to the subsequent round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient advances, it simply takes the seeding of its opponent.
Prior to the draws, UEFA can 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 cannot be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie can be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
Schedule
[edit]The schedule of the competition is as follows. Matches are scheduled for Thursdays, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.[1]
| Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round | 17 June 2025 | 10 July 2025 | 17 July 2025 |
| Second qualifying round | 18 June 2025 | 24 July 2025 | 31 July 2025 |
| Third qualifying round | 21 July 2025 | 7 August 2025 | 14 August 2025 |
| Play-off round | 4 August 2025 | 21 August 2025 | 28 August 2025 |
Teams
[edit]Champions Path
[edit]The Champions Path included league champions which were eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League and the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Europa League and consisted of the following rounds:
- Second qualifying round (12 teams): 12 of the 14 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round (two of the teams received a bye to the third qualifying round).
- Third qualifying round (8 teams): 6 winners of the second qualifying round, and 2 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round that received a bye.
- Play-off round (10 teams): 4 winners of the third qualifying round, and 6 losers of the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round.
Below were the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2025 UEFA club coefficients, not used as seeding for the Champions Path, however),[5] grouped by their starting rounds.
| Key to colours |
|---|
| Winners of play-off round advanced to league phase |
- Notes
- UEL CH Q3 Losers of Europa League third qualifying round (Champions Path).
- UCL Q1 Losers of Champions League first qualifying round.
Main Path
[edit]The Main Path includes league non-champions and domestic cup winners and consists of the following rounds:
- First qualifying round (52 teams): 52 teams which entered in this round.
- Second qualifying round (88 teams): 54 teams which entered in this round, 8 losers of the Europa League Main Path first qualifying round, and 26 winners of the first qualifying round.
- Third qualifying round (52 teams): 8 losers of the Europa League Main Path second qualifying round, and 44 winners of the second qualifying round.
- Play-off round (38 teams): 5 teams which entered this round, 7 losers of the Europa League Main Path third qualifying round, and 26 winners of the third qualifying round.
Below were the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2025 UEFA club coefficients),[5] grouped by their starting rounds.
| Key to colours |
|---|
| Winners of play-off round advanced to league phase |
|
|
|
- Notes
- UEL MP Q3 Losers of Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path).
- UEL MP Q2 Losers of Europa League second qualifying round (Main Path).
- UEL MP Q1 Losers of Europa League first qualifying round (Main Path).
First qualifying round
[edit]The draw for the first qualifying round will be held on 17 June 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 52 teams will play in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Second qualifying round
[edit]The draw for the second qualifying round will be held on 18 June 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 100 teams will play in the second qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
|
|
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Third qualifying round
[edit]The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 21 July 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 60 teams will play in the third qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Qualified teams |
|---|
|
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Play-off round
[edit]The draw for the play-off round will be held on 4 August 2025.
Seeding
[edit]A total of 48 teams will play in the play-off round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
| Qualified teams |
|---|
|
| Seeded | To be confirmed | Unseeded |
|---|---|---|
|
References
[edit]- ^ a b "UEFA club competitions cycle 2024–27 ("Post 2024")". UEFA Circular Letter. No. 36/2023. Union of European Football Associations. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ "Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League, 2023/24 Season". UEFA. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
- ^ "New format for Champions League post-2024: Everything you need to know". UEFA.com. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
- ^ "Abolition of the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions". UEFA. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Club coefficients". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 March 2025. Retrieved 30 March 2025.