Tottenham Hotspur have booked a place in the Champions League for next season thanks to Europa League triumph.
Tottenham Hotspur have endured a dire Premier League campaign but have nonetheless booked a spot in the Champions League next season thanks to triumph in the Europa League.
A Brennan Johnson goal was enough to secure the win for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who will now line up against the biggest teams in Europe as they return to the Champions League. Spurs last featured in the tournament during the 2022/23 season but were knocked out by AC Milan in the Round of 16.
The north London club made it all the way to the Champions League final in 2019 but lost 2-0 to Premier League rivals Liverpool. LondonWorld looks at how the Champions League is shaping up for the 2025/26 campaign.
First qualifying round
A total of 28 teams take part in the first qualifying round with the draw to be made on June 17. Who plays who will be influenced by the clubs’ 2025 UEFA club coefficients.
There are no Premier League teams involved in this early stage but the clubs who will take part are as follows:
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)
FCSB (Romania)
Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Malmö FF (Sweden)
Žalgiris (Lithuania)
RFS (Latvia)
KuPS (Finland)
Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar)
The New Saints (Wales)
Drita (Kosovo)
Breiðablik (Iceland)
Linfield (Northern Ireland)
Budućnost Podgorica (Montenegro)
Winners of the 2024–25 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Inter Club d'Escaldes (Andorra)
Shkëndija (North Macedonia)
FCI Levadia (Estonia)
Dinamo Minsk (Belarus)
Hamrun Spartans (Malta)
Kairat (Kazakhstan)
Milsami Orhei (Moldova)
Noah (Armenia)
Differdange 03 (Luxembourg)
Iberia 1999 (Georgia)
Víkingur (Faroe Islands)
Shelbourne (Republic of Ireland)
Egnatia (Albania)
Virtus (San Marino)
Second qualifying round
Once the first qualifying round matches have been played, winning teams will then join new entrants for the second qualifying round. A total of 30 teams feature here and the draw is set to take place on June 18.
There are still no Premier League clubs involved but this is where Scottish Premiership side Rangers will enter the competition. The clubs entering the competition at this stage are:
Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Qarabağ (Azerbaijan)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)
Winners of the 2024–25 Danish Superliga
Winners of the 2024–25 Israeli Premier League
Pafos (Cyprus)
Winners of the 2024–25 Croatian Football League
Winners of the 2024–25 Ekstraklasa
Winners of the 2024–25 Nemzeti Bajnokság I
Rangers (Scotland)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
Brann (Norway)
Second place of the 2024–25 Czech First League
Second place of the 2024–25 Swiss Super League
Second place of the 2024–25 Austrian Football Bundesliga
Third qualifying round
A total of 20 teams will then compete in the third qualifying round with a draw to be made on July 21. Again, there are no Premier League clubs at this stage but some European giants do get involved here. The clubs that enter in the third qualifying round are:
Benfica (Portugal)
Feyenoord (Netherlands)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)
Runners-up of the 2024/25 Belgian Pro League
Nice
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round will be held on August 4. This is the final stage before the League phase with 14 teams taking part. The new teams entering at this point are:
Bodo/Glimt (Norway)
Celtic (Scotland)
Basel (Switzerland)
Winners of the 2024/25 Austrian Football Bundesliga
League phase
This is when the meat of the Champions League kicks off. The draw will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on August 28 with 36 teams divided into four pots of nine teams based on the UEFA club coefficient.
The 36 teams are manually drawn and then automated software selects their random eight different opponents. Each team faces two teams from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. Any single team cannot play a rival from their own association - so Premier League sides will not meet here.
The teams currently qualified for the league phase are:
Real Madrid (Spain)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Liverpool (England)
Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Inter Milan (Italy)
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Barcelona (Spain)
Arsenal (England)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Atlético Madrid (Spain)
Atalanta (Italy)
Villarreal (Spain)
Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Ajax (Netherlands)
Napoli (Italy)
Sporting CP (Portugal)
Olympiacos (Greece)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Marseille (France)
Monaco (France)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
Tottenham Hotspur (England)
In other news, The 21 teams already confirmed to join Crystal Palace in Europa League 2025/26.
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