The UEFA Champions League is one of the most followed global competitions every season, but before the start of the league phase competitions, there is a long series of preliminary rounds.
29 teams have qualified directly to the league phase of the 2026-2027 UEFA Champions League, while the remaining seven seats will be decided through the qualifiers, which consist of the first preliminary round, then the second, then the third, before the play-off round.
Starting from the second preliminary round, each stage is divided into two paths: the Champions path and the League path, where the first includes teams that qualified as champions of their domestic leagues, while the second includes teams that qualified through domestic leagues that have more than one seat in the tournament.
UEFA has designed the qualification system for European club championships to ensure that teams from at least 37 national associations reach the league phase in the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, or the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Mounsef Bekkari in a Swiss mission
Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb are participating in the second preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League, with Croatian reports indicating that Al Ahly have agreed to delay Mounsef Bekkari's joining their ranks until after playing the home and away matches against Swiss side Thun.
Dinamo Zagreb face Swiss side Thun on July 21, in the first leg of the second preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League, while the second leg will be played on the 28th of the same month.
Also participating in that round is Romanian side Universitatea Craiova, which includes in its ranks the Palestinian player Asad Al-Hamlawi, who is a candidate to move to Al Ahly during the current summer transfer window.
Salah's future
Turkish club Fenerbahçe is one of the most prominent teams in the running to sign Mohamed Salah, the former Liverpool star, according to foreign press reports.
Turkish side Fenerbahçe are participating in the second preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League, where they face Polish side Górnik Zabrze, with the first leg on July 21, before the second leg is played on the 28th of the same month.
In the following lines, Yalla Koura reviews the most prominent matches of the second preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League.
First leg matches.. Tuesday, July 21
Champions path
Iberia Tbilisi of Georgia vs Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia
Aarhus of Denmark vs Lech Poznań of Poland
Thun of Switzerland vs Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia
Larne of Ireland vs Red Star of Serbia
League path
Fenerbahçe of Turkey vs Górnik of Poland
Sturm Graz of Austria vs Hearts of Scotland
Wednesday, July 22.. Champions path
Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus vs Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan
Levski Sofia of Bulgaria vs Universitatea Craiova of Romania
Second leg matches.. Tuesday, July 28
Champions path
Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia vs Thun of Switzerland
League path
Hearts of Scotland vs Sturm Graz of Austria
Wednesday, July 29.. Champions path
Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan vs Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus
Lech Poznań of Poland vs Aarhus of Denmark
Universitatea Craiova of Romania vs Levski Sofia of Bulgaria
Red Star of Serbia vs Larne of Ireland
League path
Górnik of Poland vs Fenerbahçe of Turkey.
