Starting from the 2009/ 10 season, there will be four rounds of qualifiers (the fourth round is a play-off) before the Champions League group stage, all of which are home and away two rounds of elimination, and another ten places will be decided to enter the group stage. There are two ways to participate in the Champions League qualifiers: the champion way and the ranking way.
The champion enters the group stage:
In the first round of qualifiers, the national champions of the Football Association ranked 48 to 53 in UEFA points. * * * Six teams were divided into two pairs for two rounds of home and away matches, and three winners entered the second round of qualifiers. The champions of 3 1 countries (except Liechtenstein) ranked by UEFA from 16 to 47 directly entered the second round of qualifiers.
In the second qualifying round, 34 teams were eliminated in pairs of 17, and the winner of 17 entered the third qualifying round. Among the national league champions ranked by UEFA 13 to 15, ***3 teams directly entered the third round of qualifiers.
In the third qualifying round, 20 teams were eliminated in pairs of 10. 10 The winning team enters the play-offs (the fourth qualifying round).
In the fourth round of qualifiers (play-offs), 10 teams were divided into five pairs for home and away two-round knockout, and the top five entered the Champions League group stage.
How to enter the group stage:
The sixth runner-up of UEFA and the ninth runner-up of UEFA entered the third round of qualifiers directly with 15. This 10 team was divided into five pairs for elimination, and the winners of the five pairs entered the play-offs together with the runner-up of the Football Association ranked 1 to the third place in Europe and the runner-up of the Football Association ranked fourth to fifth. 10 teams were also eliminated in five pairs, and the winners of the five pairs entered the Champions League group stage.
The main purpose of separating the two qualifying methods is that teams that enter the qualifiers through championship and ranking methods will not meet in the qualifiers. Teams eliminated in the third qualifying round will enter the play-offs of the European League (the fourth qualifying round).
Members of the European Football Federation (UEFA):
Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Scotland, Spain, England, Wales, Ireland, Malta, Macedonia, Andorra, Turkey, Israel, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Austria and Belgium. Faroe Islands, Georgia, Latvia, Cyprus, Armenia, Belarus, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Slovenia, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina.