Nice-Benfica and Feyenoord-Fenerbahce headline Champions League third qualifying round

With the second qualifying round of the 2025-26 Champions League still to be concluded, UEFA on Monday held the draw in Nyon (Switzerland) for the third qualifying round of Europe's premier club competition, featuring a notable tie between Nice and Benfica, and a clash between Feyenoord and Fenerbahce, managed by Jose Mourinho.

The qualification process for the 2025-26 Champions League, under its new format, involves several preliminary rounds to reach the final league stage of 36 teams, introduced last season.

It begins with a preliminary round of four teams, followed by three qualifying rounds and a final play-off. During the three qualifying rounds, teams are divided into the Champions Path, for champions of leagues considered smaller by UEFA, and the League Path, for teams from certain leagues that finished high in the table but did not win their respective leagues.

The draw for this third qualifying round has produced six two-legged ties in the Champions Path and four in the League Path. The first legs will be played on August 5 and 6, and the second legs on August 12. The full list of pairings is as follows:

Champions Path

- Winner of FC RFS (Latvia) vs Malmo FF (Sweden) will face the winner of FC Copenhagen (Denmark) vs FC Drita (Kosovo)

- Winner of KuPS Kuopio (Finland) vs FC Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan) will face the winner of SK Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) vs HSK Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

- Winner of Lech Poznan (Poland) vs Breidablik (Iceland) will face the winner of Licoln Red IMPS FC (Gibraltar) vs FK Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)

- Winner of HNK Rijeka (Croatia) vs Ludogorets 1945 (Bulgaria) will face the winner of FC Noah (Armenia) vs Ferencvaros (Hungary)

- Winner of Hamruns Spartans (Malta) vs FC Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) will face the winner of Pafos FC (Cyprus) vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)

- Winner of KF Shkendija (North Macedonia) vs FCSB (Romania) will face the winner of Shelbourne FC (Ireland) vs Qarabag (Azerbaijan).

League Path

- Winner of SK Brann (Norway) vs Salzburg (Austria) will face Club Brugge (Belgium).

- Winner of Rangers (Scotland) vs Panathinaikos (Greece) will face the winner of Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) vs Servette (Switzerland).

- Nice (France) - Benfica (Portugal)

- Feyenoord (Netherlands) - Fenerbahce (Turkey)