The Champions League qualifying rounds are the annual reminder that European football extends far beyond the super-clubs that dominate the knockout stages every spring. From the preliminary round, which begins with semi-professional sides from San Marino and Andorra, to the playoff round where Champions Path underdogs face clubs from Europe’s top 15 leagues, the journey to the league phase is filled with potential for chaos. Here are the clubs from the 2026-27 qualifying campaign most capable of delivering a surprise and reaching the 36-team league phase.
Celtic: The Champions Path Giant Slayer Candidate
Celtic enter the Champions Path from a position of unusual strength. Brendan Rodgers’ side swept the Scottish domestic treble for the third time under his leadership, and their recent Champions League pedigree — a Round of 16 appearance in 2024-25 and a league phase campaign that included a win over Atletico Madrid — suggests a club that has closed the gap on Europe’s middle tier. With a settled squad featuring Callum McGregor and Kyogo Furuhashi, Celtic are not an underdog in the traditional sense, but drawing a club from the Netherlands, Portugal, or Belgium in the playoff round would set up a genuine 50-50 tie. The Champions Path has historically been unforgiving to Scottish champions; this Celtic side is better equipped than any in the last decade to navigate it.
FC Copenhagen: The Coefficient Accumulator
FC Copenhagen have quietly become one of Europe’s most reliable qualifiers. The Danish champions reached the Champions League round of 16 as recently as 2023-24, and their domestic dominance — four Superliga titles in five seasons — has given them a coefficient ranking that now places them among the seeded teams in the Champions Path. Copenhagen’s home form at a raucous Parken Stadium is the equalizer: they have beaten Manchester United, Manchester City, and Sevilla there in recent European campaigns. The club’s recruitment model — developing and selling talent from across Scandinavia while retaining a core of experienced internationals — is sustainable and proven. Copenhagen are not a team that top seeds will want to face in the playoff round.
Galatasaray: The Turkish Champion Nobody Wants to Draw
Galatasaray enter the League Path with a squad that would be competitive in the top half of any major European league. The 2025-26 Turkish Super Lig champions — their third successive title — have retained the core of a team that reached the Champions League league phase last season and pushed several elite clubs to the limit. The January acquisition of a high-profile striker and the continued presence of an experienced core built around European-tested veterans make Galatasaray the most dangerous unseeded team in the League Path. Turkish clubs have historically underperformed in qualifying relative to their wage bills; this Galatasaray team has the talent and the experience to break that pattern.
Union Saint-Gilloise: Belgium’s Quiet Machine
Union Saint-Gilloise’s rise from the Belgian second division to the Champions League qualifying rounds in less than five years is one of European football’s best stories — and they are not finished. The Brussels club has finished in the top three of the Belgian Pro League for four consecutive seasons, and their data-driven recruitment model — targeting undervalued talent from across Europe’s second-tier leagues — has produced a squad with depth, tactical flexibility, and no fear of more illustrious opponents. Union reached the Europa League quarter-finals in 2024-25, beating Bayer Leverkusen along the way, and they enter the 2026-27 Champions League qualifying rounds with genuine belief that they can reach the league phase for the first time in club history. Their pressing system under head coach Karel Geraerts is difficult to prepare for on short notice — a significant advantage in two-legged qualifying ties.
The Preliminary Round: Where It All Begins
The Champions League qualifying journey begins months before the playoff round with the preliminary round — a four-team mini-tournament featuring champions from Europe’s smallest associations: San Marino, Andorra, Gibraltar, and Malta in recent seasons. These are semi-professional clubs whose annual budgets are smaller than what a Premier League club spends on catering. The winner of the preliminary round advances to the first qualifying round, and while the gap in resources is vast, the format of a single-elimination tournament played at a neutral venue introduces the kind of variance that can produce a genuine fairy tale. In 2024-25, FC Santa Coloma of Andorra reached the second qualifying round before falling to a club from the Faroe Islands — a run that earned their association enough coefficient points to improve its standing for years. These stories do not make global headlines, but they are the soul of the Champions League qualification process.
Sources
- UEFA — 2026/27 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round draw procedure (July 2026)
- UEFA — Champions League 2026/27 entries confirmed and access list (July 2026)
- The Athletic — Champions League 2026/27 qualifying round guide and potential matchups (July 2026)