Today concluded the third round of qualifying for this year's version of the Champions League. Many of these clubs are probably ones you have not heard much about, as their leagues are not of high quality and prominence. The round's shock came with Swedish champions Malmo FF defeating Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers 2-1 on aggregate. Much criticism has gathered around Scottish football recently, with the national team struggling and the domestic teams in decline on the European stage. Hearts' owner Vladimir Romanov criticized both sides of the SFA recently, and while his rant is a bit disorganized, it is hard to ignore. Both Scottish and Swedish football are not at the level they once were, but Rangers should be able to take out Malmo in a two-legged tie. Scottish football will go another year without a representative in the group stages, while Denmark have two teams still in contention, and Belarus, Cyprus and Poland's champions are still alive.
At the third round and in the playoff round, the qualifying for the UCL splits into two. There is the Champions route, which contains teams that won their league, and the non-Champions route, which contains teams that qualifying based on league position. The teams in the Champions route are weaker teams from smaller countries, while the non-Champions contain juggernauts like Arsenal and Bayern. Of the 10 teams in the Champions route attempting to qualify for the group stages, there are a few with a chance to make some noise later in the tournament. Danish champions FC Copenhagen seem a good bet to make it through, as they are one of the bigger clubs in this stage of qualifying, and made the knockout stages of last year's edition before losing to Chelsea. Maccabi Haifa, the Israeli champions, could also be a tough out, as Israeli football has been steadily improving over the last few year's of the Champions League. The last team that could really make an impact is APOEL FC, the Cypriot champions. Despite going 0-3-3 in their inaugural appearance in the group stages two seasons ago, APOEL did not lose a game by more than a single goal and managed to draw Atletico Madrid, that season's Europa League champions, home and away. If these squads reach the group stages, they have the ability and experience to cause some trouble for the bigger clubs in Europe.
The draw for the play-off round is Friday afternoon. On the Champions side, the seeded teams will be looking to play Malmo FF, while the non-seeded teams will be looking to avoid Copenhagen. On the non-Champions side, the seeded sides will be looking to draw Odense BK, while the non-seeded sides will look to avoid Arsenal. After the draw on Friday comes the English Community Shield between Manchester United and Manchester City this Sunday, which should be a good one. Next week comes a preview of the upcoming Premier League season, as well as a brief outlook on the Champions League match-ups.
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