A total of 52 teams competed in the qualifying system of the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League, which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 42 teams in Champions Path and 10 teams in League Path. The six winners in the play-off round (four from Champions Path, two from League Path) advanced to the group stage, to join the 26 teams that entered in the group stage.[2]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Each tie, apart from the preliminary round, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals were scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out.[4]
In the preliminary round, the semi-finals and final were played as a single match hosted by one of the participating teams. If the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals were scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out.
In the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. A seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs (or the administrative "home" team in the preliminary round matches) in each tie decided by draw. As the identity of the winners of the previous round were not known at the time of the draws, the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advanced to the subsequent round, which meant if the team with the lower coefficient was to advance, it would simply take the seeding of its opponent. Prior to the draws, UEFA could form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee purely for the convenience of the draw and not to resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA could not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie could be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
The schedule of the qualifying phase and play-off round of the competition was as follows.[6][7][8] All matches were played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays apart from the preliminary round final.
Schedule for 2023–24 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round
The preliminary round consisted of two semi-finals on 27 June 2023 and a final on 30 June 2023. The draw for the preliminary round was held on 13 June 2023.
A total of four teams played in the preliminary round. Seeding of teams was based on their 2023 UEFA club coefficients,[3] with two seeded teams and two unseeded teams in the semi-finals. The matches took place at Kópavogsvöllur in Kópavogur, Iceland. For administrative purposes, the home team in each draw were the first team drawn in each tie in the semi-finals. The same applied for the final draw, between the two winners of the semi-finals, whose identity was not known at the time of draw.
A total of 30 teams played in the first qualifying round: 29 teams which entered in this round, and 1 winner of the preliminary round. Seeding of teams was based on their 2023 UEFA club coefficients.[3] For the winner of the preliminary round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team was used. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed three groups of five seeded teams and five unseeded teams in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.
† Winner of the preliminary round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw. Teams in italics defeated a team with a higher coefficient, thus effectively taking the coefficient of their opponent in the draw.
A total of 24 teams played in the second qualifying round. They were divided into two paths:
Champions Path (20 teams): 5 teams which entered in this round, and 15 winners of first qualifying round.
League Path (4 teams): 4 teams which entered in this round.
Seeding of teams was based on their 2023 UEFA club coefficients.[3] For the winners of first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed three groups for the champions path draw in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee: two groups that produce three ties each (Groups 1 and 2) and one with four ties (Group 3). The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.
† Winners of first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw. Teams in italics defeated a team with a higher coefficient, thus effectively taking the coefficient of their opponent in the draw.
A total of 20 teams played in the third qualifying round. They were divided into two paths:
Champions Path (12 teams): 2 teams which entered in this round, and 10 winners of the second qualifying round (Champions Path).
League Path (8 teams): 6 teams which entered in this round, and 2 winners of the second qualifying round (League Path).
Seeding of teams was based on their 2023 UEFA club coefficients.[3] For the winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.
† Winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw. Teams in italics defeated a team with a higher coefficient, thus effectively taking the coefficient of their opponent in the draw.
The first legs were played on 8, 9 and 15 August, and the second legs were played on 15 and 19 August 2023.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective path. The Champions Path losers were transferred to the Europa League play-off round, while the League Path losers were transferred to the Europa League group stage.
Atlètic Club d'Escaldes
Budućnost Podgorica
Breiðablik
Tre Penne
The New Saints 
Ludogorets Razgrad 
Struga 
Ferencváros 
Valmiera 
Larne 
Qarabağ 
Flora 
Swift Hesperange 
Sheriff Tiraspol 
Maccabi Haifa 
Zrinjski Mostar 
BATE Borisov 
Dinamo Tbilisi 
89'
Galatasaray 
Molde 
Copenhagen 
Panathinaikos 
Genk 
Sparta Prague 
TSC 
Marseille