Sporting are hoping for an English victory in the Europa League and a fourth=place finish in the Premier League to qualify directly for the league stage. If that doesn’t happen, Rui Borges’ team already has potential opponents.
Sporting continues to await Aston Villa’s results to determine if they will directly qualify for the Champions League group stage, and this Wednesday could bring developments regarding their start to the main European competition in 2026/27. The English team faces Freiburg in the Europa League final, and Sporting hopes for a victory for Unai Emery’s side in the European competition so that they can finish the English Premier League in fourth place next Sunday (which they currently occupy with 62 points).
If this happens, Aston Villa will grant direct qualification to the Champions League league stage to the non-national champion club with the best coefficient among those in the preliminary rounds. That club is Sporting, which, if not helped by Aston Villa, will have to play the third qualifying round and the play=off to try to reach the league stage. This will force the team coached by Rui Borges to start the season earlier, in a year that includes the World Cup and will already deprive international players of any possible rest.
Now, at this point, Sporting already know more or less who their potential opponents are, should they have to go through that qualification process. And they also know that, being the club with the best coefficient in the non-champions path (84.000), they will always be seeded in the third qualifying round and the play-off .
The scenarios for the third qualifying round: two certainties and eight more possibilities.
The third qualifying round of the non-champions path will be contested by eight clubs, and Sporting is one of the four seeded teams. On the non-seeded side, and potential opponents for Sporting, two of the four clubs are already confirmed : NEC Nijmegen (coefficient of 13.585) and Sparta Prague (38.250). The other two will be drawn from eight other possibilities at this stage.
One of them is Fenerbahçe (57,750) = seeded in the second qualifying round = or one of the three unseeded teams that could eventually eliminate the Turks in that round, which could be Sturm Graz (28,000), Hearts (11,500) or the Polish runner-up , with Gornik Zabrze being the second-placed Polish team with one matchday remaining, with 53 points, the same as Jagiellonia (third) and one more than Rákow (fourth with 52).
Sporting continues to await Aston Villa’s results to determine if they will directly qualify for the Champions League group stage, and this Wednesday could bring developments regarding their start to the main European competition in 2026/27. The English team faces Freiburg in the Europa League final, and Sporting hopes for a victory for Unai Emery’s side in the European competition so that they can finish the English Premier League in fourth place next Sunday (which they currently occupy with 62 points).
If this happens, Aston Villa will grant direct qualification to the Champions League league stage to the non=national champion club with the best coefficient among those in the preliminary rounds. That club is Sporting, which, if not “helped” by Aston Villa, will have to play the third qualifying round and the play-off to try to reach the league stage. This will force the team coached by Rui Borges to start the season earlier, in a year that includes the World Cup and will already deprive international players of any possible.
The scenarios for the third qualifying round: two certainties and eight more possibilities.
The third qualifying round of the non=champions path will be contested by eight clubs, and Sporting is one of the four seeded teams. On the non-seeded side, and potential opponents for Sporting, two of the four clubs are already confirmed : NEC Nijmegen (coefficient of 13.585) and Sparta Prague (38.250). The other two will be drawn from eight other possibilities at this stage.
One of them is Fenerbahçe (57,750) = seeded in the second qualifying round = or one of the three unseeded teams that could eventually eliminate the Turks in that round, which could be Sturm Graz (28,000), Hearts (11,500) or the Polish runner-up , with Gornik Zabrze being the second-placed Polish team with one matchday remaining, with 53 points, the same as Jagiellonia (third) and one more than Rakow (fourth with 52).
The other possible opponent in the third qualifying round will be Union St. Gilloise (48,000) or Olympiakos (62,250), with the Belgian team being more likely than the Greek one. St. Gilloise is currently second in the Belgian league (which enters the third qualifying round) and, with two rounds remaining, is four points behind Club Brugge, who are close to becoming Belgian champions and therefore entering directly into the league phase. If these positions remain the same, St. Gilloise becomes a possible opponent. Olympiakos, which is seeded in the second qualifying round, will only become a possible opponent at this stage if St. Gilloise wins the Belgian championship, something that would place Club Brugge (coefficient of 75,250), like Sporting, as a seeded team in the third qualifying round and the play-off.
On the side of the seeded teams in the third qualifying round, besides Sporting, there is Lyon (65,750), Bodo/Glimt (64,000) or the club that eliminates the Norwegians in the second qualifying round and, possibly, Olympiakos, if Club Brugge are crowned Belgian champions.
Sporting continues to await Aston Villa’s results to determine if they will directly qualify for the Champions League group stage, and this Wednesday could bring developments regarding their start to the main European competition in 2026/27. The English team faces Freiburg in the Europa League final, and Sporting hopes for a victory for Unai Emery’s side in the European competition so that they can finish the English Premier League in fourth place next Sunday (which they currently occupy with 62 points).
If this happens, Aston Villa will grant direct qualification to the Champions League league stage to the non=national champion club with the best coefficient among those in the preliminary rounds. That club is Sporting, which, if not “helped” by Aston Villa, will have to play the third qualifying round and the play=off to try to reach the league stage. This will force the team coached by Rui Borges to start the season earlier, in a year that includes the World Cup and will already deprive international players of any possible rest.
The scenarios for the third qualifying round: two certainties and eight more possibilities.
The third qualifying round of the non-champions path will be contested by eight clubs, and Sporting is one of the four seeded teams. On the non-seeded side, and potential opponents for Sporting, two of the four clubs are already confirmed : NEC Nijmegen (coefficient of 13.585) and Sparta Prague (38.250). The other two will be drawn from eight other possibilities at this stage.
One of them is Fenerbahçe (57,750) = seeded in the second qualifying round = or one of the three unseeded teams that could eventually eliminate the Turks in that round, which could be Sturm Graz (28,000), Hearts (11,500) or the Polish runner-up , with Gornik Zabrze being the second-placed Polish team with one matchday remaining, with 53 points, the same as Jagiellonia (third) and one more than Rakow (fourth with 52).
The other possible opponent in the third qualifying round will be Union St. Gilloise (48,000) or Olympiakos (62,250), with the Belgian team being more likely than the Greek one. St. Gilloise is currently second in the Belgian league (which enters the third qualifying round) and, with two rounds remaining, is four points behind Club Brugge, who are close to becoming Belgian champions and therefore entering directly into the league phase. If these positions remain the same, St. Gilloise becomes a possible opponent. Olympiakos, which is seeded in the second qualifying round, will only become a possible opponent at this stage if St. Gilloise wins the Belgian championship, something that would place Club Brugge (coefficient of 75,250), like Sporting, as a seeded team in the third qualifying round and the play-off.
On the side of the seeded teams in the third qualifying round, besides Sporting, there is Lyon (65,750), Bodo/Glimt (64,000) or the club that eliminates the Norwegians in the second qualifying round and, possibly, Olympiakos, if Club Brugge are crowned Belgian
And in the playoffs?
Also seeded in the final qualifying round before the league phase, Sporting knows that it can never face Club Brugge if the current leader of the Belgian league loses the championship to St. Gilloise.
On the other hand, while Sporting might avoid Lyon, Bodo/Glimt, and possibly Olympiakos in the third qualifying round, the same cannot be said if they reach the play-offs. If they do reach the play-offs, Bodo/Glimt and Olympiakos are potential opponents. Lyon could only be a possibility if Club Brugge fails to win the Belgian championship and has to go through qualifying.
The draw for the third qualifying round will take place on July 20th, before the conclusion of the second qualifying round (played on July 21st/22nd and July 28th/29th): since the three teams that qualify from the second qualifying round will not yet be known at the time of the draw, the draw will, by default, include the team with the best coefficient from the second qualifying round matches. The third qualifying round will be played on August 4th/5th (first leg) and August 11th (second leg).