The play-off draw for the Champions League football has pitted the winner of the third qualifying round tie between France’s Lille and Turkey’s Fenerbahçe against Union Saint-Gilloise, according to Monday’s announcement made in Nyon, Switzerland.
However, Belgium’s second-placed team will first need to beat the Czech Republic’s runners-up, Slavia Prague, in the third preliminary round. The first game is set for Wednesday (19:00) in the Czech capital, with the return fixture scheduled for Tuesday, 13 August (20:30) at Lotto Park in Anderlecht, as Union's Duden Park is too small for UEFA regulations.
The play-offs against Lille or Fenerbahçe are due to be played on 20-21 August (first leg) and 27-28 August (return leg). UEFA will officially confirm times on Monday evening. The first match would be an away fixture for Union.
If Union are knocked out, they will move into the Europa League play-offs where RSC Anderlecht, third in the last Jupiler Pro League, already has a spot and Cercle Bruges could potentially join them.
Club Bruges, Belgium’s champions, are directly qualified for the group phase of the reformed Champions League 2024-2025. This sees the group stage increase from 32 to 36 clubs.
Out of 29 teams going straight into the group stage, seven more will qualify after the play-offs: five via the Champions’ route, two via the national league route.
The winners of each group will advance to the last 16. Second and third-place teams will compete in play-offs to reach the last 16 stage too, while the fourth-placed teams will be eliminated.
Anderlecht face trip to Gibraltar or Minsk
Brussels side RSC Anderlecht and Cercle Brugge also discovered their UEFA Europa League fate, with games due to take place on August 22 and 29, with the timetable and precise details to be released on 9 August.
Having achieved third place in the last Jupiler Pro League, Anderlecht enters the competition at this stage, securing a match with the third qualifying round victor between Dinamo Minsk of Belarus and Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps. Their matches are set for August 8 and 15. Anderlecht's return play-off game will be held in Belgium on August 29.
Fourth-placed in the league, Cercle Brugge could join the play-offs if they beat Norway's Molde in the third qualification round, the opening match being held on Thursday in Norway and the return game scheduled for August 15 at Jan Breydel.
If qualified, Cercle Brugge will encounter the winner of the match between Croatia's HNK Rijeka and Sweden's IF Elfsborg, also third round contenders, with their matches on August 8 and 15, starting in Croatia. Provided they qualify, Cercle Brugge's opening play-off will be held in Belgium on August 22.
Cercle Brugge entered the Europa League in the second qualification round, defeating Scotland's Kilmarnock 2-1 on aggregate (1-1 and 1-0 in favour).
The 12 teams who triumph in the play-offs will join the group stages of the Europa League, comprising of 36 teams. Lost teams will be transferred into the group stages of the Conference League.
