All potential Champions League opponents for AEK known



With the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round over, the picture concerning potential opponents for AEK Athens in the third phase has become somewhat clearer. AGONAsport takes a closer look.



Watch PAOK begin their UEFA Champions League journey against Basel on Tuesday, July 24th LIVE from AGONAsport. Details here!

As Greek champions, AEK enter the competition at the third phase of qualifying in the Champions Route, needing to pass through two qualification rounds in order to make the prestigious group stages. On Monday, the Kitrinomavri will discover their opponents in the draw in Nyon (12:00 CET), with Salzburg and Celtic among the clubs involved.

AEK can only face a club in the seeded half of the draw. For example, AEK would like to be pitted against the winner of the Kukes - Qarabag second qualifying round pairing, but the Enosis are keen on avoiding Salzburg and Celtic/Rosenborg. Here are the seeded and unseeded halves:

SEEDED CLUBS/PAIRINGS (TEAMS WHICH AEK CAN PLAY AGAINST)

Salzburg (AUT)

Ludogorets (BUL) - Vidi (HUN)

Celtic (SCO) - Rosenborg (NOR)

Legia Warsaw (POL) - Spartak Trnava (SVK)

Astana (KAZ) - Midtjylland (DEN)

Kukes (ALB) - Qarabag (AZE)

UNSEEDED CLUBS/PAIRINGS (TEAMS WHICH AEK CANNOT PLAY AGAINST)

BATE Borisov (BLR) - HJK Helsinki (FIN)

Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) - Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR)

Shkendija (MKD) - Sheriff (MDA)

CFR Cluj (ROU) - Malmo (SWE)

Red Star Belgrade (SRB) - Suduva (LTU)

The first leg will be played on either the 7th or 8th of August, before the second game takes place one week later on August 14.

This will be the second consecutive year when AEK have competed in the Champions League third qualifying round, after the club dropped a lacklustre 0:3 aggregate defeat to CSKA Moscow in the 2017/2018 edition. Boss Marinos Ouzounidis will be hoping for a much better performance this time around.