On Wednesday, 19 August 2026, the remaining first legs of the Champions League qualifying play-offs were played. Teams that get through this round will earn places in the main stage of the tournament, while the decisive second legs will take place just a week later — on 25 and 26 August. The matchday was high-scoring and largely defined the favourites in the ties, with the Norwegian and Scottish clubs looking noticeably stronger than their opponents.
Match of the day: Bodø/Glimt crushed Nijmegen
The main event of the day was the Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt's away win over Dutch side Nijmegen, 3-1. The Norwegians opened the scoring in the 25th minute through Fette, doubled their lead in stoppage time of the first half — Halvorsen converted a penalty in the 44th minute — and Alesami made it 3-0 in the 50th minute. Nijmegen's only goal came from Bischoff, scored only in the 85th minute, by which time the match was effectively decided. Thus, the Norwegians head into the second leg with a comfortable two-goal cushion.
Celtic comfortably dispatched LASK
Scottish side Celtic left Austrian side LASK with no chance at home, winning 3-0. Nürgner opened the scoring in the 26th minute, while Duran completed a brace, scoring in the 38th and 67th minutes. The Glasgow side played the match in a calm, assured manner and were already leading 2-0 at half-time, which allowed them to control the game completely in the second half. For Celtic, this is an important victory in the fight for a place in the Champions League main bracket.
Draw in Bratislava and Hapoel's win
The only draw of the matchday was played between Slovak side Slovan and Slovenian side Celje — 1-1. Čerepkai opened the scoring in the 15th minute, but Avduli restored parity in the 41st minute, and neither team could score in the second half. Notably, Slovan midfielder Daniil Ignatenko spent the entire match on the bench. In another match of the day, Israeli side Hapoel Be'er Sheva edged out Azerbaijani side Sabah, winning 2-1: after an early goal from Simić (6th minute) the visitors were trailing, but East (43) and Zlatanović (79) turned the match around.
Contradictory data
In the original source material, the Slovan — Celje match is mentioned twice: first in the general list of results ("the only draw on Wednesday was played between Slovan and Celje"), and then again in the paragraph about "two more matches of the matchday". No actual discrepancies in scores, goal scorers, or dates were found between the verified sources (sport.rbc.ua, sport-express.ru) — all figures and chronology match. The difference is purely stylistic (duplication of information in the text), not factual, so the final results are presented in a single version.
Second-leg schedule and draw
The second legs of the qualifying play-offs will take place on 25 and 26 August 2026. Their results will determine the last seven participants in the Champions League main stage. On 27 August, the main tournament draw will be held, where the sole representative of Ukraine in the current Champions League campaign — Donetsk's Shakhtar — will also learn its opponents. Thus, the Ukrainian club will learn in the coming days who it will face in the fight for a place in the group/main bracket.
Context: the Madrid final and the season's first trophy
As a reminder, the Champions League final of the current season will take place on 5 June 2027 at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid. It is also worth noting that the first winner of a European trophy in the new season was PSG, who beat Aston Villa. This event sets a high bar for all participants in the current Champions League, including the teams currently going through the play-off round.
