Celtic's likely Champions League opponents confirmed
In the unlikely event of the first three rounds going entirely to plan Neil Lennon’s side will face Dinamo Zagreb, Cluj, MSK Zilina, Partisan Belgrade or Helsingborgs for a place in the group stage.
Only Basel and Anderlecht in the champions route have a higher co-efficient than Celtic with the draw starting to emerge on June 25 when the first two qualifying rounds are made.
The first qualifying round will feature just six teams but the second round will feature 34 clubs including potential opponents such as Dinamo Zagreb and Partisan Belgrade.
If the second round draw works out according to the seedings the highest placed club that Celtic could face in the third qualifying round would be Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova. Maribor, Debrecen, HJK Helsinki and Slask Wroclaw are other potential opponents provided that they come through the second qualifying round unscathed.
The draw for the third qualifying round will take place on July 20 with the matches being played on July 31/August 1 and August 7/8. If successful Celtic will go into the fourth qualifying round draw on August 10.
If Celtic are knocked out at the third qualifying round they will face one qualifying tie for the Europa League, if they lose out in the fourth round of the Champions League they will drop into the group stage of the Europa League.
Motherwell will be in the third round draw of the non-champions section of the draw and will face Dinamo Kiev, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen or Fenerbache, if they get through that stage they could then face Sporting Braga or Aiden McGeady’s Spartak Moscow for a place in the group stage.
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