Celtic will face LASK for a place in the group stage of the Champions League.
All eyes were on uefa.com at 11am this morning as the draw was made for the Play Off stage of the competition.
Celtic came out first with the home leg being played on August 18 or 19 with the return match the following week.
After last years monster trip to Kazakhstan a return flight to Austria won’t be too testing on the players or management team.
LASK won last season’s Austrian Bundesliga by two points from Sturm Graz.
After Hearts crashed out of the Champions League on a 6-0 aggregate to Sturm Graz no-one needs reminded of the strength of Austrian football.
LASK got their defence of the title underway on Friday night with a 3-0 with over Grazer AK. This Sunday they are away to Austria Vienna followed by a home match Reid ahead of their trip to Scotland.
Celtic will have competitive matches against Dundee, Kilmarnock and Dundee United before the most lucrative matches of the season.
Celtic have been drawn against Austrian champions LASK in the Champions League play-off round. ?
Martin O’Neill’s side will be at home in the first leg, with that fixture on August 18/19, while the second leg takes place a week later. pic.twitter.com/yQIC3khnxf
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 3, 2026
With their opponents known Celtic have clarity on the task ahead of them.
A CRITICAL MONTH AHEAD FOR CELTIC
Two seasons ago they earned 12 Champions League points before losing out to Bayern Munich for a place in the last 16.
Last season two goal-less draws with Kairat Almaty were followed by defeat in a penalty shoot out which had a knock on effect throughout the club.
Kairat were perfectly prepared for the matches with Celtic after coming through three qualifying rounds. LASK will be in a similar situation to Celtic in terms of match fitness.
Celtic have until August 13 to register their squad with UEFA with two further changes allowed 24 hours before the first leg.
Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran are the only new signings available for tonight’s SPFL opener at home to Dundee.
While Martin O’Neill looks to strengthen the Celtic squad there is a real prospect of losing two of last season’s key figures.
Daizen Maeda has already left for Ipswich. Over the last week there has been speculation over Alistair Johnston and Arne Engels also moving to England.
Rinse and repeat with this lot.We go out of CL at qualifier stage.Downsizing again ,money for AJ and Engels will cover the shortfall of the CL money loss.Few loans on deadline day again and MON made to make do.Money for Maeda ,Nawrocki and Palma gave us Hogh and Duran.Groundhog day,no real spending.
It’s the same frustrations as this time last year:
wholly unprepared for the season kick-off, never mind the CL qualifier games.
And if we don’t get past LASK…?
Nothing.
Nothing changes or improves inside the club. 🙁
Not the best draw but that’s the way it goes in The Champions ? League I guess…
Lucan might prefer it way anyway as they won’t get six BATTERINGS and they’ll be no bonus money to the players which will likely be more than his !