The season is gradually reaching its finale in all European championships, as most leagues have either already concluded or have 1-2 games left before their checkered flag falls.
This means that the UEFA League Phase "map" is being formed for the next season, where Olympiacos will participate in the Champions League.
The double team of Greece is the only "representative" that in the summer will avoid the scope of the qualifiers and will start its overseas obligations directly from a group, where in this case it is of the top inter-club competition.
36 clubs will participate in it and each of them will play 8 games with an equal number of opponents (i.e. 4 as home team and the same number as away team), while there will be a common score where the first criterion for their possible equality is the overall goal average.
Any teams that are in positions 1-8 after the completion of the matches will get the "ticket" for the "16" of the tournament and those that finish from 9th to 24th place will play double Play Off matches, with the aim of continuing in the next knockout rounds.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the "red and white" will be placed in the third of the four capacity groups, which will arise according to the ranking of the 36 clubs.
However, because there is no longer a restriction that participants do not take an opponent from the same pot, everyone will have two opponents from each.
Therefore, the 35 other clubs that will be in the League Phase are potential candidates for Olympiacos' opponents.
Of the 36 who will be in the "stars", 29 will be known immediately after the Europa League final, as the holder of the second-tier European competition is entitled to participate in the League Stage of the Champions League of the next season.
So one of Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur that will clash in the Bilbao final will be there and because through the Premier League it is impossible for them to catch the "train" since they are very low in the ranking, its winner will be in the No. 1 collective tournament and its loser will not play in Europe!
At the same time, the remaining 28 positions that we "must" know immediately will be filled through the championships that are ahead in the UEFA rankings and the first ones (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) go directly to the "stars" or involve rebalancing cases as happened with Piraeus.
On the contrary, the remaining 7 will be "offered" to the clubs in the qualifiers, where Panathinaikos will (also) take part.
So, of those who are waiting for the relevant puzzle to be formed in the first phase and then only the English "civil war" of Europa remains, we already know 23, since after yesterday's (18/5) results in Turkey, England and Spain, Galatasaray, Arsenal and Villarreal secured a place in the League Phase of the Champions League for the 2025/26 season.
There are automatically 5 "tickets" remaining that are looking for a holder.
One of them lies with the team that will win the championship in Belgium, where one matchday before the finale, Union Saint-Gilloise and Christos Tzolis' Club Brugge are claiming the title.
Another one will be taken by the club that finishes 4th in the Italian Serie A, where Juventus, Roma, Lazio are "fighting" (ed. in view of the finale, all of the above teams can mathematically finish there).
The other three now correspond to 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Premier League, where everything hangs by a thread.
More specifically, Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, who "owe" one game until the end, and Manchester City, who will play two games, retain their own chances to shake... the sheet, so from the above "pool" of 5 clubs, another 3 will be added to Olympiacos' potential opponents.
Below we will present to you the 23 teams that have already secured a place in the League Phase of the Champions League next season (ed. Olympiacos will be able to be drawn with all of them) and which ones are claiming the remaining 6 "tickets".
This will bring us to number 29 and in the summer we will be led to the final 36, after the completion of the qualifiers that will be held.
By the way, indicatively and among others besides the "clover" clubs such as Bodo/Glimt, Celtic, Rangers, Nice, Vangelis Pavlidis' Benfica, Feyenoord and Fenerbahce will try their luck there.
Secured place in the League Stage (23 teams)
Olympiacos (Greece)
Barcelona (Spain)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
Villarreal (Spain)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Dortmund (Germany)
Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Monaco (France)
Marseille (France)
Inter (Italy)
Napoli (Italy)
Atalanta (Italy)
Liverpool (England)
Arsenal (England)
Prix Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Ajax (Netherlands)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Three of them will be in the League Stage
Newcastle - Chelsea - Aston Villa - Manchester City - Nottingham Forest
One of them will be in the League Stage
Union Saint-Gilloise - Club Brugge
Manchester United - Tottenham
Juventus - Roma - Lazio
