UEFA Champions League PREVIEW 18 Aug 2026: Fenerbahçe Host Lyon as the Play-Offs Begin

Fenerbahçe host Lyon at the Şükrü Saracoğlu in the first leg of the Champions League play-off round, with the winner reaching the league phase and the loser dropping into the Europa League. İsmail Kartal, who took Fenerbahçe to 99 points in 2023/24, is back in charge and has already come through two qualifying rounds, beating Górnik Zabrze 1-0 at home before a 1-1 draw in Poland, then Sturm Graz 2-0 in Istanbul and 1-0 in Austria, with Talisca scoring in every one of those four matches. Kartal has been managing a heavy fixture schedule going into the tie: "Şampiyonlar Ligi'nde oynamak mücadele etmek zor, biz bunun üstünden gelebiliriz diye düşünüyorum," he told A Haber this week, a line that reads in English as playing and competing in the Champions League is hard, but he thinks Fenerbahçe can get over it. Lyon arrive having finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season under Paulo Fonseca, which put them into the third qualifying round rather than the league phase; they lost the first leg 2-1 at Sparta Prague before winning the return 3-0 at the Groupama Stadium, through Ernest Nuamah, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Tyler Morton, to go through 4-2 on aggregate.

Levski Sofia host AEK Athens at the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, with both sides guaranteed a Europa League league-phase place regardless of the outcome. Levski arrive as Bulgarian champions for the first time since 2009, a 27th title that ended Ludogorets Razgrad's run of fourteen straight championships, and they reached this stage by beating Kairat Almaty 2-0 on aggregate, Serginho settling the first leg in the 90th minute and Reinaldo scoring after 13 minutes in Kazakhstan. Head coach Julio Velazquez struck a confident note after that win in Kazakhstan: "Поздравявам публиката и играчите, те ме накараха да се гордея с тях" - I congratulate the supporters and the players, they made me proud of them, as he put it to BTA. AEK, champions of Greece for the 14th time and the first since 2022/23, go straight into this round without a European match played this season, arriving on the back of the Greek Super Cup final against OFI on 12 August. Marko Nikolic's side are not treating the occasion lightly: "Προφανώς και δεν υπάρχει αίσθηση για πρόβα τζενεράλε, διεκδικούμε ένα τρόπαιο" - obviously there is no sense of a dress rehearsal about this, we are competing for a trophy, the AEK head coach said.

Din. Zagreb host Viking at Maksimir in a fixture with no previous meeting between the two clubs. Dinamo have negotiated a testing route to get here, coming back from 3-1 down on aggregate against Thun in the second qualifying round before Moris Valincic scored a 112th-minute winner in extra time, then beating Kauno Žalgiris 7-1 on aggregate in the third round, a 5-0 win in Zagreb followed by a 2-1 win in Lithuania. Domestically, Mario Kovačević's side have won both their opening Croatian league matches, including a 4-0 win over Rudeš in which new signing Dion Drena Beljo scored twice. Viking are appearing in the Champions League for the first time since 1992, when they were beaten by Barcelona in the first round; they arrive as Norwegian champions after ending Bodø/Glimt's domestic dominance in 2025, but go into the tie having been beaten 4-1 by Rosenborg in their last league outing. The loser of this tie also continues in Europe, dropping into the Europa League play-off round.