UEFA Champions League PREVIEW 19 Aug 2026: UEFA Champions League Play-Offs: Celtic Host LASK, Three More Ties

Celtic open the Champions League play-off round at home to LASK, the first of four first legs being played this Wednesday that will decide who reaches the newly expanded league phase and who drops into the Europa League. Martin O'Neill's side, beaten by Kairat Almaty at this same stage last season, were handed Austrian champions LASK in Monday's draw, with the second leg to follow in Linz. Celtic's record against Austrian opposition is patchy: played 13, won 3, drawn 3, lost 7, with their only 21st-century win over an Austrian side coming last October. LASK arrive on the back of their best season in sixty years, having won the Austrian Bundesliga for the first time since 1964/65 under Dietmar Kuhbauer, who only took charge in October, and having also lifted the Austrian Cup for a domestic double.

NEC Nijmegen's meeting with Bodø/Glimt at the Goffertstadion is a step into the unknown for the Dutch side, who are entering the Champions League for the first time and playing only their fifth UEFA campaign, and their first since 2009, after last season's shock third-place Eredivisie finish. Dick Schreuder's side needed extra time to get here, drawing 0-0 away to Olympiacos before winning the return 2-1 with an Emre Mor strike five minutes into extra time, after Kaj Sierhuis had an added-time goal chalked off for offside. Bodø/Glimt, by contrast, are into a Champions League play-off for the third year running, having reached the round of 16 last season by beating Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan, and they needed extra time themselves this time round to see off Union Saint-Gilloise 3-2. They arrive top of the Eliteserien, a point clear of Viking, who have a game in hand.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva's play-off tie with Sabah kicks off with both sides already guaranteed league-phase football whatever happens over the two legs: the winners go into the Champions League, the losers into the Europa League. Hapoel swept past Red Star Belgrade 3-0 on aggregate in the third qualifying round, Zahi Ahmed and Igor Zlatanović among the scorers, and have now moved their home matches to the Superbet Arena - Giulesti in Bucharest, having played their earlier rounds in Hungary. Sabah, the Azerbaijani champions, overturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit to AGF with a 4-0 win at home, Veljko Simic, Steve Solvet, Joy-Lance Mickels and Xander Severina all scoring, to go through 5-2 on aggregate.

Slovan Bratislava host Celje in the fourth tie, a rematch of a lopsided qualifying meeting two years ago that Slovan won 6-1 on aggregate. Both arrive having needed two legs to get past their third-round opponents: Slovan beat Mjallby AIF 4-1 on aggregate under new manager Yaya Toure, while Celje came from behind to beat Ararat-Armenia 3-2, Yaya Dukuly and Benjamin Verbič scoring late in the second leg in Celje after a first-leg defeat in Yerevan. The loser of this tie, like the loser of Celtic's, drops into the Europa League league phase rather than out of Europe altogether.