With Europe's top leagues just kicking off, the Champions League sits in the distance as a future challenge for the biggest clubs, but those further down the European football pyramid have been in action since June.
The first qualifying round of the 2017-18 Champions League began less than a month after Real Madrid beat Juventus in the previous campaign's final, and soon enough the big hitters will be back in the competition as the group stage approaches.
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In the meantime, the various rounds and routes to the tournament proper can be somewhat confusing and complex.
Fortunately, Goal has your complete guide to every round, featuring fully updated draws, scores and qualified teams and an explanation of how each stage works.
GROUP STAGE AS IT STANDS
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot TBC Real Madrid Barcelona Basel Tottenham (2 or 3) Bayern Munich Atletico Madrid Anderlecht Roma (3 or 4) Chelsea Paris Saint-Germain Besiktas (3 or 4) Juventus Borussia Dortmund Feyenoord (3 or 4) Benfica Manchester City RB Leipzig (3 or 4) Monaco Porto Spartak Moscow Manchester United Shakhtar Donetsk
The 32 teams that qualify for the Champions League group stage are split into four pots of eight teams each for the group-stage draw, with each group containing one team from each pot.
Pot 1 contains the holders of the Champions League and the champions of the top-seven leagues in Europe, as ranked by their coefficient. This year, Madrid are European and Spanish champions so the champion from the eighth-ranked league - Shakhtar Donetsk - also goes into Pot 1.
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Once those eight teams are removed, the rest of the teams are ranked based on their club coefficient and sorted into the other three pots accordingly.
Some teams, such as Tottenham, will not know what pot they will land in until the qualifying rounds are complete and all 32 sides reaching the competition proper have been confirmed.
The group-stage draw will be held on August 24 in Monaco and matches will start on September 12. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage and the third-place teams will enter the Europa League knockout stage.
PLAY-OFF ROUND
League Route:
Team Agg. Team Leg 1 Leg 2 Young Boys - Nice Aug 15 Aug 23 Hoffenheim - Liverpool Aug 15 Aug 23 Sporting - Steaua Bucuresti Aug 15 Aug 23 Istanbul Basaksehir - Sevilla Aug 16 Aug 22 Young Boys - CSKA Moscow Aug 16 Aug 22
The League Route section of the play-off round comprises five new teams and five teams who won their third-qualifying-round ties. The five teams with the best club coefficient were seeded for the draw and face an unseeded team over two legs.
Champions Route:
Team Agg. Team Leg 1 Leg 2 Qarabag - Copenhagen Aug 15 Aug 23 APOEL - Slavia Prague Aug 15 Aug 23 Olympiacos - Rijeka Aug 16 Aug 22 Celtic - Astana Aug 16 Aug 22 Hapoel Be'er Sheva - Maribor Aug 16 Aug 22
The Champions Route section of the play-off round comprises the 10 teams who won their Champions Route ties in the third qualifying round. The five teams with the best club coefficient were seeded and face an unseeded team over two legs.
The losing teams in both sections will enter the Europa League group stage.
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND
League Route:
Team Agg. Team Leg 1 Leg 2 Steaua Bucharest 6-3 Viktoria Plzen 2-2 4-2 Nice (a) 3-3 Ajax 1-1 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv 3-3 (a) Young Boys 3-1 0-2 AEK Athens 0-3 CSKA Moscow 0-2 0-1 Club Brugge 3-5 Istanbul Basaksehir 3-3 0-2
The League Route section of the third qualifying round comprised 10 new teams. The five teams with the best club coefficient were seeded and drawn against an unseeded team over two legs.
Champions Route:
Team Agg. Team Leg 1 Leg 2 Slavia Prague (a) 2-2 BATE Borisov 1-0 1-2 Astana 3-2 Legia Warsaw 3-1 0-1 Maribor 2-0 FH 1-0 1-0 Vardar 2-4 Copenhagen 1-0 1-4 Celtic 1-0 Rosenborg 0-0 1-0 Hapoel Be'er Sheva (a) 3-3 Ludogorets 2-0 1-3 Viitorul Constanta 1-4 APOEL 1-0 0-4 (aet) Red Bull Salzburg 1-1 (a) Rijeka 1-1 0-0 Qarabag 2-1 Sheriff Tiraspol 0-0 2-1 Partizan 3-5 Olympiacos 1-3 2-2
Seeded teams are shown in bold.
The Champions Route section of the third qualifying round comprised three new teams (Viitorul Constanta, Olympiacos and Slavia Prague) and the 17 winners of the ties in the second qualifying round.
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