The 28 teams in the Champions League’s first qualifying round have been split into two pots – seeded and unseeded.
The New Saints and Linfield are both seeded, meaning that – on paper – they have a more advantageous draw.
Teams they could potentially face include Dinamo Minsk of Belarus, Shelbourne from the Republic of Ireland and Armenian side Noah, who met Chelsea in the group stages of the 2024-25 Conference League.
Should either side advance to the second qualifying round, they will enter the champions path – for clubs who qualified as national champions.
Both teams would enter as unseeded teams, where potential opponents include Danish champions Copenhagen or Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava.
Rangers enter at this point, but are in a separate section known as the league path.
The Glasgow side are one of three seeded teams in that path and will face either Panathinaikos (Greece), Servette (Switzerland) or Brann (Norway) in the second round.
Scottish champions Celtic enter at the play-off qualifying round and will face one of eight sides for a place in the Champions League, with Basel (Switzerland) and Sturm Graz (Austria) among their potential opponents.
