Maccabi Tel Aviv has already won the Israeli League championship and will begin play in the Champions League second qualification round. However, once Ludogorets also secured the Bulgarian league title, the Yellow & Blue’s path to Europe changed slightly and they will not be ranked.
Maccabi will have 16.00 points in the UEFA coefficient and Ludogorets’s championship moved the Yellow & Blue out of the top ten at this stage of the competition. Due to this, Maccabi will have to face stronger opponents at least on paper.
Possible ranked opponents in the second qualification round:
*Celtic (Scotland), FC Copenhagen (Deenmark), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), *Bate Borisov (Belarus), Astana (Kazakhstan), APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus), *Maribor (Slovenia), *Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Ludogorets (Bulgaria), *Qarabag Agdam (Azerbaijan).
Teams that are starred * need to advance past the first round and should they not advance, the club that eliminated them will be ranked instead.
The first leg of second round matches will take place July 23-24 while the return leg will be played the following week. The draw itself will occur on June 18, 2019.
In order to advance to the Champions League, Maccabi will need to advance past the second, third and playoff rounds. Should the Yellow & Blue not advance past the second round they will enter the third round of Europa League qualifying.
