The first qualifying round of the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League begins on Tuesday, just 38 days after Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal in last season’s final, and will feature a number of lesser-known clubs from across Europe, according to the report.
Roberto Lopes, nicknamed “Pico,” has emerged as one of the breakout stars of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after being recruited to play for Cape Verde via a LinkedIn direct message. Lopes helped the African islanders push Argentina to extra time in the round of 32, and his club side Shamrock Rovers are already preparing for the new Champions League campaign, according to the report.
Atert Bissen staged a rapid rise in Luxembourg football after languishing in the third division in 2023. Back-to-back promotions culminated in the club’s first national championship last season, secured by a narrow win over Differdange on the final day. Atert Bissen became only the second European club, after Bulgaria’s Ludogorets, to climb from the third tier to national champions within three seasons. Much of the club’s turnaround is credited to Carlos Teixeira, a former player turned construction entrepreneur who built the Bissen stadium complex, was persuaded to take the presidency by the local mayor and made the controversial choice to replace his brother Pedro as head coach last summer. Teixeira has also offered players jobs in a largely semi-professional league, according to the report.
Borac Banja Luka are the reigning champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and hail from the Republika Srpska. Their domestic success has seen them win the Bosnian Premier League twice in the last three seasons. On the continental stage, the club became the first from their country to reach the knockout phase of a European competition the season before last, defeating Slovenia’s Olimpija Ljubljana in the Conference League playoff before falling to Austria’s Rapid Vienna in the round of 16, according to the report.
Romanian side CS Universitatea Craiova are one of two clubs that claim to be the successor of the original 1991 champions after a long split between the sports club and its football section. The rival club FC U Craiova 1948 was hit with a 106-point penalty and expelled from competitions by the Romanian FA over financial issues. Courts have recognised CS Universitatea Craiova as the true successor, and the club won the SuperLiga for the first time since 1991 and competed in the league phase of the Conference League, narrowly missing the knockout stage on goals scored, according to the report.
