PAOK unseeded for Champions League second qualifying round

With Besiktas qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, PAOK will be unseeded for the second qualifying round draw, while AEK are waiting to discover all possible opponents in the third stage of UEFA Europa League qualification.

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PAOK are involved in the Champions League preliminaries for the third consecutive season. So far, the Dikefalos tou Vorra are yet to qualify for the group stage, but they will be hoping for their luck to change this time around. PAOK claimed second spot of the 2019/2020 Super League after they had a seven-point deduction overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Let’s take a look at the seedings for the 2020/2021 Champions League second qualifying round draw:

SEEDED

Besiktas (54,000)

Viktoria Plzen (34,000)

Rapid Vienna (22,000)

UNSEEDED

PAOK (21,000)

AZ Alkmaar (18,500)

Lokomotiva Zagreb (4,975)

As a result of Besiktas overtaking Sivasspor on the last day of the Turkish Super Lig season, PAOK have dropped down into the unseeded category, meaning that the Dikefalos tou Vorra will face a theoretically stronger opponent. Nevertheless, PAOK will feel that they can compete on a level footing with Besiktas, Viktoria Plzen and Rapid Vienna. It’s worth pointing out that Olympiacos defeated Viktoria Plzen in the second qualifying round of the 2019/2020 Champions League.

At first glance, PAOK will want to avoid Besiktas, but the Turks are currently in the midst of a financial crisis with the team likely to lose the majority of its key players this summer. 

In fact, Trabzonspor should have qualified for the Champions League after they finished in second position of the Super Lig, but they were dealt a European ban by UEFA as a consequence of violating Financial Fair Play Rules. Trabzonspor’s appeal against the punishment was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday.

Interestingly, reports in England have even suggested that UEFA will keep Besiktas and PAOK apart in the draw as a result of heightened tensions between Greece and Turkey, however this rumour has not been confirmed.

Single matches will decide the outcome of the first, second and third qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League. The two-legged format will return for the playoffs. 

These are the 2020/2021 Champions League qualifying dates:

08/08/2020–11/08/2020 Preliminary round

18/08/2020–19/08/2020 First qualifying round

25/08/2020–26/08/2020 Second qualifying round

15/09/2020–16/09/2020 Third qualifying round

22/09/2020–30/09/2020 Playoffs

AEK WAITING FOR EUROPA LEAGUE OPPONENT LIST

Elsewhere, AEK still have to wait a while to find out all possible opponents in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, but the Enosi are expected to be seeded for the draw with 16,500 coefficient points on the board. A full list of teams participating in 2020/2021 UEFA competitions will be released by the continent’s governing body on August 3.

Being seeded, AEK will avoid the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers, AC Milan and Wolfsburg, while possible opponents include teams such as Hajduk Split, Alanyaspor, Anorthosis and Aberdeen. A lot will depend on the results of the first two qualification rounds. 

Here are the 2020/2021 Europa League qualifying dates:

20/08/2020 Preliminary round

27/08/2020 First qualifying round

17/09/2020 Second qualifying round

24/09/2020 Third qualifying round

01/10/2020 Playoffs

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