The UEFA decision to keep Russian teams away from all its factories next season, too, could greatly serve Maccabi Haifa. The Greens, who could celebrate a second consecutive championship on Saturday, should be ranked in the first round of the Champions League qualifiers, (Tuesday) are expected to advance to the second round.
How and why? Here’s the explanation: the winner of the Champions League has a reserved place in the home stage, but if she has risen through her league anyway then this armor is void. Manchester City, Real Madrid and Liverpool have come up anyway, so the armor option will not work. Liverpool’s victory will cause further shifts in the qualifiers, following the changes made yesterday with the announcement of Russia’s removal.
The Ukrainian champions (the league was suspended due to the war) designated for the playoffs will be promoted to the home stage, the Danish champions will be promoted from the third round to the playoffs and the Serbian champions from the second round to the third round. Regarding the second qualifying round, two jump ahead and those who are supposed to win are the champions of Greece and Israel.
The significance for Maccabi Haifa is twofold: First, it gets another two weeks to prepare for the season. Instead of playing on July 5-6 in the first round, it will start the European season on July 19-20. Second, a relegation in the second qualifying round sends to the third round of the Europa League (last season Haifa lost to Kirat in the first round and dropped straight to the Conference League qualifiers). If Maccabi Haifa is immediately relegated from the Europa League immediately, it will be relegated to the Conference League playoffs. I mean: this is her minimum stage, at worst. If you go through the second round of the Champions League qualifiers, then its minimum will be the home stage in the Conference League.
The dates
The first qualifying round draw: June 14th
Games: July 5-6 and July 12-13
Second qualifying round draw: June 15th
Games: July 19-20, July 26-27
Third Qualifying Round Draw: July 18th
Games: 2-3 August, 9 August
Playoff Draw: August 1st
Games: August 16-17, August 23-24
Home Lottery: August 25th
Home Stage Games: September 6 to November 2