The last seven places in this season's Champions League league phase are set to be finalised over the coming week, with 29 of the 36 participating clubs already confirmed for the competition's new format.
The 36-team league phase draws its core membership from the strongest performers in Europe's top domestic leagues during the 2025-26 campaign, while clubs from lower-ranked footballing nations have had to fight through a four-round qualifying process, the concluding stages of which are being played out this week and next.
Of the seven outstanding places, five will be decided among clubs competing in the champions path, a route reserved for title winners from nations outside Europe's top ten. The remaining two spots will be filled from the league path, which caters to clubs from nations awarded multiple qualification places despite not winning their domestic championship.
England leads the way with five confirmed representatives. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool booked their places by finishing inside the Premier League's top five, while Aston Villa qualified courtesy of their Europa League triumph last season. Spain matches that tally with five clubs of its own: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid and Real Betis all secured qualification.
Both nations benefited from Uefa's Elite Performance Spot allocation, an extra place awarded for strong showings in European competition the previous season, which lifted Liverpool and Real Betis into the league phase in addition to the traditional four-team allocation typically given to England.
Italy and Germany each have four sides involved. Inter Milan, Napoli, Roma and Como represent Italian football, while Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Stuttgart fly the flag for Germany. France has secured three automatic places, with Lens and Lille joining as the second and third-placed finishers in Ligue 1.
Paris Saint-Germain's position is more complex. Despite winning the French title, PSG occupy the slot reserved for the reigning Champions League holders rather than the domestic champions' berth. That vacated Ligue 1 title-winners' spot was instead handed to Shakhtar Donetsk, champions of Ukraine, based on Uefa's club coefficient rankings.
A similar knock-on effect applied to England's Europa League allocation. Because Aston Villa both finished in the Premier League's top five and lifted the Europa League, their title-winners' spot was passed on to Sporting, who finished as Liga Portugal runners-up and move up from the league path of the qualifying rounds into the league phase itself.
Other clubs already through to the league phase include PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Porto, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague and Galatasaray.
Uefa's allocation system is built around five-year association rankings, with the top four nations - England, Italy, Spain and Germany - each guaranteed four automatic league phase places. France, ranked fifth, receives three direct spots plus a further team entering the third qualifying round. The Netherlands, in sixth, gets two automatic places with a third side starting in the third qualifying round.
Nations ranked seventh to tenth - Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic and Turkey - receive two places apiece, while those ranked 11th to 14th, including Norway, Greece, Austria and Scotland, see their champions enter the play-off round with a second club starting in round two. Poland's two clubs begin in the second qualifying round, and all remaining nations are limited to a single representative entering in the first two rounds.
With qualifying now reaching its climax, the final composition of this season's Champions League league phase will be confirmed within days.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.