Double winner SKN St. Pölten has done themselves a favor by winning the championship title: In the first phase of the Champions League, the Lower Austrians have been assigned feasible tasks. In the first part of the champion’s path, the SKN meets Ljuboten from North Macedonia in Skopje (18 August), the winner of this game will face the winner of the game Dinamo-BSUPC (BLR) – Lokomotiv Stara Zagora (BUL) three days later. The winners of a total of eleven finals in the champions path advance to the second phase.
More attractive but much more difficult is the (league) way from Sturm Graz towards the group phase. Because on August 18, Real Madrid is waiting, which last failed in the quarter-finals at FC Barcelona. Should the Styrians cause the Spaniards to stumble, then three days later the winner from Manchester City (ENG) – Tomiris-Turan (KAZ) – who is unlikely to come from Kazakhstan – will stand in the way. A total of four clubs qualify for the second phase in this way.
