Just 38 days after the Champions League final, the new season is already set to begin

Barely over a month since the curtain closed on the 2024 Champions League final where Real Madrid dismantled Inter Milan in a dominant display the continent’s premier football tournament is already back underway.

On Tuesday, in the relative quiet of Kuopio, Finland, the first ball of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League season will be kicked. This opening match, hosted at the Väre Areena, features Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS) against FC Milsami of Moldova in the first qualifying round of the tournament.

Though the spotlight still shines on Europe’s biggest clubs basking in summer friendlies and high-profile transfer deals, this early stage of the Champions League serves as the gateway to the group phase for dozens of smaller clubs. It’s a time of high stakes and dreams, as 28 teams from across Europe begin their long journey toward the group stage a stage that brings not only immense prestige but also tens of millions of euros in prize money and exposure.

For many of these clubs, the qualifying rounds are their version of a final. Clubs from countries like Iceland, Montenegro, San Marino, Kosovo, and the Faroe Islands see this as an invaluable opportunity to test themselves against stronger opposition, boost their UEFA coefficients, and write chapters of history that may never be repeated.

In addition to KuPS and Milsami, several clubs with recent European pedigree also begin their campaigns at this stage. Malmö FF of Sweden a club that has participated in the Champions League group stage in recent years and even reached the final in 1979 is among the most experienced sides in this phase. FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, famously won the European Cup in 1986 and remains one of Romania’s biggest clubs. Ludogorets Razgrad, champions of Bulgaria, have also made multiple group stage appearances in the past decade and are often seen as a dangerous team in qualifying rounds.

These early rounds are structured as two-legged knockout ties, with the winners progressing to the second qualifying round. Each subsequent stage becomes more competitive, as stronger sides from higher-ranked leagues enter the competition. The format can be unforgiving: one bad half, one red card, one missed penalty can send a team crashing out and end European dreams before they’ve properly begun.

Meanwhile, the timing of the competition has raised eyebrows. With only 38 days separating this kickoff from the previous season’s final, questions have been raised about the congested football calendar, player fatigue, and whether clubs particularly from smaller nations have had adequate time to prepare. The demands of summer scheduling are increasingly under scrutiny, especially with the Club World Cup, European Championship qualifiers, and domestic pre-seasons all overlapping.

For Dutch football fans, anticipation is building toward July 21, when UEFA will conduct the draw for the third qualifying round the stage at which Feyenoord enters the tournament. Having finished third in the 2023/24 Eredivisie, the Rotterdam-based club now faces the challenge of navigating a tricky path into the group stage. While they avoid the early qualifying chaos, the third round can be equally daunting.

Potential opponents for Feyenoord include several seasoned European competitors, such as SK Brann (Norway), Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), Servette FC (Switzerland), and OGC Nice (France). Each of these clubs brings its own strengths, and none would be an easy opponent especially with just two legs separating success from elimination.

Red Bull Salzburg, in particular, has become a powerhouse of youth development and high-pressing football, with multiple appearances in the group stage and a reputation for unsettling bigger clubs. Fenerbahçe, backed by a fervent fanbase and serious investment, would be one of the toughest draws, especially in Istanbul. On the other hand, clubs like Servette and Brann may be seen as more favorable matchups though no team at this stage can be underestimated.

Should Feyenoord progress from the third qualifying round, they would still need to clear one more hurdle the play-off round before securing a coveted spot in the lucrative group stage. That journey reflects the increasingly competitive nature of Champions League qualification, especially for clubs outside the top five leagues.

Beyond the pitch, these early matches also matter economically. A single qualifying round victory can earn a club hundreds of thousands of euros in UEFA prize money, not to mention additional revenue from ticket sales, TV rights, and sponsorship visibility. For smaller clubs, the Champions League isn't just a sporting dream it's a financial lifeline.

And so, even in the quiet footballing outposts of Kuopio and Orhei, the pulse of the Champions League beats strong. The lights may not yet shine as brightly as they do in Madrid or Munich, but the stakes are no less real. For the players taking the field this week, these matches represent the beginning of what they hope will be a historic run and perhaps, for a few, a passport to European football’s most prestigious stage.