Rangers Champions League qualifying opponents revealed as draw throws up daunting first away trip

RANGERS have been drawn against Dynamo Kyiv OR Partizan Belgrade in the third round of qualifying for the Champions League.

Philippe Clement‘s men won’t be in action in the competition until next month but the draw for the round took place today in Nyon, Switzerland.

PA

Rangers boss Philippe Clement during the pre-season match against Man Utd[/caption]

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The Champions League trophy[/caption]

This is also the debut year of the new Champions League format, with a 36-team league phase replacing the traditional group stages.

Under the new format, teams will play eight matches in this new league phase. As opposed to playing three opponents home and away, teams will now have fixtures against eight different teams, playing half of those matches at home and half of them away.

Clubs will initially be ranked in four different pots based on their seeding to determine who they will face. 

For the third round of qualifying, the Ibrox club could have faced Lugano or Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kyiv or Partizan Belgrade, and FC Twente and Union Saint-Gilloise.

Rangers were seeded for the draw which meant they avoided Slavia Prague, Red Bull Salzburg and Lille.

Lugano and Fenerbahce play the first leg of their second qualifying round tie tomorrow with Dynamo Kyiv and Partizan Belgrade also in action.

The tie will take place over August 6/7 and August 13. The first leg will be in Ukraine or Serbia, with the return match at (most likely) Hampden.

The winners will advance to the play-off round, where a place in the Champions League proper is at stake.

If Gers lose in the play-off round then they could potentially have the consolation of a place in the Europa League group stages however.

And if they lose against Dynamo Kyiv or Partizan Belgrade then they will parachute into the same stage of the competition.

Premiership rivals Hearts already have a place in the play-off round of the Europa League thanks to their third place finish last season.

Rangers have two more pre-season games before their European journey kicks off.

They face Birmingham at St Andrew’s on Wednesday then travel to Germany to face Union Berlin on Saturday.

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