Bad luck for Mourinho as Fenerbahce handed difficult Champions League draw
Jose Mourinho has a tough task on his hand after Fenerbahce learned their Champions League fate.
Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce have been handed a difficult tie in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, having been drawn against Feyenoord.
Fener were knocked out at the same stage by Lille last season, dropping into the Europa League, in which they progressed before losing to Rangers in a penalty shootout in the last 16.
Mourinho’s men are likely to be the underdogs for their tie with the Eredivisie side, who reached the last 16 of the Champions League in 2024-25 before they were knocked out by finalists Inter Milan.
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Benfica also reached the last 16 of the Champions League last season, as did Belgian side Club Brugge.
Bruno Lage’s Benfica will face Ligue 1 opposition in Nice, who finished fourth in the French top flight last season. Brugge, having missed out back-to-back Belgian titles as Union Saint-Gilloise triumphed to qualify automatically for the league stage, begin their qualifying campaign against either Norwegian side Brann or Red Bull Salzburg.
Austrian giants Salzburg finished third bottom of the league phase in 2024-25, winning just once.
Rangers must get past Panathinaikos in the second qualifying round to maintain their hopes of playing in the league phase. Should they do so, then they will meet either Viktoria Plzen or Serviette in the third round.
Champions League third qualifying round draw in full:
Champions Path
FC RFS (Latvia)/Malmo FF (Sweden) vs Copenhagen (Denmark)/FC Drita (Kosovo)
KuPS Kuopio (Finland)/FC Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan) vs Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)/Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Lech Poznań (Poland)/Breidablik (Iceland) vs Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar)/Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
Rijeka (Croatia)/Ludogorets (Bulgaria) vs Noah (Armenia)/Ferencvaros (Hungary)
Hamrun Spartans (Malta)/Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) vs Pafos FC (Cyprus)/Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
KF Shkendija (North Macedonia)/FCSB (Romania) vs Shelbourne (Ireland)/Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
League Path
SK Brann (Norway)/Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) vs Club Brugge (Belgium)
Rangers (Scotland)/Panathinaikos (Greece) vs Viktoria Plzen (Czechia)/Servette (Switzerland)
Nice (France) vs Benfica (Portugal)
Feyenoord (Netherlands) vs Fenerbahce (Turkey)