Ajax to play APOEL or Qarabag if it reaches CL playoffs

By: The Associated Press Posted: 5:42 AM CDT Monday, Aug. 5, 2019 Last Modified: 7:35 AM CDT Monday, Aug. 5, 2019

NYON, Switzerland - Ajax will face either APOEL or Qarabag if it reaches the Champions League playoffs, after the draw was made Monday.

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NYON, Switzerland - Ajax will face either APOEL or Qarabag if it reaches the Champions League playoffs, after the draw was made Monday.

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This article was published 05/08/2019 (2616 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NYON, Switzerland – Ajax will face either APOEL or Qarabag if it reaches the Champions League playoffs, after the draw was made Monday.

Four-time European champion Ajax, which reached the semifinals in May, still has to play Greek side PAOK Thessaloniki in the third qualifying round.

Ajax met APOEL in the 2014-15 Champions League group stage, drawing 1-1 in Cyprus and winning 4-0 in Amsterdam.

Michael Heselschwerdt, UEFA Head of Club Competition, removes the balls containing the names of the soccer clubs, during the drawing of the matches for the Champions League 2019/20 Play-offs round, at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

Ajax won the Dutch league last season and was one minute from the Champions League final before being eliminated by Tottenham’s stoppage-time winning goal.

However, it sold star midfielder Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona and teenage captain Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus.

Slavia Prague and Young Boys are the only two teams to enter straight into the Champions League playoff round.

Czech champion Slavia Prague will face either Cluj or Celtic, while the Swiss champion plays either Red Star Belgrade or FC Copenhagen.

Porto or Krasnodar will face Olympiakos or Istanbul Basaksehir, while Basel or LASK will play Dynamo Kyiv or Club Brugge, and Dinamo Zagreb or Ferencváros will face Maribor or Rosenborg.

First-leg games are played Aug. 20-21, and return matches on Aug. 27-28.

The six winning teams go through to the elite 32-team group stage.

The third qualifying round begins Tuesday and will be completed on Aug. 13.