Four clubs are playing in the Champions League proper for the first time this season. None of them are expected to trouble the top of the Champions League 2026/27 winner odds, but getting this far has already taken some doing. One qualified through its domestic league and three survived the play-offs, two of them from behind. Let’s take a look at each team debuting on Europe’s biggest football stage this season.
Como
Como were in Serie D when Robert and Michael Hartono bought the club in 2019. Seven years later, they are in the Champions League.
Cesc Fabregas, who arrived as a player in 2022 and became head coach in 2024, led them to fourth in Serie A in 2025-26. It was the first time in the club’s 119-year history that Como had qualified for any European competition. They finished with 71 points and the best defence in the division, conceding 29 goals in 38 games, and Fabregas was named Serie A Coach of the Year.
The debut could hardly have gone better. Como beat RB Leipzig 4-1 at the Stadio Sinigaglia on 10 September, with Nico Paz setting up two of the goals. Feyenoord away is next on 14 October, and Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona are still to come.
LASK
LASK won the Austrian Bundesliga in 2025-26, their first league title in 61 years. Dietmar Kuhbauer, who returned as coach in October 2025, added the Austrian Cup as well.
LASK had the biggest deficit to overturn. Celtic won the first leg of the play-off 3-0 in Glasgow on 19 August. Six days later, LASK won the return 5-1 after extra time in Linz to go through 5-4 on aggregate, with American striker Samuel Adeniran scoring twice from outside the box.
The league phase started with a 1-0 defeat away to AEK Athens on 8 September. A trip to Real Madrid follows in January.
Sabah
Sabah were founded in 2017 and reached the Champions League in their ninth year. Under Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas, they won their first Azerbaijani Premier League title in 2025-26, finishing nine points clear, and completed a domestic double.
They needed to win four qualifying ties, and the last one went to the wire. Trailing Hapoel Beer-Sheva 2-1 from the first leg, Sabah were going out until Tellur Mutallimov volleyed in from a corner in the final seconds of stoppage time on 25 August. Extra-time goals from Orphe Mbina and Joy-Lance Mickels sealed a 5-2 win and a 6-4 aggregate. Sabah are only the second Azerbaijani club to reach the competition proper, after Qarabag.
Their debut was a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on 10 September. Arsenal, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli are all still on the schedule.
Viking
Viking won the 2025 Eliteserien on the final day, beating Valerenga 5-1 to finish a point ahead of Bodo/Glimt. It was the Stavanger club’s first Norwegian title since 1991.
They also came from behind in qualifying. Dinamo Zagreb led the first leg of the play-off 2-0 inside 10 minutes on 18 August, but Peter Christiansen and captain Zlatko Tripic levelled by half-time. Viking won the second leg 3-1 at home on 26 August to go through 5-3 on aggregate.
Tripic was on target again on matchday one, but Ermedin Demirovic scored a first-half hat-trick as Stuttgart won 3-1 on 9 September. Bayern Munich are next on 13 October.
What the debutants are playing for
All 36 clubs play eight league phase games. The top eight go straight into the last 16, while the sides from ninth to 24th enter a knockout play-off. For any of these four, a place in the top 24 would be a remarkable first season.
Matchday two is on 13 and 14 October, and all 18 games are priced up in the Champions League odds.
