Draws for the final qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League have been held in Nyon, Switzerland with Arsenal handed a Turkish opponent for a second successive season while Celtic will face Slovenian champions Maribor minutes after being reinstated into the competition.
Arsenal eased past Fernabahçe in the playoff round to reach the group stage of last season’s competition and will now face Besiktas SK if it hopes to reach the group stage for the 19th successive season.
Efe Ambrose’s Celtic meanwhile will face NK Maribor minutes after being handed a 3-0 second leg walkover win over Legia Warsaw by UEFA Disciplinary Committee due to the fielding of an ineligible player by the Polish champions.
Elsewhere, Vincent Enyeama’s French club Lille were handed a tough draw against 2004 champions FC Porto, Napoli of Italy was drawn to face Athletic Bilbao of Spain and Bayer Leverkusen will meet FC Kobenhavn.
Champions Playoff
NK Maribor (Slovenia) vs. Celtic (Scotland)
Slovan Bratislava vs. BATE Borisov
Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) vs Malmo FF (Sweden)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania) vs. Ludogorets
Aalborg (Denmark) vs APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)
League Playoff
Besiktas SK (Turkey) vs. Arsenal FC (England)
Standard Liege (Belgium) vs. Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)
Napoli (Italy) vs. Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
LOSC Lille (France) vs. FC Porto (Portugal)
FC Kobenhavn (Denmark) vs. Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
The first leg matches of the Champions League playoff will hold between August 19-20 with the return leg matches taking place between August 26-27. The ten winners will join the 22 teams automatically qualified for the group stage, which gets underway in September.