The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 22 June and ended on 25 August 2021.
If the aggregate score is level at the end of normal time of the second leg, the away goals rule is no longer applied starting from this season.
[4] To decide the winner of the tie, extra time is played, and if the same number of goals are scored by both teams during extra time, the tie is decided by a penalty shoot-out.
As the identity of the winners of the previous round is not known at the time of the draws, the seeding is carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient is to advance, it simply takes the seeding of its opponent.
Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they are purely for convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition.
Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA may not be drawn into the same tie.
After the draws, the order of legs of a tie may be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
The preliminary round matches, which consisted of two semi-finals on 22 June 2021 and the final on 25 June 2021, were originally to be played at Gundadalur, Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands,[6] but were moved due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Faroe Islands.
The losers of the semi-finals and final were transferred to the Europa Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round.
[3] For the winner of the preliminary round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team was used.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Champions Path second qualifying round.
The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round.
They were divided into two paths: Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.
[3] For the winners of the first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used.
The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round of their respective path.
They were divided into two paths: Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.
[3] For the winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective path.
They were divided into two paths: Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.
[3] For the winners of the third qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used.