The 1996–97 UEFA Champions League featured 24 teams, with eight teams (the seven top-ranked league champions in the UEFA clubs coefficient table, plus the defending champions from 1995–96) qualifying automatically for the group stage and the remaining 16 (the league champions ranked 8–23 in the coefficient table) playing in a two-legged preliminary round. The winners of each tie entered the Champions League group stage, while the losers entered the UEFA Cup first round.
Teams The sixteen lowest-ranked associations with teams that qualified for the Champions League entered the qualifying round.
Key to coloursWinners of qualifying round advanced to group stageLosers of qualifying round entered UEFA Cup first round + Qualifying round participantsTeam8 Club Brugge9 Panathinaikos10 Alania Vladikavkaz11 Fenerbahçe12 Brøndby13 Rapid Wien14 IFK Göteborg15 Grasshopper16 Slavia Prague17 Rangers18 Rosenborg19 Dynamo Kyiv20 Ferencváros21 Steaua București22 Widzew Łódź23 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Seeding The sixteen teams were divided into seeded and unseeded pots, each containing eight teams, for the draw based on their association's ranking.
SeededUnseeded
Summary
The winners of each tie in the preliminary round entered the Champions League group stage, whilst the losers entered the UEFA Cup first round.
Matches
Fenerbahçe won 2–1 on aggregate.
Rangers won 10–3 on aggregate.
Rosenborg won 3–1 on aggregate.
IFK Göteborg won 4–1 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Widzew Łódź won on away goals.
Grasshopper won 6–0 on aggregate.
Steaua București won 5–2 on aggregate.
Rapid Wien won 6–2 on aggregate.
References
External links Qualifying round at UEFA.com