After advancing through the qualifying play-offs, Pafos FC of Cyprus and Bodo/Glimt of Norway will make their Champions League debuts this year.
Pafos, which was only established 11 years ago, drew 1-1 draw with Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday to seal a 3-2 win on aggregate against them.
Bodo/Glimt also advanced to the league stage with a 6-2 overall victory over Sturm Graz, beating them 2-1 in the second leg.
The duo’s first appearances in Europe’s top-tier competition will be Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan, who stunned Celtic on penalties and Belgian champion Union Saint-Gilloise.
On July 22, Pafos defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dynamo Kyiv in the second qualifying round to advance to the play-offs.
Brazilian winger Jaja scored an 89th-minute equalizer in the Limassol return after Mirko Ivanic had given Red Star a 1-0 lead from the opening match.
The Cypriot champions, who recently signed 38-year-old former defender David Luiz from Chelsea and Arsenal, will join Apoel and Anorthosis Famagusta as the third club to play in the Champions League.
Bodo/Glimt, the four-time champions of Norway, are the first club to qualify for the national championship since Rosenborg in the 2007-08 season.
The club, which is housed at the 8, 270-seat Aspmyra Stadion, is located 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. They made headlines last year when they reached the Europa League semi-finals, where they were defeated by Tottenham, who had previously been champions.
The Kazakh side is the second to qualify for the competition after Astana in 2015-16, who defeated Scottish champions Celtic in a shootout in both ties.
Chelsea traveled 3,600 miles to Almaty last year to take on Astana in the Uefa Conference League, making it one of the most challenging trips for Kairat’s European opponents.
Watch highlights of every Champions League game on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, and the BBC Sport website and app from 12:00 to eve of the match.
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- UEFA Champions League
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Source: BBC
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