Rangers' Champions League draw confirmed as Russell Martin tenure to start against Greek opponents

The Ibrox club are beginning a new era under their new head coach, and new owners, following the recent takeover by an American consortium led by Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises.

Martin will make his Rangers dugout debut in a pre-season friendly against Club Brugge at Ibrox on Sunday, July 6, before taking his squad to St George's Park, home of the England national team, for a summer training camp.

His first proper match will then follow in the second round of Champions League qualification with the opposition now known following the draw, which took place at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland on Wednesday.

Trip to Greece awaits

Rangers will face Panathinaikos for a place in the next round with the first leg taking place at Ibrox Stadium on July 22/23 before the return leg in Athens on July 29/30.

The Greek side are the highest-ranked team Rangers could have faced and reached the last 16 of the UEFA Conference League last season before losing to Fiorentina. They last featured in the Champions League proper 15 years ago and play their home matches at Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, which hosts 16,000 fans.

Rangers are in the ‘league’ path of the qualifiers after finishing second in the Scottish Premiership last season. Panathinaikos also finished runners-up in the Greek Super League, 16 points behind champions Olympiacos. The exact dates and kick-off times for the ties are expected to be confirmed by Uefa within the next 24 hours.

A defeat against Panathinaikos would put Rangers into the Europa League third qualifying round but if they prevail, they will move on to the third qualifying round of the Champions League, where again they would be seeded and would face either Nice (France), Fenerbahce (Turkey), the winner of second qualifying round tie involving Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) or the winner of the tie involving Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic).

The draw for this round takes place on July 21, with the matches due to be played across August 5-6 and August 12.

Rangers would drop into Europa League play-offs if they were to lose in the third qualifying round, while a victory puts them into the Champions League play-offs on August 19/20 and August 26/27. Rangers would be unseeded, however, and would face the winner of the ties involving Benfica (Portugal) or Club Brugge (Belgium), who they are playing in a friendly in July.

The draw for the play-off round takes place on August 4. Rangers would advance to the main phase of the Champions League with a win, or drop into the Europa League with a defeat, where they are projected to be in pot one.