Champions League is back on Tuesday, baby!!
Yes, the first leg of the first round of qualifying kicks off this week. This year, there's a very exciting new twist: a new minnow's minnow has joined the fold: Gibraltar. The newest member of UEFA is, at a population of just under 30,000, also the smallest. Their firstsacrificial lamb CL entrant will be their reigning champion, the Lincoln Red Imps. Fun fact that I learned five minutes ago: all eight clubs in the loftily-named Gibraltar Premier League play in the same stadium.
Anyway, the midget-fighting of the first qualifying round consists of the following:
FC Santa Coloma (Andorra) vs. Banants Yerevan (Armenia)
Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) vs. HB (Faroe Islands)
La Fiorita (San Marino) vs. Levadia Tallinn (Estonia)
The second round has also been drawn and even contains a few clubs you've heard of. Four, I believe, have won European silverware at some point in their more glorious past.
BATE Borisov (Belarus) vs. Skënderbeu Korçë (Albania)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) vs. Santa Coloma/Banants
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) vs. Aktobe (Kazakhstan)
Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia) vs. Maribor (Slovenia)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) vs. Sutjeska Nikšić (Montenegro)
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) vs. La Fiorita/Levadia
Malmö (Sweden) vs. Ventspils (Latvia)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) vs. The New Saints (Wales)
KR (Iceland) vs. Celtic (Scotland)
Cliftonville (Northern Ireland) vs. Debrecen (Hungary)
Partizan (Serbia) vs. Lincoln/HB
Legia Warsaw (Poland) vs. St. Patrick's Athletic (Ireland)
Rabotnički (Macedonia) vs. HJK (Finland)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs. Žalgiris Vilnius (Lithuania)
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) vs. F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg)
Valletta (Malta) vs. Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
Strømsgodset (Norway) vs. Steaua Bucuresti (Romania)
You may recall that a few years back CL qualifying was shifted into two separate pathways -- champions and non-champions. So five CL group stage entrants will come from this pool, plus Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), APOEL (Cyprus), and AaB Aalborg (Denmark) who will join in the next round.
Yes, the first leg of the first round of qualifying kicks off this week. This year, there's a very exciting new twist: a new minnow's minnow has joined the fold: Gibraltar. The newest member of UEFA is, at a population of just under 30,000, also the smallest. Their first
Anyway, the midget-fighting of the first qualifying round consists of the following:
FC Santa Coloma (Andorra) vs. Banants Yerevan (Armenia)
Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) vs. HB (Faroe Islands)
La Fiorita (San Marino) vs. Levadia Tallinn (Estonia)
The second round has also been drawn and even contains a few clubs you've heard of. Four, I believe, have won European silverware at some point in their more glorious past.
BATE Borisov (Belarus) vs. Skënderbeu Korçë (Albania)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) vs. Santa Coloma/Banants
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) vs. Aktobe (Kazakhstan)
Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia) vs. Maribor (Slovenia)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) vs. Sutjeska Nikšić (Montenegro)
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) vs. La Fiorita/Levadia
Malmö (Sweden) vs. Ventspils (Latvia)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) vs. The New Saints (Wales)
KR (Iceland) vs. Celtic (Scotland)
Cliftonville (Northern Ireland) vs. Debrecen (Hungary)
Partizan (Serbia) vs. Lincoln/HB
Legia Warsaw (Poland) vs. St. Patrick's Athletic (Ireland)
Rabotnički (Macedonia) vs. HJK (Finland)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs. Žalgiris Vilnius (Lithuania)
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) vs. F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg)
Valletta (Malta) vs. Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
Strømsgodset (Norway) vs. Steaua Bucuresti (Romania)
You may recall that a few years back CL qualifying was shifted into two separate pathways -- champions and non-champions. So five CL group stage entrants will come from this pool, plus Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), APOEL (Cyprus), and AaB Aalborg (Denmark) who will join in the next round.