Floriana were drawn to face Romanian side CFR Cluj in the first qualifying round of the Champions League as the draw of UEFA’s elite competition were held on Sunday in Nyon, Switzerland.
As expected, the Maltese champions were handed a difficult tie on their return to UEFA’s top competition after a 27-year-wait as the Romanian champions have a lot of experience in playing high level matches in European competition.
In fact,
CFR Cluj have made five appearances in the UEFA Champions League with their
best performance in the competition coming in 2012-13 season when they managed
to amass 10 points in their group.
In that
season, they went on to meet Serie A giants Inter in the round of 32 but were
eliminated 5-0 on aggregate.
Last
season, the Romanian giants competed in the Europa League and set a new record
in the second UEFA competition for their country after managing to collect a
record 12 points in the group to reach the knock-out stages at the expense of
Italian side Lazio.
Their run
in the competition came to an end in the Round of 32 when they were knocked out
by Sevilla on the away goals rule after the tie had finished in a 1-1 draw.
One positive for Floriana FC is that this year’s European ties are being held in one-off ties and the Greens were drawn at home meaning that they will host the match at either the Centenary Stadium or the National Stadium on August 18 or 19.
No fans will be allowed to watch the match.
Meawnhile, the European football governing body held the draws for the second qualifying round of the same competition on Monday.
Should Floriana overcome Cluj’s challenge, Enzo Potenza’s team would host Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb.