Hibernians and Sirens also in Monday’s draw
Valletta FC’s chances of making good progress in this season’s UEFA Europa League were given a boost on Sunday night when the Citizens were named as one of the seeds for Monday’s first qualifying round draw that will be held in Nyon, Switzerland, starting at 1pm.
The Citizens
are one of three Maltese sides competing in this season’s Europa League
alongside Hibernians and Sirens, who are making their first-ever appearance in
a UEFA club competition.
Last
season, Valletta managed to reach the third qualifying round of the Europa League
only to be eliminated by Kazakhstan side Astana, who went on to reach the group
stages of the competitions.
That
performance continued to improve Valletta’s coefficient in the UEFA ranking which
now stands at 5.250 points, which earned the right to the capital club to be
one of the seeded teams in Monday’s draw.
UEFA has
split the participating teams in Monday’s draw in different groups and Valletta
are likely to be facing a team from Luxembourg after being paired with
Differdange and Union Titus.
The other unseeded
team in Valletta’s section are Welsh side Bala Town.
Last
season, Valletta have fond memories of facing opponents from Luxembourg after last
season they were drawn against Dudelange in the first qualifying round of the
Champions League and managed to go through on the away goals’ rule after the
tie ended in a 3-3 draw.
Hibernians,
on the other hand, are unseeded and will face either FC Vaduz, of
Liechtenstein, Swiss side Servette and The New Saints, of Wales.
Should the
Paolites end up facing Servette it would be a second meetings for the two teams
in European football after they had met in the first round of the 1961-62
Champions Cup with the Swiss side going through 7-1 on aggregate.
Sirens, on
the other hand, are bracing themselves for a difficult tie as they were pitted
in Group 13 and face the prospect of playing either FC Progres Niederkorn, of
Luxembourg, Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest and CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria.
The first
qualifying round ties of the Europa League are scheduled to be held on August
28.
MALTESE TEAM’S POSSIBLE OPPONENTS
Valletta
Bala Town
(Wales), Differdange (Luxembourg), Union Titus (Luxembourg)
Hibernians
Servette
(Switzerland), The New Saints (Wales), FC Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
Sirens
FC Progres
Niederkom (Luxembourg), Steaua Bucharest (Romania), CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria).
