Gżira United, Ħamrun Spartans, Floriana hope for a good draw in Conference League

Gżira United, Ħamrun Spartans and Floriana will be keeping their fingers crossed of being handed a favourable draw in the first qualifying round of the Conference League that will be held in Nyon on Tuesday.

Gżira United, who booked their place in Europe after their fourth-placing in the Premier League last season, are the only seeded side among the Maltese teams in Tuesday’s draw.

The Maroons have been placed in Group Three and and will be keeping their fingers crossed they could pick either Northern Ireland side Larne, Atletic d’Escaldes, of Andorra or Luxembourg’s Differdange.

The others unseeded teams in the group of Gżira United are Banja Luka, of Bosnia Herzegovina and Llapi, of Kosovo.

Floriana, the 2022 FA Trophy winners, have a rather difficult draw awaiting them in Group 5.

The Greens will be keeping their fingers crossed they can pick San Marino side Tre Penne.

Should they miss out on a tie with the San Marino outfit they face some challenging ties against one of Shkendija, of Macedonia, Dinamo Minsk, of Belarus, Albania’s Partizani and Petrocub Hincesti, of Romania.

On the other hand, Ħamrun Spartans, back in a UEFA club competition for the first time after an absence of 30 years, are one of the unseeded teams in Group 1.

The Spartans could be drawn against Alashkert, of Kazakhstan, Dinamo Tbilisi, of Georgia, Drita, of Kosovo, Lechia Gdansk, of Poland and Milsami Orhei, of Moldova.

The UEFA Conference League draw is scheduled for Tuesday at at 1pm.

GROUP 1

Seeded teams: Dinamo Tbilisi, Alashkert, Drita, Lechia Gdansk, Milsai Orhei.

Unseeded teams: Inter Turku, Panevezys, Paide, Akademija Pandev, Ħamrun Spartans.

GROUP 3

Seeded teams: Olimpija Ljubljana, Buducnost, B36 Torshavn, Gżira United, St Joseph’s.

Unseeded teams: Borac Banja Luka, Larne, Differdange, Atletic d’Escaldes, Llapi.

GROUP 5

Seeded teams: Shkendija, Dinamo Minsk, Partizani, Tre Penne, Petrocub Hibcesti.

Unseeded teams: Saburtalo Tbilisi, Floriana, Ararat Yerevan, Tuza City, Decic.