Ħamrun Spartans to face Pafos or Maccabi Tel Aviv in upcoming European commitments

Updated with Europa League draw

Cypriot side FC Pafos and Maccabi Tel Aviv, of Israel, were put on the same European path of Ħamrun Spartans, as the draws of the third qualifying round of both the Champions League and the Europa League were held on Monday.

Ħamrun Spartans and Dynamo Kyiv face off in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, with the opening leg to be played at the Tony Bezzina Stadium on Tuesday.

The two sides on Monday discovered their potential opponents in both UEFA competitions and fate wanted that they will be facing either FC Pafos, of Cyprus, and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, depending on the outcome of their tie.

The winner of the UEFA Champions League tie between the Spartans and the Ukrainian champions will face the winner of the two-legged match between FC Pafos and Tel Aviv in the third qualifying round, scheduled for August 6 and 6 and August 12 and 13.

The teams that will end up on the losing side of both ties will continue their European journey in the UEFA Europa League and will face off in the third qualifying round, scheduled for August 7 and 14.

For FC Pafos, this summer’s journey is an historic one as the Cypriot side had never participated in UEFA’s elite club competition and last season were crowned champions for the first time in their club’s history.

Last season, FC Pafos managed to reach the League Phase of the UEFA Conference League.

Maccabi Tel Aviv, on the other hand, are the oldest club in Israel and have won the title tow 26 times in their club’s history, including the last two and are bidding to enter the League Phase of this year’s competition.

 Dynamo Kyiv will start as the favourites to reach the third qualifying round, but the Spartans will surely try and make life difficult for the Ukrainian side.

So far, the Spartans have already made history in this summer’s campaign as they became the first Maltese team to reach the second qualifying round of the Champions League under the new format.

In the past, other Maltese clubs have managed to negotiate past the opening round of the Champions League qualifiers, which was played under a different format.

Before Ħamrun Spartans, Valletta FC where the last club to reach the second qualifying round of the Champions League when they had knocked out Dudelange in season 2019-20.