Floriana face tricky trip at FC Ballkani in UEFA Conference League

Floriana FC will start their bid for a place in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League with a tough-looking trip to FC Ballkani, of Montenegro, on Tuesday night (kick-off: 8.30pm).

The Greens, under the charge of coach Daniel Portela, are in high spirits after last week’s hard-fought victory at Welsh side Haverfordwest County that sealed their place in the second qualifying round with a 5-3 aggregate score.

However, the Greens will be aware that they are gearing up to a much tougher European assignment against FC Ballkani, who in the past few years have grown into a very competitive side in their country and have attained some remarkable achievements in UEFA club competitions too.

FC Ballkani have managed to reach the group stages of the UEFA Conference League in successive campaigns in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Last season, FC Ballkani finished runners-up in the Kosovo championship, just behind champions FC Drita.

Their main goal in Europe is to reach the league phase of the UEFA Conference League and will do all they can to see off the challenge of Floriana.

However, Floriana have shown that they can be a match for the Kosovo side with their performance against Haverfordwest County.

In both matches, the team has shown remarkable spirit to come from behind and manage to win the match.

New signings Charles M’Mombwa and Mustapha Jah have shown that they have the pace and guile to score goals for the Greens while Jake Grech is playing a key role with his surging runs from midfield.

The main concern for Floriana is the lapses in concentration in defence they have displayed in their matches against Haverfordwest.

Against FC Ballkani they cannot afford to commit silly defensive errors or they risk being severely punished.

The Kosovo side have good knowledge of the level of Maltese football, as last season they knocked out Ħamrun Spartans from the UEFA Conference League.

The first leg in Kosovo ended in a goalless draw but in the return leg, played at the Tony Bezzina Stadium, Ballkani showed all their strength as they eased to a 2-0 win to progress to the third qualifying round.

The winner of this tie has an added motivation as they were handed a favourable draw in the third qualifying round of the competition, that were held yesterday.

Floriana and FC Ballkani will face the winner of the second qualifying round tie between Gibraltar’s St Joseph’s or Shamrock Rovers, of Ireland.

Meanwhile, FA Trophy holders Hibernians are set to enter the competition in the second qualifying round this Thursday, hosting Slovakian side Spartak Trnava in the first leg.

If the Paolites overcome this challenge, they will go on to meet either Sarajevo of Bosnia-Herzegovina or Romania’s Universitatea Craiova in the next round.

The third qualifying round ties will be played on August 7 (first leg) and August 14 (second leg), with the winners advancing to the play-off stage.