Champions League, Europa League draws to be held in Nyon

The draws for the first two qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League and the first two qualifying rounds of the UEFA Europa League will be held at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon on Monday, starting at 12.00 and 13.00 CET respectively.

Representing Malta in the draws will be BOV Premier League champions Valletta, U*BET FA Trophy winners Floriana and Premier League runners-up Birkirkara.

Valletta are one of the seeded teams as they start their commitments in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. Their opponents will be one team between FC Santa Coloma of Andorra and SP Tre Fiori of San Marino.

In the second qualifying round draw that immediately follows, the teams entering at that stage will be split into three groups, containing 17 seeded and 15 unseeded clubs (the two first qualifying round winners also go into the latter pot), who will then be matched.

Should Valletta reach the second round, theywould be meeting one among the seeded teams (in bold).

Group 1
Seeded: Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR), APOEL FC (CYP), PFC Loven Lovech (BUL), ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK), NK Maribor (SVN)
Unseeded: FK Borac Banja Luka (BIH), FK Mogren (MNE), FC Tobol Kostanay (KAZ), Winners first qualifying round match 2, KS Skënderbeu (ALB)

Group 2
Seeded: NK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO), FK Partizan (SRB), SK Sturm Graz (AUT), FC Viktoria Plze? (CZE), FK Ekranas (LTU), FC Zestafoni (GEO)
Unseeded: FC Dacia Chisinau (MDA), FC Pyunik (ARM), Videoton FC (HUN), Winners first qualifying round match 1, Neftçi PFK (AZE), FK Skendija 79 (MKD)

Group 3
Seeded: FC BATE Borisov (BLR), Rosenborg BK (NOR), Wis?a Kraków (POL), HJK Helsinki (FIN), Malmö FF (SWE), Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)
Unseeded: Skonto FC (LVA), Bangor City FC (WAL), HB Tórshavn (FRO), Linfield FC (NIR), FC Flora Tallinn (EST), Breidablik (ISL)

First qualifying round matches will be played on 28/29 June and 5/6 July. Second qualifying round matches are scheduled for July 12/13 and July 19/20. The third qualifying round draw will be held on July 15.

Birkirkara and Floriana will be taking part in the UEFA Europa League with the Stripes starting in the first qualifying round and Floriana making it to the second qualifying round due to their status as cup winners.

For the first qualifying round equal numbers of seeded and unseeded teams will be allocated to five groups of ten in accordance with rankings established at the beginning of the season. For each group, balls containing seeded teams will be placed in one bowl and unseeded teams in another. A ball from each will be placed in a large empty bowl in the middle, and the first team drawn will play its first match at home. Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

Birkirkara are one of the seeeded teams in Group 5. The teams in bold are the possible opponents for the Stripes.

Group 1
Seeded: IL Elfsborg (SWE), Tromsø IL (NOR), FC Honka Espoo (FIN), KR Reykjavík (ISL), The New Saints FC (WAL)
Unseeded: FC Daugava Daugavpils (LVA), Cliftonville FC (NIR), JK Nõmme Kalju (EST), ÍF Fuglafjørdur (FRO), CS Fola Esch (LUX)

Group 2
Seeded: Fulham FC (ENG), Saint Patrick’s Athletic FC (IRL), Aalesunds FK (NOR), BK Häcken (SWE), FK Renova (MKD)
Unseeded: Glentoran FC (NIR), ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar (ISL), NSÍ Runavík (FRO), Neath FC (WAL), UN Käerjéng 97 (LUX)

Group 3
Seeded: Qaraba? FK (AZE), FK Rabotnicki (MKD), FK Rad (SRB), FC Koper (SVN), Paksi SE (HUN)
Unseeded: FK Banga (LTU), JK Trans Narva (EST), FC Shakhter Karagandy (KAZ), SP Tre Penne (SMR), UE Santa Coloma (AND)

Group 4
Seeded: Jagiellonia Bia?ystok (POL), FC Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO), FC Minsk (BLR), FK Budu?nost Podgorica (MNE), Ferencvárosi TC (HUN)
Unseeded: FC Milsami Orhei (MDA), KS Vllaznia (ALB), Olimpik-?üvälan PFK (AZE), FC Irtysh Pavlodar (KAZ), Ulisses FC (ARM)

Group 5
Seeded: FC Spartak Trnava (SVK), NK Varaždin (CRO), Metalurgi Rustavi (GEO), NK Široki Brijeg (BIH), Birkirkara FC (MLT)
Unseeded: NK Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN), KS Vllaznia (ALB), FK Zeta (MNE), FC Banants (AND), FC Lusitans (AND)

The 80 teams involved in the second qualifying round, including Floriana, will be divided into eight groups of ten, each containing five seeded and five unseeded teams. The draw follows the same procedure as the first qualifying round, with the groupings to be confirmed after the draw for the first qualifying round.

The teams include the twenty-five winners of the first qualifying round clashes together with: FC Salzburg (AUT), FK Austria Wien (AUT), Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP), MŠK Žilina (SVK), CD Nacional (POR), FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR), FC Sheriff (MDA), ADO Den Haag (NED), PFC Lokomotiv Sofia (BUL), Gaziantepspor (TUR), Olympiacos Volou FC (GRE), Dundee United FC (SCO), Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv FC (ISR), FC Midtjylland (DEN), Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR), KVC Westerlo (BEL), FK Jablonec (CZE), CS Gaz Metan Media? (ROU), FK Ventspils (LVA), FC Thun (SUI), Vålerenga Fotball (NOR), FC Aktobe (KAZ), FK Vojvodina (SRB), Bohemian FC (IRL), AEK Larnaca FC (CYP), FK Sarajevo (BIH), FC Levadia Tallinn (EST), RNK Split (CRO), FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR), WKS ?l?sk Wroc?aw (POL), FH Hafnarfjördur (ISL), SK Liep?jas Metalurgs (LVA), Örebro SK (SWE), FK Željezni?ar (BIH), FC Iskra-Stal (MDA), FK S?duva (LTU), FC Vaduz (LIE), TPS Turku (FIN), KF Tirana (ALB), FK Tauras (LTU), KuPS Kuopio (FIN), FK Rudar Pljevlja (MNE), Kecskeméti TE (HUN), UE Sant Julià (AND), EB/Streymur (FRO), Xäzär Länkäran FK (AZE), FC Gagra (GEO), FC Metalurg Skopje (MKD), FC Differdange 03 (LUX), FC Mika (ARM), NK Domžale (SVN), Llanelli AFC (WAL), Crusaders FC (NIR), AC Juvenes-Dogana (SMR).

First qualifying round matches will be played on on 30 June and 7 July while the second qualifying round matches are scheduled for 14 and 21 July.