A 0-0 draw in the first leg against Kukësi in Shkodër had raised the Citizens’ hopes but the 1-1 draw at the Centenary Stadium last week saw the Albanian side through.
Against Zrinjski, Valletta will be aiming to score the goals that would make the whole difference as in the last two matches, they failed to take advantage of the several chances they created.
The club was founded by Croatian youth in 1905 and is the oldest football club in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After World War II, all clubs that had participated in the wartime Prva HNL were banned in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Zrinjski being one of them. The ban lasted from 1945 to 1992. The club was reformed after the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It played in the Herzeg-Bosnia First League until 2000 when it joined the Premier League.
In 2005, Zrinjski celebrated its first championship crown in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then they won the league another five times including the last two years. They won the Cup once in 2007/08.
They have been participating in the main UEFA competitions since 2005 but their best achievement was reaching the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League in 2010 when they were then eliminated by OB Odense of Denmark. This season, they were eliminated by Spartak Trnava of Slovakia losing 1-0 in Trnava and being held in a 1-1 draw in Mostar.
This will be the second visit for HSK Zrinjski to Malta as they were drawn with Marsaxlokk in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2006, winning with a 4-1 aggregate score.