Sliema Wanderers will be facing FC Noah of Armenia in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round at the City Stadium in Abovyan, kick-off at 19:00.

The Wanderers are back in European football after an absence of ten years after winning the IZIBET FA Trophy. They entered the second qualifying round of the competition after Conference League holders Olympiakos Piraeus had already qualified for the 2nd qualifying round of the competition thanks to their finish in the domestic league and therefore the access list was rebalanced awarding Sliema Saburtalo Tbilisi of Georgia a spot in the second qualifying round rather than the first round.

With coach Paul Zammit still at the helm, this summer, Sliema signed Cain Attard, Adam Magri Overend, Steve Pisani, Simon Zibo, Serginho, Stanley Ohawuchi and goalkeeper Josip Bender. On the other hand, Rashed Al Tumi moved to FC Sheriff Tiraspol while Jake Engerer joined Balzan.

FC Noah of Armenia were founded in 2017 as FC Artsakh and are based in Armavir.

Throughout their history, they won the Armenian Cup in season 2019/20 and the Super Cup in 2020.  In 2020, they were eliminated by Kairat of Kazakhstan from the UEFA Europa League, in 2021 by KuPS of Finland from the UEFA Europa Conference League and this year, they eliminated Shkendija of North Macedonia after beating them 2-0 at home and 2-1 away from home.

Last season, Noah placed second in the Armenian Premier League two points behind champions Pyunik. They reached this stage after defeating Shkendija Tetovo of North Macedonia 2-0 at home and 2-1 away from home for a 4-1 aggregate score.

The return leg is scheduled for August 1 at the Centenary Stadium, kick-off at 19:00. The winner will face Greek side AEK Athens or Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra.