Champions League, Europa League & Europa Conference League 23/24

[Winston Biscuit]

Champions League preliminary round starts 2 weeks today

Semi finals: (27th June)
Atletic Club D'Escaldes (Andorra) Vs Budocnost Podgorica (Montenegro)
Tre Penne (San Marino) Vs Breiðablik (Iceland)
Final to be played on 30th June

Draw for 1st qualifying round on 20th June. Games played on 11–12 July & 18–19 July
Draw for 2nd qualifying round on 21st June. Games played on 25–26 July & 1–2 August
Draw for 3rd qualifying round on 24th July. Games played on 8–9 August & 15 August

Shamrock Rovers, Larne and The New Saints are in the 1st round.
Rangers are in the 3rd round and will play the winner of Genk Vs Servette

[Loafer]

Tre penne are a tough cookie to break down at home, they have the typical big man little man combo uptop, and a nippy little number 8 who runs the show in midfield.

They could be dark horses to go all the way!

[Sanguine]

FC TSC are one of Serbia's oldest clubs, and are in third round qualifying, with a chance to reach the final stages of European competition for the first time.

Lens, like Newcastle, are in the group stage for the first time in 21 years.

[Winston Biscuit]

Lens finishing in 2nd place, just 1 point behind PSG, is a real story

Likewise, Union Berlin being in the Champions League is quite something

[Winston Biscuit]

Atletic Escaldes 0-3 FK Budućnost Podgorica

[Stranded]

Tre penne are a tough cookie to break down at home, they have the typical big man little man combo uptop, and a nippy little number 8 who runs the show in midfield.

They could be dark horses to go all the way!

Lost 7-1.

Was in Iceland though.

[Loafer]

Tre penne are a tough cookie to break down at home, they have the typical big man little man combo uptop, and a nippy little number 8 who runs the show in midfield.

They could be dark horses to go all the way!

Lost 7-1.

Was in Iceland though.

I fully expect Tre Penne to do the business at home, they are a tough team to break down infront of the Kop.

[Stranded]

Tre penne are a tough cookie to break down at home, they have the typical big man little man combo uptop, and a nippy little number 8 who runs the show in midfield.

They could be dark horses to go all the way!

Lost 7-1.

Was in Iceland though.

I fully expect Tre Penne to do the business at home, they are a tough team to break down infront of the Kop.

I appreciate the commitment to the bit.

It was a one off tie.

[Loafer]

Lost 7-1.

Was in Iceland though.

I fully expect Tre Penne to do the business at home, they are a tough team to break down infront of the Kop.

I appreciate the commitment to the bit.

It was a one off tie.

Oh I did not know that, nevermind

[LUX]

Luxembourg champions Hesperange Swifts got a 1 -1 draw away to Slovan Bratislava in the CL, pretty impressive for what is basically a park team.

I'll prolly go to the home leg.

could all turn sour of course. Most Lux clubs do not survive until August.

[Winston Biscuit]

Breidablik 2-1 Shamrock Rovers

The Icelanders are through 3-1 on agg to the next qualifying round

[Stranded]

Luxembourg champions Hesperange Swifts got a 1 -1 draw away to Slovan Bratislava in the CL, pretty impressive for what is basically a park team.

I'll prolly go to the home leg.

could all turn sour of course. Most Lux clubs do not survive until August.

Missed pen looks to have done for them.

[Clyde1998]

Northern Ireland champions Larne were knocked out the Champions League in extra time against HJK. They drop into the Conference League second qualifying round and will play Ballkani of Kosovo. TNS play the aforementioned Swift Hesperange of Luxembourg; Shamrock play Hungarian champions Ferencvaros. Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps have a bye into the third qualifying round.

Hibernian enter in the second qualifying round where they'll play the winners of Inter Club d'Escaldes of Andorra and Faroe Islanders Vikingur. Hearts enter in the third qualifying round; Aston Villa in the play-off round.

Aberdeen are in the play-off round of the Europa League, with them being guaranteed group stage football in either the Europa League or the Conference League. Brighton, Liverpool and West Ham start in the group stage of the Europa League.

Rangers are seeded in Monday's Champions League third qualifying round draw - where they'll play one of Servette (SUI)/Genk (BEL); Strum Graz (AUT); Dnipro (UKR)/Panathinaikos (GRE); TSC (SRB). The winners of Rangers' tie will face either the winners of the tie involving PSV or the tie involving Marseille in the play-off round. Man City (Pot 1); Man Utd (Pot 2); Arsenal (Pot 2); Celtic (likely Pot 4) and Newcastle (likely Pot 4) will be in the group stage; Rangers would be in Pot 3 should they reach the group stage.

[Clyde1998]

Luxembourg champions Hesperange Swifts got a 1 -1 draw away to Slovan Bratislava in the CL, pretty impressive for what is basically a park team.

I'll prolly go to the home leg.

could all turn sour of course. Most Lux clubs do not survive until August.

They've got an interesting Conference League tie against TNS. I would say Luxembourgish sides have done surprisingly well in Europe over the past few seasons.

[Green]

Breidablik 2-1 Shamrock Rovers

The Icelanders are through 3-1 on agg to the next qualifying round

Shambles at Shamrock
Rovers hit Shamrock bottom
Super Breida are fantastic Shamrock are atrocious

[Clyde1998]

Breidablik 2-1 Shamrock Rovers

The Icelanders are through 3-1 on agg to the next qualifying round

Shambles at Shamrock
Rovers hit Shamrock bottom
Super Breida are fantastic Shamrock are atrocious

Shamrocked by defeat

[Winston Biscuit]

Breidablik 2-1 Shamrock Rovers

The Icelanders are through 3-1 on agg to the next qualifying round

Shambles at Shamrock
Rovers hit Shamrock bottom
Super Breida are fantastic Shamrock are atrocious

Shamrocked by defeat

Shammy Leathered By Icelanders

[Four Of Clubs]

'Sham Pain' moment ....

...anywhose - three Champs League matches scheduled for live broadcast tonight (Tue 25th)

- that's providing they (BT Sport n.k.a. TNT) don't f£ck about with their programming like they may have done last week .... and bring us Azerbaijani u-12 tiddlywinks or summat instead ......

UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg (TNT Sports 2)
19:00 Dinamo Zagreb v Astana

UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg (TNT Sports 1)
19:00 Dnipro v Panathinaikos

UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg (TNT Sports 3)
20:00 HSK Zrinjski Mostar v Slovan Bratislava

.... not trying to get too deep into a political 'swamp' here .... but the hosts seem to have some identity conundrums surrounding them - looking closer (thru Wiki) at their name.
I'd never heard of them before as a club - though could recall their (fierce) City rivals 'Velez' from Euro competitions of old -recognized the city - has that fancy 16th C bridge people jumped off for fun? - rebuilt after being destroyed during the early 90s in the more recent war.

HSK - (Hrvatska Sport Klub) identifies their 'Croat' background - though based within what is now Bosnia and seem to be Hercegovinian in foundation - early 1900s. The city was the former capital.
They are now the most successful club in Bosnia & H. though more recent competitive opportunities have been much restricted - banned after WW2 due to their associations with Croatia - and re-founded in 1992.
The Bosnian league has been slow to patch itself back together - HSK were allowed to enter in 2000 and only uniting properly (with Serbian-based Bosnian clubs taking part) - in about 2002

[Clyde1998]

'Sham Pain' moment ....

...anywhose - three Champs League matches scheduled for live broadcast tonight (Tue 25th)

- that's providing they (BT Sport n.k.a. TNT) don't f£ck about with their programming like they may have done last week .... and bring us Azerbaijani u-12 tiddlywinks or summat ......

UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg (TNT Sports 2)
19:00 Dinamo Zagreb v Astana

UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg (TNT Sports 1)
19:00 Dnipro v Panathinaikos

UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg (TNT Sports 3)
20:00 HSK Zrinjski Mostar v Slovan Bratislava

.... not trying to get too political here .... but the hosts seem to have some identity conundrums surrounding them - looking closer (thru Wiki) at their name.
I'd never heard of them before as a club - though could recall their City rivals 'Velez' from Euro competitions of old - just recognized the name of the city.
- has that fancy 16th C bridge people jumped off for fun? - rebuilt after being destroyed during the early 90s in the more recent war.

HSK - (Hrvatska Sport Klub) would suggest they do have 'Croat' background but they are based within what is now Bosnia and seem to be more Hercegovinian in foundation - early 1900s. The city was the former capital.
They are the most successful club in Bosnia & H. though competitive opportunities were much restricted - had been banned after WW2 due to their associations with Croatia - and re-founded in 1992

It's hard not to get political with most Bosnian clubs. Only about half of those in the country are Bosniaks, ~30% are Serbs and ~15% are Croat. I believe Serbs have the largest land area where they're the largest group, as a result of the Yugoslav wars - which lead to Bosniaks either fleeing the country or to areas controlled by the Bosnian government (typically the centre of the country). The ethnic groups do get very messy in that part of the world.

Incidentally they were knocked out the Conference League play-off round last season on penalties by Slovan Bratislava, so the tie could be interesting for that reason alone.

[From Despair To Where?]

The bridge, Stari Most, has most definitely been rebuilt.