draw for 1st and 2nd qualifying round Champions League (19.6)

[EarlofBug]

It's the time to open a thread for the draw of the 1st and 2nd qualifying round.

Seeding for the 1st Qualifying Round (10 teams):

Code: Select all

Seeded teams                   coef.              Unseeded teams                 coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
The New Saints           Wal   5.775              Alashkert FC             Arm   2.525
Linfield Belfast         Nir   3.650              La Fiorita               Sma   1.566
Víkingur                 Far   2.950              Europa FC                Gib   1.500
Hibernians FC            Mlt   2.800              Infonet Tallinn          Est   1.300
FC Santa Coloma          And   2.733              Trepça'89                Kos   0.000

Seeding for the 2nd Qualifying Round:

Code: Select all

Seeded teams                   coef.              Unseeded teams                 coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
Celtic                   Sco  42.785              MSK Zilina               Svk   5.850
FC Salzburg              Aut  40.570              Zalgiris Vilnius         Lit   5.825
FC København             Den  37.800              Dundalk                  Irl   5.815
Ludogorets Razgrad       Bul  34.175              The New Saints *         Wal   5.775
BATE Borisov             Bls  29.475              Vardar Skopje            Mac   5.125
Legia Warsaw             Pol  28.450              F91 Dudelange            Lux   4.975
APOEL Nicosia            Cyp  26.210              FK Kukësi                Alb   4.575
NK Maribor               Slo  21.125              Zrinjski Mostar          Bos   4.050
Garabag Agdam            Azb  18.050              Linfield Belfast *       Nir   3.650
Malmö FF                 Swe  16.945              Buducnost Podgorica      Mon   3.300
FK Astana                Kaz  16.800              Víkingur *               Far   2.950
Partizan Belgrade        Srb  16.075              Honvéd Budapest          Hun   2.900
NK Rijeka                Cro  15.550              Hibernians FC *          Mlt   2.800
Rosenborg BK             Nor  12.665              FC Santa Coloma *        And   2.733
Sheriff Tiraspol         Mol  11.150              IFK Mariehamn            Fin   2.030
Hapoel Beer-Sheva        Isr  10.875              Spartaks Jurmala         Lat   1.975
FH Hafnarfjardar         Isl   6.175              Samtredia                Geo   1.525

What draw would you like for your teams?

[Dragonite]

Dundalk vs. BATE Borisov and Dudelange vs. FC Salzburg would be nice.

[SteffenM]

I guess all the unseeded will hope to draw my our Nordic brothers from FH Hafnarfjardar.
Quite surprised they are seeded.

The rest seems more equal,
maybe Salzburg are the strongest of the seeded and Dundalk strongest of unseeded, and will be hoped to be avoided.

[angel_87]

Debut for kosovo teams in European cups
I do not see their transition to the 2nd round

[Firnen]

Kopenhagen is the strongest. Salzburg is the eternal joke for CL qualifiers. FH, Sheriff, Maribor, Partizan, Qarabag the weakest seeded.

[Lorric]

Feed La Fiorita then FH to TNS. Failing that give them to Linfield. Failing that give FH to Dundalk. Failing all that give FH someone they can beat so they might be there for next years CL and so they can be fed to Celtic. And maybe even fed to Everton after that. I'd be curious to see Celtic vs Linfield. Because Rangers have a special relationship with Linfield, so there'd be some fire if the two were to meet. Vikingur would be nice for Celtic in Q2. Assuming regionalisation, probably best to avoid Dundalk and the Finns. After FH, maybe Sheriff is the next most desirable seed to draw. But it's a massive step up after FH.

[bugylibicska]

From the seeded I`ll especially root for Qarabag, Astana and Rijeka to ease into 3rd round. From the unseeded I want Vardar, Zrinjski to have a fighting chance at least, and Zilina to be paired with Sheriff or if it`s an open draw with Hafnarfjardar, though I`d not mind Celtic. By all means I shall be there!

[Forza AZ]

Debut for kosovo teams in European cups
I do not see their transition to the 2nd round

I have no idea about the strenght of the Kosovo clubs, but Trepça'89 should have a good chance if they draw FC Santa Coloma (And), Hibernians (Mal) or Vikingur (Far). For Prishtina in EL I agree that they probably don't make it to Q2.

[AnelZ]

I agree with Forza, Trepca should have good chance against Santa Coloma and equal against Hibernians and Vikingur. TNS and Linfield would be favorties but for them it would been better to avoid the champion of Kosovo and hope for La Fiorita and Infonet.

When it comes to the second round, FH definitely the top choice from seeded but Sheriff also doesn't look quite dangerous. There is talk that Maribor is also much weaker compared to the seasons before so they could also be a good opponent. In the unseeded I see Žilina as a club to avoid with Dundalk, Vardar, Kukesi and Honved also proving troublesome. Sadly our champion Zrinjski isn't showing currently signs to be able to pose a serious threat as no new good signing are announced with three important players already left the club.

Vardar showed good performance the last two times in QR2 and the two times before that were also not that bad with only Steaua really beating them in that game in Bucharest with 3-0. The other three times they showed good resistance to, in my opinion, big time favorites with BATE progressing after a 3-2 home win, APOEL on away goal rules and Dinamo Zagreb winning both legs with just one goal difference. Samsonenko being their owner helps this because he already invested big money in the club, especially youth categories which is evident in the U21 Macedonian team made their historical debut on the championship with 6 of the 23 players coming from Vardar (seven more comes from three another Macedonian clubs; 3 Shkendija, 3 Rabotnicki and 1 Pelister). Samsonenko is also the owner of both the male and female handball club Vardar who both of them played the finals of the champions league this season and the male club winning it against PSG in an excellent final match and the female one settling for a silver medal after Gyori won with just one goal difference after ET.

[Maribor]

Maribor need to strengthen if we're going to get past the later rounds of qualifying. It's good that we have kept Zahovic arguably the best striker in the whole of the Slovenian league.

Going forward we are okay but if we come across a team with a strong defence we are in danger because there is no chance this defence we currently have are good enough to keep clean sheets in big matches.

So if your team has a strong defence and is good enough in attack well you must pray you draw Maribor.

[Maribor]

Kosovo teams aren't hopeless i don't expect them to reach the group stage but my prediction is within 3 seasons Kosovo won't be entering at this stage (1st round)

The league is probably the same strength as the Montenegro league.

[Lorric]

If they're only as good as Montenegro then it will be hard for them. 55th-46th are in this round and Montenegro are ranked 45th. And Kosovo are unseeded and playing catchup.

[Maribor]

Well Prishtina for example I know have two International players with over 40 games experience (I know this is Europa League team but it gives example of the players that play in Kosovo).

Kosovo Internationally will improve over the next few years and I think they'll do okay at this level in the early rounds.

[Firnen]

It would be interesting if any team seeded higher than Malmo does not get past the 2nd qualifying round, that would augment the possibilities for a good draw in the 3rd qulifying round and a surprise team in CLPlay-Offs and ELGS at minimum. For example, Maribor-Linfield, Linfield-Hafnarfjordur.

I'd like Santa Coloma, Europa, Vikingur in the 2nd qualifying rounds, Faroe, Andora and Gibraltar are cult football countries with the airport-pitch in Gibraltar, the plastic slider in Andorra and the Faroe 5χ5 style stadium !

[Forza AZ]

If they're only as good as Montenegro then it will be hard for them. 55th-46th are in this round and Montenegro are ranked 45th. And Kosovo are unseeded and playing catchup.

Well, from next year on only the bottom 4 have to start in a seperate round (Q0) with champions of 19-51 start in Q1. So should not be to hard for Kosovo to rise out of the bottom 4 within a few years.