UEFA Champions League 2019/2020 QR1

[matt]

Seeded teams:

Celtic
BATE
Astana
Ludogorets
Qarabag
Maribor
Red Star
Sheriff
Rosenborg
HJK
Dundalk
Dudelange
Shkendija
The New Saints
Slovan Bratislava
AIK


Unseeded teams:

Suduva
Valletta
Winners of PR
Sarajevo
Piast
CFR Cluj
Ferencvaros
Nomme Kalju
Sutjeska
Partizani
Valur
Linfield
HB Torshavn
Riga FC
Ararat-Armenia
Saburtalo Tbilisi

[matt]

Seeded teams to get:

HJK
Dudelange
The New Saints


Unseeded teams to avoid:

Suduva
Piast
CFR Cluj
Ferencvaros

[SimonB]

Seeded teams to get:

HJK
Dudelange
The New Saints


Unseeded teams to avoid:

Suduva
Piast
CFR Cluj
Ferencvaros

Although last season I am sure that Cluj would rather have avoided Dudelange than the other way around

A repeat draw of this fixture in the CL this season might be interesting.

[bugylibicska]

Well, teams from Malko country don't look so desirable anymore, so no Dudelange on my list, but rather Dundalk, TNS and maybe Sheriff.
From the unseeded Piast Gliwice, Cluj and Ferencvaros look the most dangerous. I hope Saburtalo could spring a surprise.

[coade]

Will Ararat Armenia be allowed into the Champions League? I think they were only founded in 2017.

[Posmatrač]

Will Ararat Armenia be allowed into the Champions League? I think they were only founded in 2017.

No second placed Pyunik will play instead.

[amenina]

Will Ararat Armenia be allowed into the Champions League? I think they were only founded in 2017.

No second placed Pyunik will play instead.

This is latest news (15 June) from an Armenian football website

https://armfootball.com/arm/news/108764 ... akn-e.html

Rough translation

Ararat-Armenia's minimal goal is to move to one round in the Champions League

[subway14]

Will Ararat Armenia be allowed into the Champions League? I think they were only founded in 2017.

No second placed Pyunik will play instead.

how do you know that?

[Posmatrač]

Then I was wrong, I assumed that they wouldnt get a license, because Waterford from Ireland cant play EL for very same reason, and I remember that they werent listed for CL until now.

[coade]

It would seem a bit strange that Ararat would get a license but Waterford (my team) can't! Were they definitely only founded in 2017? I can't find much information about them online

[Forza AZ]

It would seem a bit strange that Ararat would get a license but Waterford (my team) can't! Were they definitely only founded in 2017? I can't find much information about them online

They entered Armenian league system in 2017. I believe they played in the Russian league before, so it depends if you consider that as the same club, since you can't just move a club from 1 country to another.

[subway14]

It would seem a bit strange that Ararat would get a license but Waterford (my team) can't! Were they definitely only founded in 2017? I can't find much information about them online

probably they paid off UEFA so they were allowed

[EarlofBug]

It would seem a bit strange that Ararat would get a license but Waterford (my team) can't! Were they definitely only founded in 2017? I can't find much information about them online

probably they paid off UEFA so they were allowed

Why would they do that? And how much money do you think that they could pay? UEFA makes lots of money, so I don't think that a small payment from an Armenian club would make them break the rules.

[amenina]

It would seem a bit strange that Ararat would get a license but Waterford (my team) can't! Were they definitely only founded in 2017? I can't find much information about them online

probably they paid off UEFA so they were allowed

Why would they do that? And how much money do you think that they could pay? UEFA makes lots of money, so I don't think that a small payment from an Armenian club would make them break the rules.

Here are the information about this case I can find from Armenia websites.

First, here is a news article which says that Ararat-Armenia (and also Lori) "should be" ineligible for UEFA competitions:

https://www.1in.am/2568150.html

"According to our information, the FFA has already issued licenses to play in Europe, Ararat-Armenii and Vanadzor's Lori, which is only the second season in domestic championships. Our interlocutor also noted that UEFA usually relies on national federations and does not voluntarily study the process of granting licenses. In the event of a complaint or other emergence, UEFA simply disqualifies the team from that license. Taking into account the current situation we expect the FFA to clarify the UEFA Ararat-Armenia and Lori UEFA license."

Next, here is a news article (which I have posted before in another thread), which contains clarification from an official from the Football Federation of Armenia.

https://armfootball.com/arm/news/108254 ... banum.html

"The article [note: "article" here refers to the article on the 3-year rule in the UEFA regulations] requires that the license applicant club be a member of that federation for at least three years or have a contractual relationship with that federation . Meanwhile, in this article [note: "article" here refers to the news article above which says that Ararat-Armenia are ineligible], the article [note: refers to the article in UEFA regulations] was interpreted as a license applicant club for three years to participate in the domestic championship. In fact, being a member of the federation or contractual relationships with the federation involves the participation of the club in all tournaments organized by the federation, including the youth competitions. Moreover, the club may be a member of the federation for three or more years, but not to participate in any tournament.

In that regard, before taking part in the Championship of the Republic of Armenia, "Vanadzor Football Academy" [note: this is the previous name of Lori] or "Ararat-Armenia" clubs participated in the FFA youth competitions, providing contractual relations with the FFA for the required number of years."

Basically what the Football Federation of Armenia official said was that under the interpretation by the FFA, Ararat-Armenia and Lori pass the 3-year rule and so they have received a license from the FFA, because they have existed as youth clubs (probably for some periods during the 2016-17 season) before they played in the Armenian second division in the 2017-18 season and the Armenian top division in the 2018-19 season.

Interestingly, for Waterford's case, they were denied a license because St. Patrick's Athletic complained to the FAI about Waterford.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... -1.3863818

And as the first article says, UEFA does not check on an association's license decision process unless they receive a complaint. So Ararat-Armenia are eligible most likely because no other club has complained about FFA's decision. And the club that were denied a European place because of FFA's decision is not 5th-place Lori (because they were also reformed in 2017 and would also be ineligible), but 6th-place Gandzasar Kapan.

[quelhar]

Since uefa.com is at this point still useless (which is a disgrace in my opinion), do we know more details about the draws tomorrow? I mean, the QR1 draw should take place at noon CET, how about the QR2 draw? Should that one take place also tomorrow and if, when? Or is it more likely that QR2 draw will take place on Wednesday similarly as in the case of EL QR2 draw?

Edit: Oh, now I was able to find that at least the date of CL QR2 draw should be the same as CL QR1, i.e. tomorrow...