UEFA Champions League 2022/23 3rd qualifying round

[nogomet]

Dinamo will be looking to avoid Ferencvaros. Everything else would be considered OK, though they'd be favorites against all available opponents.

I root for them to draw Apollon, I like when our teams play new opponents. Ludogorets and Ferencvaros would be too repetitive.

[nogomet]

Are they crazy? Q2 groups were already unbalanced, but this...

I don't see it that way.

From the perspective of unseeds, we knew that one group will need to have two of the three Q3 heavyweights (Dinamo, Oly, Zvezda), while the other will have only one of them, so no surprises there. Seeds are as balanced as you can get.

From the perspective of seeds, only one group could get a jackpot in the form of Diddeleng/Pyunik. Two of the strongest unseeds Ferencvaros and Glimt have been equally distributed, one group got each. And the rest (Ludo, Apollon, Sheriff/Maribor) is not unbalanced any way you distribute them.

[Juliusz]

Are they crazy? Q2 groups were already unbalanced, but this...

I don't see it that way.

From the perspective of unseeds, we knew that one group will need to have two of the three Q3 heavyweights (Dinamo, Oly, Zvezda), while the other will have only one of them, so no surprises there. Seeds are as balanced as you can get.

From the perspective of seeds, only one group could get a jackpot in the form of Diddeleng/Pyunik. Two of the strongest unseeds Ferencvaros and Glimt have been equally distributed, one group got each. And the rest (Ludo, Apollon, Sheriff/Maribor) is not unbalanced any way you distribute them.

From my point of view, Diddeleng / Pyunik and Sheriff / Maribor in one group are already a jackpot for the seeds. And these two are in the same group as Žalgiris / Malmö and HJK / Viktoria, which I consider the two weakest seeds.

I understand that a perfect balance is impossible to achieve in this round, but that's the way it is with just 12 teams. I just mean that (IMO) the two weakest seeds and two weakest unseeds are in the same group.

[nogomet]

From my point of view, Diddeleng / Pyunik and Sheriff / Maribor in one group are already a jackpot for the seeds. And these two are in the same group as Žalgiris / Malmö and HJK / Viktoria, which I consider the two weakest seeds.

I don't see why would Qarabag/Zürich be considered stronger than either of Viktoria Plzen or Malmö, but views obviously differ.

As for Sheriff/Maribor, I don't think that pair is as weak as most people think it is.

[wannabeontop]

Zürich would be terrible to get after what YB did to Ferencváros. The Israeli/Greek champions would be an O.K. draw after all.

[Juliusz]

From my point of view, Diddeleng / Pyunik and Sheriff / Maribor in one group are already a jackpot for the seeds. And these two are in the same group as Žalgiris / Malmö and HJK / Viktoria, which I consider the two weakest seeds.

I don't see why would Qarabag/Zürich be considered stronger than either of Viktoria Plzen or Malmö, but views obviously differ.

As for Sheriff/Maribor, I don't think that pair is as weak as most people think it is.

I know that Qarabag didn't show their best display vs Lech, but despite that they beat them badly. FC Zurich is an unknown for me, but with a high potential I guess.

I believe that Malmö is not doing well recently, both domestically and in Europe. It's hard to rate Viktoria properly, but I'm concerned about their last European performances. If it was Slavia - then sure, one of the strongest seeds, but I have a feeling that Viktoria is a lower level despite winning the league ahead of them.

Your remark about Sheriff / Maribor pairing might be true, although, after many departures, I don't see Sheriff repeating their last qualifying campaign. It was kind of a miracle then, but how probable is that they repeat it, since it was high above their level?

Anyway, it seems, that again kind of North / South splitting was applied?

[OlliWender]

I think Zürich will be a midtable swiss team again after losing Breitenreiter and some key players, so I don't see them strong at all.

[wannabeontop]

I think Zürich will be a midtable swiss team again after losing Breitenreiter and some key players, so I don't see them strong at all.

Could you elaborate which key players left and when? I know I know, I could look it up but if you know it by heart, then that's super.

[OlliWender]

I think Zürich will be a midtable swiss team again after losing Breitenreiter and some key players, so I don't see them strong at all.

Could you elaborate which key players left and when? I know I know, I could look it up but if you know it by heart, then that's super.

Top scorer Assan Ceesay went to Lecce, Ousmane Doumbia to Lugano. I thought Gnonto, 18 year old great talent left too, he's still there but will almost certainly leave too. Omeragic is another talent they might lose.

[wannabeontop]

I think Zürich will be a midtable swiss team again after losing Breitenreiter and some key players, so I don't see them strong at all.

Could you elaborate which key players left and when? I know I know, I could look it up but if you know it by heart, then that's super.

Top scorer Assan Ceesay went to Lecce, Ousmane Doumbia to Lugano. I thought Gnonto, 18 year old great talent left too, he's still there but will almost certainly leave too. Omeragic is another talent they might lose.

Apparently drawing Zürich wouldn't so bad after all. Thanks man, appreciate it!

[nogomet]

Zürich was a bad draw if you were seeded in CL-Q2. Zürich cannot be considered a bad draw if you're unseeded in CL-Q3.

[bugylibicska]

Champions path
The Champions path features to new entrants and ten second qualifying round winners (Champions path). Teams have been divided into two groups and seeded in accordance with the club coefficient ranking (the higher coefficient of the two clubs involved in an undecided pairing).

Group 1
Seeded:
Match 1 Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) / Shkupi (MKD)
Match 2 Maccabi Haifa (ISR) / Olympiacos (GRE)
Match 3 Qarabağ (AZE) / Zürich (SUI)

Unseeded:
Match 4 Ludogorets (BUL) / Shamrock Rovers (IRL)
Match 5 Ferencváros (HUN) / Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Apollon Limassol (CYP)

Group 2
Seeded:
Crvena zvezda (SRB)
Match 6 HJK Helsinki (FIN) / Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
Match 7 Žalgiris (LTU) / Malmö (SWE)

Unseeded:
Match 8 Maribor (SVN) / Sheriff (MDA)
Match 9 Linfield (NIR) / Bodø/Glimt (NOR)
Match 10 Pyunik (ARM) / Diddeleng (LUX)

Groups are out

I'm sure somebody will try to explain the wisdom behind this circus. I don't want Fradi for Qarabag, but I'd probably choose Qarabağ (AZE) / Zürich (SUI) for Fradi. I think Crvena Zvezda won't complain.

[Firnen]

Very unbalanced Groups.

For Olympiacos, I want a re-match with Ludogorets.

For Apollon, I want Qarabag/Zurich.

[air]

Zürich would be terrible to get after what YB did to Ferencváros. The Israeli/Greek champions would be an O.K. draw after all.

I think Zürich/Qarabag would be the "easiest" draw Although there are no big differences between these teams.

[air]

If I am not wrong, this whole grouping was needed to seperate Qarabag and Pyunik. They could simply start the draw with Qarabag, and adding all unseeded except Pyunik into a hat to be drawn.

And then continue with no groups.