Champions League & Europa League draws on Monday
Credit:
UPDATE: Shamrock Rovers draw Ekranas
The 2012/2013 Champions League begins next week with the draw for the first and second qualifying rounds. The draw will take place in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday 25th, exactly 11 months before the whistle in blown on the final of the tournament at Wembley Stadium.
The First Qualifying Round features only six teams, however one of the seeded teams is Linfield and they will face either Tre Penne (San Marino), FC Lusitanos (Andorra) or B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands).
Shamrock Rovers feature in the Second Qualifying Round and are unluckily the highest ranked unseeded team, meaning they not only were one place away from being seeded but now face a tougher challenge to progress.
Closer to the draw the teams will be split into regional groups but at the moment the list of potential opponents are as follows:
FC Basel (Sui)
BATE Borisov (Bls)
FC Salzburg (Aut)
Dinamo Zagreb (Cro)
MSK Zilina (Svk)
Partizan Belgrade (Srb)
Helsingborg IF (Swe)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Mol)
DVSC Debrecen (Hun)
NK Maribor (Slo)
FK Ventspils (Lat)
Slovan Liberec (Cze)
Slask Wroclaw (Pol)
HJK Helsinki (Fin)
AEL Limassol (Cyp)
Ekranas Panevezys (Lit)
FC Zestafoni (Geo)
The 2012/2013 UEFA Europa League also kicks off with the draw for the first and second qualifying rounds on Monday 25th June. The Republic of Ireland have three teams competing.
St. Patrick's Athletic and Bohemians enter the competition in the First Qualifying Round and both teams will be seeded. Sligo Rovers join the competition in the Second Qualifying Round and will be unseeded.
Northern Ireland also have three teams in the draw, however all three (Cliftonville, Crusaders and Portadown) are unseeded in the First Qualifying Round.
Extratime.ie will be watching the draw and will be doing live updates as it happens. Be sure and tune in on Monday.
