COUNTDOWN TO THE EUROPEAN DRAW

ZOMA Brand Agency
Jun 9, 2023
3 min read

Ahead of the draw for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, which takes place on Tuesday, June 20th, Sean De Loughry takes a look at who we could end up facing.

With the rest of the European leagues coming to a close, a clearer picture is starting to emerge of Dundalk’s likely UEFA Europa Conference League first-qualifying-round opponents. The first qualifying round will consist of 62 clubs and is the reserve of counties ranked 29th and below in Europe. Seeding is based on a club’s European performance over the previous five seasons, and any club consistently qualifying for Europe is almost guaranteed to be seeded in the first round. Dundalk’s relatively strong recent record means we will be seeded in the first qualifying round - and the second qualifying round if we progress. We would be unseeded in the third round. In the first round of European competitions, the draw tends to be informally regionalised, meaning Dundalk are very likely to face a Northern/Western European opponent. This is not guaranteed, but here’s a look at some of our possible unseeded opponents.

Northern Ireland:

Linfield and Crusaders will both be seeded in round one so cannot face Dundalk, but Conference League playoff winners

Glentoran

will be unseeded.

Wales:

Connahs Quay Nomads will be seeded in round one but the other two Welsh clubs would be unseeded. European debutants

Penybont

from South Wales have announced that their home games will be played at

Dunraven Brewery Field, the home of rugby club, Bridgend Ravens.

Haverfordwest County

won through the complex end-of-season Conference League playoff, despite finishing seventh in the league. It’s their second European jaunt and the first in 19 years. They will play their home game at the 33,000-capacity Cardiff City Stadium.

Iceland:

Both qualifiers would be unseeded;

Vikingur

from Reykjavik and

from Akureyri on the north coast.

Faroe Islands:

Both

and

B36

will be seeded, but

Vikingur

will be unseeded.

Finland:

Both qualifiers would be unseeded and would likely prove difficult opponents given the relative strength of the Finnish league;

Honka

from Espoo, Johannes Yli-Kokko's home town, near Helsinki, and

Haka

from Valkaekoski.

Estonia:

Levadia will be seeded and cup winners

Trans Narva

will be unseeded.

Paide

, from Tallinn, will also be seeded.

Lithuania:

European debutants

Hegelmann

and

Panevezys

will both be unseeded. The two qualifiers from

Latvia, Luxembourg and Andorra

will all be seeded in round one.

Belarus:

Things are an utter mess in Belarus, notwithstanding the ongoing war in the region. Champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk and runners-up Energetik were both found guilty of match-fixing, docked points and kicked out of Europe, meaning that third-placed BATE Borisov - how could we forget them - are now promoted to the Champions League. Fourth-placed

Dinamo Minsk

will be seeded in the first round and European debutants, fifth-placed

Isloch Minsk Raion

will be unseeded. In the 2022-23 season, all the Belarussian clubs were barred from hosting home ties, so all played their 'home' games in the away country, behind closed doors. That looks to be the most likely scenario again this season. The second round brings in some strong teams from Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland, Serbia and Portugal, among others. Dundalk would be seeded in the second round, thereby avoiding the really big hitters, but the luck of the draw is key. We could face a weak first-round qualifier or an unseeded side with little recent European experience from a strongish league - like Luzern from Switzerland, AGF from Denmark or Vojvodina from Serbia. The first qualifying round draw will take place on Tuesday, June 20th and will be streamed live on UEFA.com. The second qualifying round draw takes place the following day, on Wednesday, June 21st.