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Valletta to face Albania’s Kukesi in Champions League

Published: 19-06-2018 11:20
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Valletta will meet FK Kukesi of Albania in the first qualifying round of the 2018-19 Champions League after the draw was made at UEFA’s Nyon headquarters a few minutes ago.  The Maltese champions are away for the first leg of their clash with Kukesi, scheduled for July 10/11, with the return match a week later The winner of the Kukesi-Valletta tie will meet either Slovenia's Olimpija Ljubljana or Azerbaijan's Qarabag in the second qualifying round of this season's Champions League. Valletta were one of the unseeded teams in Group 3. FK Kukesi, who finished second behind KF Skenderbeu in the Albanian championship last season, and Valletta were the first clubs to emerge from the Group 3 draw. Apart from the FK Kukesi, the Citizens could have been drawn against Scottish giants Celtic, Astana (Kazakhstan), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Hapoel Beer-Sheva (Israel) and Zrinjski (Bosnia & Herzegovina). The first qualifying round will be contested by 32 teams. Losing sides in the Champions League first qualifying round go into the Europa League second qualifying round. Last season, Valletta reached the second qualifying round of the Europa League after beating San Marino’s Folgore in the initial round. They bowed out to Dutch side Utrecht in the second qualifying round. The 31 teams that qualified automatically for the first qualifying round of the Champions League will be joined by the winners of the preliminary round tournament. FC Santa Coloma (Andorra), Drita (Kosovo), La Fiorita (San Marino) and Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) are competing in the mini-tournament, being played in Gibraltar next week.