© EuroFootball.com
Lithuanian clubs in the UEFA Cup faced familiar opponents from the United Kingdom again - drawing the first round qualifying round of the UEFA Cup revealed that vice-champion "Kaunas" will meet the team "Portadown" from Northern Ireland, while Marijampolė's "Sūduva", which finished third in the "A League" last season, awaits a match with the team "Rhyl" from Wales.
As usual, Lithuanian representatives entered the tournament in the Northern group and once again faced well-known opponents. "Kaunas" will face the "Portadown" club, which two years ago was defeated in the first round by Vilnius "Žalgiris", while "Sūduva" will play against the "Rhyl" team, which eliminated Klaipėda "Atlantas" from the competition last season.
Arūnas Reinikis, the press representative of the "Sūduva" club for our portal, directly from Switzerland, said that the team is beatable and evaluated the draw fairly normally, but was hesitant to make bigger predictions for now.
"The draw is normal. Now we need to digest the information. There is a chance to pass the first round, but for now we should refrain from any bigger predictions. The first match will be played away, in Wales, and the second one - in Marijampolė, at the "Sūduva" stadium," said A. Reinikis from Switzerland.
First qualifying round pairs:
- Tirana (Albania) - Varteks (Croatia)
- Dinamo Tirana (Albania) - CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
- Koper (Slovenia) - Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)
- Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Rànger's (Andorra)
- Domžale (Slovenia) - Orašje (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Hibernians (Malta) - Dinamo Bucharest (Romania)
- APOEL (Cyprus) - Murata (San Marino)
- Rijeka (Croatia) - Omonia (Cyprus)
- Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria) - Makedonija Skopje (Macedonia)
- Vardar (Macedonia) - Roeselare (Belgium)
- Rapid Bucharest (Romania) - Sliema Wanderers (Malta)
- Újpesti (Hungary) - Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
- Zimbru Chisinau (Moldova) - Karabakh (Azerbaijan)
- MIKA (Armenia) - Young Boys (Switzerland)
- Fehérvár (Hungary) - Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan)
- Zaglebie Lubin (Poland) - Dinamo Minsk (Belarus)
- Spartak Trnava (Slovakia) - Karvan Evlakh (Azerbaijan)
- Ameri Tbilisi (Georgia) - Banants (Armenia)
- BATE Borisov (Belarus) - Nistru Otaci (Moldova)
- Basel (Switzerland) - Tobol Kostanay (Kazakhstan)
- WIT (Georgia) - Artmedia (Slovakia)
- HJK (Finland) - Drogheda United (Ireland)
- Brøndby (Denmark) - Valur Reykjavík (Iceland)
- Gefle (Sweden) - Llanelli (Wales)
- Jeunesse Esch (Luxembourg) - Skonto (Latvia)
- Etzella Ettelbrück (Luxembourg) - Åtvidabergs (Sweden)
- Ventspils (Latvia) - Gøta (Faroe Islands)
- Glentoran (Northern Ireland) - Brann (Norway)
- Randers (Denmark) - Akranes (Iceland)
- Portadown (Northern Ireland) - Kaunas (Lithuania)
- Rhyl (Wales) - Sūduva (Lithuania)
- Levadia Tallinn (Estonia) - Haka (Finland)
- Skála Ítróttarfelag (Faroe Islands) - Start (Norway)
- Lyn Oslo (Norway) - Flora (Estonia)
- Göteborg (Sweden) - Derry City (Ireland)
