Country files

The draw for the first qualifying round of the Europa Conference League takes place three weeks from today and, as anyone who’s been consulting our regularly-updated guide will know, the list of Cliftonville’s potential opponents continues to narrow.

Indeed, just five vacant places remain in the seeded pot following a busy weekend of action across the continent that saw a significant domino-effect of developments thanks to results in various Leagues and Cup competitions.

The first qualifying round was, for example, reduced from 62 to 60 competing teams as a consequence of Roma’s 3-0 victory over Torino in Serie A on Friday night. With Jose Mourinho’s side – who will contest the inaugural Europa Conference League Final with Feyenoord tomorrow – having already qualified for next season’s Europa League, a restructuring of the preliminary schedule saw representatives from Latvia and Albania removed from the Conference League’s first qualifying round and slotted into the next phase.

But which teams could still book their place in the seeded pot and, by definition, find themselves among the Reds’ possible opposition? Today, cliftonvillefc.net examines all of the runners and riders in the mix as the draw edges ever nearer.

Which teams are already confirmed as Cliftonville’s potential first qualifying round opponents?
B36 (Faroe Islands)
Bala Town (Wales)
Breidablik (Iceland)
Buducnost (Montenegro)
Dinamo Minsk (Belarus)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
Drita (Kosovo)
Europa (Gibraltar)
Flora Tallinn (Estonia)
Fola Esch (Luxembourg)
Gzira United (Malta)
HB (Faroe Islands)
KuPS (Finland)
Laci (Albania)
Liepaja (Latvia)
Milsami (Moldova)
Mura (Slovenia)
Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia)
Pogon Szczecin (Poland)
Petrocub (Moldova)
Riga (Latvia)
Shkendija (Macedonia)
St Joseph’s (Gibraltar)
Zalgiris (Lithuania)

How many more teams will be added to that list?
Five

Where will those five teams be from?
– One will be from Armenia
– One will be from San Marino
– Three will be from Albania, Armenia, Poland or Slovakia

Which teams are in contention?
Albania (one team)
Kukesi
Partizani
Vllaznia
[To be confirmed no later than May 31]

Armenia (two teams)
Alashkert
Ararat-Armenia
Ararat Yerevan
Pyunik
[To be confirmed no later than May 28]

Poland (one team)
Lechia Gdansk*

San Marino (one team)
La Fiorita
Tre Penne
[To be confirmed no later than May 26]

Slovakia (two teams)
DAC
MFK*
Tatran
Trencin
Zilina
[To be confirmed no later than May 27]

*Already qualified but awaiting seeding status.

Don’t forget that you can keep track of all of the above developments by maintaining a daily check on our dedicated European Guide to keep up to speed on all of Cliftonville’s next potential opponents on the UEFA stage.