SHAMROCK ROVERS WILL face either Ferencvaros of Hungary or Qarabag of Azerbaijan in the play-off qualifying round of the Europa League should they progress against Shkupi of North Macedonia in the third qualifying round.
Rovers host Shkupi on Thursday night and then play the return leg away from home next Tuesday, and should they progress, they will face the losers of the Champions League qualifier between Ferencvaros and Qarabag. Should they lose that tie, they will drop into the group phase of the third-tier Conference League.
Should Rovers lose to Shkupi, they will drop into the playoff round for the Conference League, which they must win to make the group phase. The draw for that round has been relatively kind should Rovers need it: they will face either KI of the Faroe Islands (whom Dundalk beat on their way to the Europa League in 2020) or FC Ballkani of Kosovo. That draw could have been much trickier, with Lech Poznan of Poland and CFR Cluj of Romania also in the draw.
Elsewhere in the Conference League, should St Patrick’s Athletic upset CSKA Sofia in the third qualifying round, they will face either Brondby of Denmark or Basel of Switzerland in the play-off round.
Sligo Rovers, meanwhile, will face Dunajská Streda of Slovakia or FCSB of Romania in the Conference League playoff round should they beat Viking FK of Norway in the third qualifying round.
West Ham United have been drawn against Viborg FF or B36 Tórshavn in their Conference League play-off tie.
All of these ties will be played on Thursdays 18 and 25 August.
Elsewhere, in the draw for the qualifying rounds of the Champions League, last season’s Europa League runners-up Rangers will have to beat either Monaco or PSV Eindhoven to clinch a place in the Champions League group stage, as long as they first make it through the third qualifying round.
The Scottish giants play Union Saint-Gilloise of Brussels, last season’s surprise runners-up in the Belgian top flight, in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie on Tuesday.Should the Glasgow club come through that tie, they face a daunting two-legged showdown against Monaco or PSV later this month.
Monaco, who host PSV in the first leg of the third qualifying round later on Tuesday, finished third in Ligue 1 last season, just missing second place and an automatic berth in the Champions League group stage on the final night of the French campaign. PSV have appointed former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy as their new coach and beat Ajax 5-3 in the Dutch Super Cup last weekend.
Ludogorets, who knocked out Shamrock Rovers in the second qualifying round for the Champions League last week, will face either Bodo/Glimt or Zalgiris Vilnius if they beat Dinamo Zagreb in the third qualifying round.
Additional reporting by – © AFP 2022