WOMEN’S NATIONAL LEAGUE champions Wexford Youths will travel to Lithuania in August hoping to become the first Irish club since 2013/14 to qualify for the Women’s Champions League.
Tom Elmes’ side have been drawn into a qualification group alongside top-seeded hosts Gintras Universitetas (Lithuania), KF Vllaznia (Albania) and Birkirkara FC (Malta) with games set to take place on 7 August, 10 August and 13 August.
Youths claimed three separate trophies last season in an unprecedented campaign. They secured the Women’s National League, WNL Development Shield and Women’s FAI Cup, only losing out on one piece of silverware in the Women’s National League Cup to rivals Peamount United.
DRAW | @YouthsWomen have their 3⃣ opponents in the @UWCL qualifying round!
— Women's National League (@FAI_WNL) June 21, 2019
👉 Gintra Universitetas (Lithuania)
👉 Vllaznia (Albania)
👉 Birkirkara (Malta)
The games take place on August 7, 10 and 13 in Lithuania 🇱🇹#UWCL ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/sJCT56QCWA
A dramatic 94th-minute winner from skipper Kylie Murphy saw Wexford defeat Linfield during Champions League qualification last year, however Elmes’ side failed to passage through their group after losing out to Dutch giants Ajax and Icelandic outfit Þór/KA Akureyri.
Wexford, led up front by WNL Player of the Season and Ireland international Rianna Jarrett — who scored 27 goals during an injury-hit campaign last year — will be hoping to match the recent feats of Raheney and Peamount across the continent.
Peamount, featuring internationals like Stephanie Roche, Louise Quinn and Aine O’Gorman, made it all the way to the Champions League knockout stages in 2011/12 where they famously met French giants PSG, while Raheney also qualified six years ago, the last Irish side to do so.
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