Conference League: Cosmos draw Sutjeska, La Fiorita face Zimbru Chisinau

The draw for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League was held yesterday in Nyon. After 22 years, Cosmos are back in Europe, also making their debut in the youngest of UEFA’s club competitions. The Serravalle side will face FK Sutjeska, a club from Montenegro based in Nikšić. The team won the Montenegrin Cup and finished second in the league behind Budućnost. The first leg will be played in Podgorica at the DG Arena Lješkopolje on Thursday 13 July, while the return leg will take place the following week (Thursday 20 July) at the San Marino Stadium. Zimbru Chisinau will be La Fiorita’s opponents in the Q1 of the Europa Conference League. The club from the Moldovan capital finished third in the league and plays its home matches at the "Zimbru" Stadium (bison in Moldovan, and also the club’s symbol). The first leg will be played on Thursday 13 July in San Marino, again at the Stadium, while the return match is scheduled for Thursday 20 July in Moldova, in Chisinau. Kick-off times for the Cosmos and La Fiorita ties will be announced in the coming days. As for the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League, following today’s draw, again in Nyon, should they progress Cosmos would face either Penybont (Wales) or Santa Coloma (Andorra), while La Fiorita would travel to Turkey to meet the illustrious Fenerbahce. The second round is scheduled for 27 July and 3 August, with kick-off times still to be confirmed. The draws have also been made for the first and second qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Tre Penne will take part next week in the preliminary round in Iceland (semi-final on 27 June against hosts Breidablik and a possible final on 30 June) and, should they win the mini-tournament, they would advance to the first qualifying round against Shamrock Rovers of Ireland. If they were then to progress, they would meet Danish side Copenhagen in the second qualifying round. If instead they are defeated in the preliminary round, the team from Città would drop into the second round of the Europa Conference League and face either Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia) or Valmiera (Latvia).

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