Fri, Mar 19 2010

Bulgarian teams drawn against minnows in European tournaments

Mon, Jun 22 2009 20:59 CET byAlex Bivol 962 Views
Bulgarian teams drawn against minnows in European tournaments

Levski won their 26th title and the sixth in the past decade earlier this month.

The Champions League and Europa League draws were kind to the two Bulgarian teams entered into the two competitions.

Champions Levski Sofia, who will start their European campaign in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, have been handed the easiest opponents possible - the winner of the tie between Andorra's Sant Julià and San Marino champions Tre Fiori.

Should the Andorran champions progress to meet Levski, it would be the second consecutive season it meets a Bulgarian side in European competitions. Last year, the club was eliminated by Cherno More Varna in the first qualifying round of the Uefa Cup with a 0-9 aggregate scoreline.

Even with its history of underestimating opponents in early qualifying rounds, which saw Levski lose to Finland's Tampere United and Belarus' Bate Borisov in recent years, neither semi-professional side should pose much of a challenge for Levski.

Should Levski progress to the third qualifying round, the Bulgarian champions would be seeded, giving them a better chance of progressing to the play-off round, where even a loss would guarantee European football in autumn because then the team would go straight into the group stage of the Europa League, the new competition replacing the Uefa Cup.

Levski will find out its opponent in the second round on July 8, when the second leg of the first round will be completed. The second round matches are scheduled for July 14-15 and the return leg for July 21-22.

The other Bulgarian club entered in the Uefa draw on June 22 was Cherno More, which will start in the second qualifying round for the Europa League after finishing third in the Bulgarian league last season. Its opponent will be Iskra-Stal, who finished third in the Moldovan championship last year.

The two legs of the tie will be played on July 16 and 23.

League runners-up CSKA Sofia and Bulgarian Cup winners Litex Lovech will have a longer summer break than their rivals, starting their European campaigns in the third qualifying and playoff rounds of the Europa League, respectively.

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