After winning the League for an eighth consecutive time, The New Saints will be Wales’ top representative in the UEFA Champions League once again.
Barry Town United and Connah’s Quay provided tough tests but for this season at least, they’ll have to prepare for the UEFA Europa League.
The Oswestry side will once more be the Welsh Premier League’s leading club in Europe’s top tier competition.
Here’s your guide to The New Saints’ qualification campaign for the 2019/20 season.
How are The New Saints preparing?
They’ve got a friendly on Saturday against Ynys Môn who themselves are preparing for the Inter-Islands tournament. The Ynys Môn side contains mostly Welsh FAW Championship North and Welsh Alliance League players.
TNS returned to training two days ago as they get back into the swing of things of competitive football.
More friendlies are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Their preparations have been boosted by the fact Golden Boot winner Greg Draper has penned a new contract with the club.
How did The New Saints perform last year?
Scott Ruscoe’s side lost 5-0 in the first leg to Macedonian side KF Shkëndija but very nearly overturned that crushing deficit, beating them 4-0 at Park Hall.
They dropped into Qualifying Round Two of the UEFA Europa League where they knocked out Gibraltar League champions Lincoln Red Imps 3-2 on aggregate.
After losing 2-0 at the Cardiff City Stadium in what was their home leg, The New Saints lost 3-1 to Danish champions FC Midtjylland in the penultimate round of Qualifying in the UEFA Europa League.
Seeded or Unseeded?
For the second year in a row, The New Saints will be seeded after both Liverpool and Tottenham, the finalists of the UEFA Champions League, finished in the top four of the Premier League.
This guaranteed them one of the 16 seeded spots.
Being seeded doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have an easier tie. Last year The New Saints were eliminated by KF Shkëndija in the first round.
Being seeded means they will avoid the likes of BATE Borisov, Celtic, former Champions League winners Red Star Belgrade and Luxembourg champions F91 Dudelange, who reached the group stages of the UEFA Europa League last year.
Who can The New Saints play?
The current list of teams is as followed: CFR Cluj, FC Ararat, FC Saburtalo Tbilisi, FK Partizani Tirana, FK Sarajevo, FK Sutjeska Nikšić, FK Sūduva, Ferencvárosi TC, Havnar Bóltfelag, Knattspyrnufélagið Valur, Linfield, Nõmme Kalju, FC Piast Gliwice, Riga FC, Valletta FC
Also entering that list will be the winner of the preliminary round. FC Santa Coloma, KF Feronikeli, Lincoln Red Imps, and S.P. Tre Penne will meet up in Pristina in Kosovo for a knockout round playoff. The winner will qualify for the UEFA Champions League, whilst the losing semi-finalists will enter the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.
We’ll know the final team in the Round One qualifying after the 28th June.
Background on the possible teams
Bosnian champions FK Sarajevo, Lithuanian League winners FK Sūduva and Maltese champions Valetta are the sides with the highest coefficient ranking.
Sarajevo were owned by Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan up until April, where he sold 60% of his shares to Vietnamise owner Nguyen Hoai Nam. In what is a 12 team league, similar to the Welsh Premier League, Sarajevo won their division by five points.
This is the first time since 2016 that Sarajevo will be representing Bosnia in the Champions League. For the last two seasons, they’ve been in the Europa League. They lost to Moldovan side FC Zaria Bălți on penalties in 2017, whilst they suffered a heavy defeat to Italian side Atalanta in 2018.
The A Lyga which is Lithuania’s top division is already 13 games in. Champions FK Sūduva are leading it by five points. They’re in the Champions League this time round, having won the league title back in October. They beat FK Žalgiris by two points to earn a second consecutive title.
Last year they were knocked out of the Europa League by Red Star Belgrade on aggregate after being Cypriot champions APOEL 3-2 on aggregate
They dropped into the Europa League, beating Latvian champs FK Spartaks Jūrmala. Sūduva were eventually knocked out by Celtic.
Maltese Premier League side Valletta won the division on goal difference, having finished level on 58 points with Hibernians.
This meant they’d be representing Malta for a second year in a row. They’ve come up against Welsh opposition before, losing 4-2 on aggregate to Newtown in the UEFA Europa League in 2015.
Last year they were knocked out on the away goals rule to Albanian champions Kukësi, before also being eliminated by Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar 3-2 in the UEFA Europa League.
The New Saints may not have to go far at all, with NIFL Premiership winners Linfield, also in the draw. They return to Europe’s top tier competition after a year away. Their last performance in the Champions League was a 6-0 aggregate defeat to Celtic.
FC Ararat, FC Saburtalo Tbilisi and Riga are the lowest coefficient ranked teams.
Saburtalo Tbilisi won the Erovnuli Liga for the first time in their history, beating city rivals Dinamo Tbilisi by ten points.
Their new season is almost half way through and they’re second to Dinamo Batumi. They’ve no experience before in European competition.
Armenian champions FC Ararat too are first time winners, having won the league by a single point, pipping Pyunik in a nine team league to the title.
They’ve yet to play in European competition, like Saburtalo Tbilisi.
Virslīga winners Riga were in last season’s UEFA Europa League but lost on the away goal rule to Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. The club was only founded in 2014 after a merger between FC Caramba and Dinamo Riga.
Albanian champions FK Partizani Tirana return to the Champions League are a three year absence. They’ve lost to FC Krasnodar, Botev Plovdiv and Maribor in the Europa League for the past three years. FK Partizani compete in a 10 team league and won it by 11 points.
Iceland side Knattspyrnufélagið Valur are in the UCL for a second year in a row. They lost to Norweigan side Rosenborg 3-2 on aggregate before losing at the same stage of Europa League qualifying to Sheriff Tiraspol on away goals.
Montengrin First League winners FK Sutjeska Nikšić have won back to back League titles in what is a ten team league. They beat Buducnost by nine points. Last year they lost to Astana in the Champions League and Alashkert in the Europa League.
Nõmme Kalju of Estonia won their first league title in six years to qualify for the Champions League Their last performance in the competition was a third qualifying round exit to Viktoria Plzen.
In last years European performance, they lost to Icelandic side Stjarnan.
Estonia’s national division began in March and concludes in November. They’re currently third, nine points behind Flora.
Ferencvárosi TC are another team to watch out for. The Hungarian champions have won a total of 30 league titles, asserting their dominance as Hungary’s top side. They were in the Europa League last season had a first qualifying round exit to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Piast Gliwice celebrated their first ever Polish Championship in their 73-year history. Their only experience of Eropean football was Europa League defeats to Qarabag FK and IFK Goteborg.
Romanian side CFR Cluj have previously played in the group stages of the Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.
They failed to reach the group stages of the Europa League after exiting the Champions League following a defeat to Malmo FF. Luxembourg side Dudelange beat them 5-2 on aggregate to qualify for the group stages.
When will they play?
The New Saints enter in Round One of Qualifying.
The first leg will be played on either Tuesday 9th July or Wednesday 10th July. The second leg will be played a week later on the 16th or 17th July, which will again be a Tuesday or a Wednesday.
When is the draw?
The first qualifying round draw will take place on the 18th June. On the same day, The New Saints will know their Second qualifying round opponents, should they progress.
It will take place in the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
(Featured Image: Brian Jones)
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