For the third continual year Aberdeen will commence their campaign in the first round of the UEFA Europa League Qualifiers. With next season now less than a short five weeks away we take a quick look back at AFC’s European journey throughout the last two seasons:

First Qualifying Round, Season 2014/15

Aberdeen 5-0. FK Daugava Riga, First Leg
The Dons cruised to a 5-0 victory over Latvian outfit FK Daugava Riga in the first European night at Pittodrie in five years. The transition which had taken place under Derek McInnes meant that Andrew Considine was the only player to feature in the previous tie against Sigma Olomuc in 2009. A 15,000 strong crowd were sent home happy courtesy of goals from Shay Logan, Niall McGinn, Jonny Hayes and an Adam Rooney double.

FK Daugava Riga 0-3 Aberdeen, Second Leg
The second leg saw Aberdeen run out comfortable 3-0 winners and through to the second round with a resounding 8-0 aggregate result. A first half hat-trick from Adam Rooney was enough to end any Riga hopes and took the Irishman’s European tally to five goals in the opening two games. This fixture also saw Ash Taylor make his first appearance for Aberdeen in what proved to be a successful debut season.

Second Qualifying Round, Season 2014/15

Aberdeen 0-0 FC Groningen, First Leg
A tough draw meant that Aberdeen faced the strong Dutch Eredivisie side FC Groningen who qualified for the competition by trumping opponents AZ Alkmaar in their domestic Euro play-offs. The fixture at Pittodrie proved to be a stalemate with neither team capable of producing a moment of quality to break the deadlock.

FC Groningen 1-2 Aberdeen, Second Leg
The second leg of the tie saw Aberdeen visit the Euroborg stadium in a game which they were perceived as underdogs in the pre-match build up. However, the reds proved that they were more than a match for Groningen after Adam Rooney coolly slotted home a penalty and Niall McGinn finished a neat move to put Aberdeen 2-0 up after Rooney had hit the woodwork. Groningen pulled one goal back prior to half-time, but Aberdeen saw the game out and headed through to the third qualifying round.

Third Qualifying Round, Season 2014/15

Real Sociedad 2-0 Aberdeen, First Leg
Aberdeen’s visit to San Sebastian saw them fall to their first loss of the season against an impressive Real Sociedad side which boasted the likes of former Real Madrid midfielders Esteban Granero and Sergio Canales, who scored a wonderful long range effort in the second half. Zurutuza had earlier put Sociedad ahead in what was a challenging fixture for Aberdeen.

 

Aberdeen 2-3 Real Sociedad, Second Leg
It would be fair to say that the first leg of the tie was backs to the wall for Aberdeen, however the result in the second leg doesn’t tell the entire story. An early Xavi Prieto header looked to have killed the tie, however goals from Pawlett and Reynolds had the Pittodrie crowd back on their feet as Aberdeen pressed for a third goal. McInnes’ men huffed and puffed, however it was to no avail and the ever impressive Prieto equalised with a classy penalty with a few minutes left on the clock. Bergara then wrapped up the tie with a third goal in stoppage time.

 

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First Qualifying Round, Season 2015/16

KF Shkëndija 1-1 Aberdeen, First Leg
A promising 2014/15 season led to a real optimism ahead of the 2015/16 campaign which kicked off in early July with Aberdeen making their first ever trip to Macedonia. New additions Graeme Shinnie and Danny Ward started the game to make their first team debuts whereas Paul Quinn made his first appearance from the bench. Niall McGinn opened the scoring late into the second half, however Shkëndija substitute, Kirovski, was to level the tie with a looping header in the 84th minute.

Aberdeen 0-0 KF Shkëndija, Second Leg
The second leg at Pittodrie was a tense affair with Danny Ward having to make an excellent stop to keep Shkëndija out right at the death. Peter Pawlett was unlucky earlier in the game when he rattled the crossbar with an effort reminiscent to Jamie Smith’s first goal against Copenhagen six years earlier.

Second Qualifying Round, Season 2015/16

HNK Rijeka 0-3 Aberdeen, First Leg
The second round handed Aberdeen the daunting task of travelling to Croatia to play a side that were unbeaten in 12 home European ties against visitors which included Feyenoord, Standard Liege and Europa League champions, Seville.

However an unbelievable performance from Aberdeen saw them run out 3-0 victors. Andy Considine opened the scoring with a towering header, only to be upstaged by what can only be described as a fantastic diving header from Peter Pawlett to put the Dons two in front. Kenny McLean finished the scoring with his first ever strike in Aberdeen colours, following good work from David Goodwillie. This Aberdeen victory was made even more impressive by the fact that Rijeka went the remainder of the 2015/16 season unbeaten at home.

Aberdeen 2-2 HNK Rikeka, Second Leg
Rijeka demonstrated their quality in the reverse leg as they scored two early second half goals from the energetic Tomasov and a deflected effort from Krvzic which put the tie back in the balance. Nevertheless Niall McGinn returned Aberdeen’s two goal cushion with a half volley immediately from kick-off. Jonny Hayes then neatly tucked away a second goal to send Aberdeen through to the third round for the second year in a row.

Third Qualifying Round, Season 2015/16

Kairat Almaty 2-1 Aberdeen, First Leg
The third qualifying round saw Aberdeen undertake a mammoth 6,830 mile round trip to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty in what was the record distance travelled by any club in a European club competition. The Kazakh team, governed by the highly decorated former Bayern Munich midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, made an impressive start racing into a 2-0 lead. Bakaev opened the scoring which was shortly followed by a wonder goal from captain Islamkhan. Aberdeen once again illustrated their strong character when Kenny McLean neatly converted a Jonny Hayes cut back to put Aberdeen right back into contention going into the second leg.

Aberdeen 1-1 Kairat Almaty, First Leg
Aberdeen were looking to overturn a first-leg deficit in Europe for the first time since 1984 when they defeated Újpest Dozsa 3-0 at Pitodrie following a 2-0 defeat in the first leg. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for the Dons as Gerard Gohou put Kairat 3-1 in front on aggregate. Kenny McLean continued his fruitful start to the season with his third European goal coming 6 minutes from time to set up an exciting finale. Nonetheless Aberdeen could not find the second goal they required to take the game to extra time.

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Aberdeen will find out their fate for the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League First Qualifying Round on Monday 20th of June.