In just over two weeks, the draws will take place in Switzerland for the first and second qualifying rounds of the Europa League 2016-17.
For the third consecutive season, all at Aberdeen Football Club – management, players and fans alike – will firstly be delighted to again be involved but secondly wondering where we’re going to be heading for what we all hope will be the first of many European journeys.
Of course, we enter the fray at the very first stage along with Hearts, while Hibernian have an extra fortnight to wait for their first ever Euro excursion as holders of the Scottish Cup.
Prospective opponents from no fewer than twenty-seven different nations await us, including one club we faced just last season – Macedonian Cup winners and League runners up FK Shkendija who the Dons edged out on away goals.
In the qualifying rounds the teams are divided into groups with the same number of seeded and unseeded teams. A computer system is used by UEFA to prepare the groups so teams of the same association are not in the same group and all groups are about equal strength in terms of ranking. All clubs in each group are then ordered randomly and identified by a number. For these draws there are only two bowls with numbered balls, one with the seeded numbers and one with the unseeded numbers. The draw determines the pairs in the groups – for example 7 versus 4 means the 7th team of each group plays against the 4th club of each group.
If we are to assume that there is going to be some sort of geographical grouping to the draw, then we may be heading for somewhere like Northern Ireland, Wales or Eire but perhaps also to Iceland, the Faroes or Luxembourg.
The Red Army will no doubt mobilise in good numbers if we were to head south to meet one of three League of Wales possibles in the shape of Bala Town, Llandudno or Connah’s Quay Nomads, the latter two clubs making their first ever appearances in European competition. All play on the north coast of the Principality and so would be within easy reach for many fans.
Similarly, travelling to either Cork City in south west Ireland or to Glenavon or Cliftonville in Niall McGinn’s native Ulster would be relatively straightforward in terms of travel.
Planes and ferry boats are the order of the day if we are to meet any of the Faroese hopefuls HB, Vikingur or NSI Runavik while former Dons star Jim Bett will undoubtedly be tapped for information if we head to Iceland to face the ever improving Valur, a side we faced in the cup Winners Cup twenty-three years ago.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has two representatives in the opening round ballot in the shape of local rivals Fola Esch and Jeunesse Esch.
However, like last season, it is unclear how big a role geographical considerations will play when UEFA create the initial groups of ten or twelve teams so there is always the possibility of a draw which could send us to one of the far flung outposts of the expanded Europa League territory.
The sunshine island of Malta would be more than acceptable to all fans – Birkirkara, Balzan or Hibernians all feature in the draw. Likewise trips to San Marino, Andorra and Gibraltar all have a mystique about them which would make them attractive propositions.
Who knows, we could go to Kazakhstan again. Ordabasy are based in Shymkent, a mere 4350 miles from Pittodrie according to Google Maps – nearly 500 miles closer to home than Almaty was last term!
Wherever we go, we know we’ll get great support from the fantastic Dons fans who will find weird and wonderful ways to get there to cheer on their heroes. And of course, RedTV will be there every step of the way to bring you all the big match European action for those who can’t get to the games.
Roll on the 20th of June – we can’t wait to see who we’re going to play!
Roll on the 20th of June – we can’t wait to see who we’re going to play!
