Paris: Football these days never seems to stop, and the Champions League returns today, a mere 24 days after Barcelona’s thrilling final win against Juventus.
The dust has barely settled on Barca’s 3-1 victory in Berlin, secured thanks to second-half goals by Luis Suarez and Neymar, that saw them win the world’s most glamorous international club competition for the fourth time in the last decade.
But the road to the next final at the San Siro in Milan, and the start of the 2015-16 season in Europe, begins on the last day of June in some of the continent’s less glamorous venues.
For the likes of Lincoln of Gibraltar, Andorran title-holders Santa Coloma and Welsh champions The New Saints, reaching the lucrative group stage is a distant dream that will possibly never come true.
That would mean winning four two-legged ties over the next two months. Simply winning one tie and reaping the financial rewards that come with it will do for now.
Lincoln are making their debut in the competition, while Santa Coloma and Folgore of San Marino – who face Pyunik of Armenia – will be trying to win a tie for the first time. In contrast, The New Saints are comparative European veterans, their dominance of Welsh football allowing them to become regulars on the continental stage in the decade since a 6-0 aggregate defeat to European Cup holders Liverpool in qualifying in 2005.
TNS have been paired with B36 Torshavn of the Faroe Islands, with the prize on offer a second qualifying round tie against the Hungarian champions, former Uefa Cup finalists Videoton.
“The Faroe Islands was probably the worst place to go in terms of logistics and cost,” manager Craig Harrison, the former Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace player, told AFP.
There are no private jets for TNS – instead the club have been busy since the draw was made last week sorting out flights to the North Atlantic archipelago via Edinburgh for tomorrow’s first leg.
PLAYING
TODAY:
(Starting at 7pm Bahrain time)
Pyunik
(ARM)
v
Folgore
(SMR)
(Starting at 9pm Bahrain time)
Lincoln
(GIB)
v
Santa
Coloma
(AND)
(Starting at 9.45pm Bahrain time)
Crusaders
(NIR)
v
Levadia
Tallinn
(EST)
Playing
tomorrow:
(Starting at 9pm Bahrain time)
B36
Torshavn
(FRO)
v
The
New
Saints
(WAL)