Possible opponents for Maltese teams in European club competitions revealed
More boats for cruise
The possible opponents for the four clubs representing Malta in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League are now known.
The draws for the opening rounds of the two European club competitions are to be held today week, 12 June, in Nyon, Switzerland.
Valletta will be taking part in the Champions League while Balzan, Gzira United and Birkirkara will be in the UEFA Europa League.
In the Champions League, the seeded teams - possible opponents for Valletta - are: Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria), Celtic (Scotland), APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus), Legia Warsaw (Poland), FK Astana (Kazakhstan), Garabag Agdam (Azerbaijan), Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova), Malmö FF (Sweden), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia), Hapoel Beer-Sheva (Israel), Rosenborg BK (Norway), HJK Helsinki (Finland), The New Saints (Wales), Videoton Fehérvár (Hungary), FK Kukësi (Albania) and Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
The unseeded teams are: Shkendija Tetovo (Macedonia), Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg), Spartak Trnava (Slovakia), Valletta, Víkingur (Faroe Islands), Crusaders Belfast (Northern Ireland), Alashkert FC (Armenia), Sutjeska Niksic (Montenegro), Suduva Marijampole (Lithuania), Cork City (Ireland), Spartaks Jurmala (Latvia), Valur Reykjavik (Iceland), Flora Tallinn (Estonia) and Torpedo Kutaisi (Georgia).
The winners will qualify for the second qualifying round while the losers enter the second qualifying round of the Europa League. This means that Valletta, if eliminated from the Champions League, will move into the Europa League.
Meanwhile in the UEFA Europa League, Birkirkara and Gzira United enter the preliminary round while Balzan enter the competition in the first qualifying round.
Fourteen teams are seeded in the preliminary round including Birkirkara, who are the top seeds, and Gzira. The other seeded teams are FK Trakai (Lithuania), Europa FC (Gibraltar), B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands), Folgore (San Marino) and Bala Town (Wales).
The unseeded teams, and therefore possible opponents for Birkirkara and Gzira, are Cefn Druids (Wales), Sant Julià (Andorra), KI Klaksvik (Faroe Islands), St Joseph’s FC (Gibraltar), UE Engordany (Andorra), FC Prishtina (Kosovo) and Tre Fiori (San Marino).
There will be 94 teams in the first qualifying round and Balzan are one of the unseeded teams. Should they qualify, both Birkirkara and Gzira United will be unseeded as well. The draw for the 1st qualifying round is made before the results of the preliminary round are known. Clubs of the preliminary round are seeded by the highest ranking of the clubs involved.
The seeded teams, and therefore possible opponents for the Maltese clubs, are: FC København and FC Nordsjaelland (Denmark), NK Maribor, NK Domzale and Rudar Velenje (Slovenia), Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem (Israel), Partizan Belgrade, Radnicki Nis and Spartak Subotica (Serbia), Molde FK and Sarpsborg 08 (Norway), Apollon Limassol and Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus), Dinamo Minsk and Shakhtior Saligorsk (Belarus), Lech Poznan and Gornik Zabrze (Poland), FH Hafnarfjardar (Iceland), Dundalk (Ireland), Zalgiris Vilnius (Lithuania), Gabala FK, Neftchi Baku and Kesla FK (Azerbaijan), NK Osijek (Croatia), Vardar Skopje and Rabotnicki Skopje (Macedonia), AS Trencín and Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia), Viitorul Constanta (Romania), Kalju Nomme (Estonia), AIK Stockholm and BK Häcken (Sweden), Slavia Sofia, CSKA Sofia and Levski Sofia (Bulgaria), FK Ventspils (Latvia), Glasgow Rangers and Hibernian (Scotland), Tobol Kustanai, Irtysh Pavlodar and Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan), CS Fola Esch (Luxembourg), FK Sarajevo and Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (BosniaHerzegovina) and Mladost Podgorica (Montenegro).
In the qualifying rounds, the teams are divided into groups with the same number of seeded and unseeded teams. Teams of the same association will not be in the same group and everything possible will be done to assure equal strength in all the groups.
Sailing
Continental Tyres are again title sponsors of the Sette Giugno Cruise to Pozzallo organised by the Malta Cruising Club. In its first edition (2013) there were nine participants which last year reached 19. Today for its sixth edition the number of participants have so far reached 25...with a sailing contingent of over 90 persons.
The sponsorship was confirmed by Dott. Alessandro De Martino, Managing Director/General Market Manager, Continental Italia S.p.A., while on a recent visit to Malta. “Continental is proud to sponsor the Sette Giugno Pozzallo Cruise again. Our corporate values of Trust, For One Another, Passion for Success and Freedom to Act seem very fitting to this sports event.” remarked Dott. De Martino when he met members of the organising Committee.
The now traditional approach to the start to the 93Km Cruise will be again retained. Here the organisers are having each boat to leave Malta and Gozo at its cruising speed. This means that if a boat cruises at six and a half knots, it will leave a 6.30 am, a boat that cruises at 7 knots leaves at 7am and so forth.
This year there will be a number of boats, members of the Gozo Cruise & Crews Club, who will be taking part in the Pozzallo event.
This year’s cruise is from Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 June.
This year’s programme includes a visit to Catania and a guided tour of the city, as well as the traditional ‘Sail along the Pozzallo coast and a run up to the Isola dei Porri’ in company of other boats from Lega Navale Sezione di Pozzallo.
Here each yacht will host two young students from the nautical school Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “Giorgio La Pira” - Pozzallo. Such initiative will not only prove exciting to the new young sailors but also to members of their families and friends who will be following this sail from the shore.
Holy Mass on Saturday evening is held at the Clubhouse of the Lega Navale Sezione di Pozzallo on the marina where the Maltese yachts will be berthed.
The cruise is held under the patronage of the Commune of Pozzallo.