Europa and Mons Calpe start ECL campaign at home with St Joseph starting away

The opening draw of the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League this Tuesday saw three of Gibraltar’s National League clubs find out who their opponents are for the first qualifying round ties which are set to be played on 8 and 15 July.

In all, 66 teams will feature in the first qualifying round. The UEFA split the teams into groups and seeded clubs according to the UEFA club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season.
Europa was among the clubs seeded, whilst St Joseph and Mons Calpe were among the unseeded clubs.
The clubs were divided into seven groups of eight teams (Groups 1 to 7), and one group of ten teams (Group 8), according to the above-mentioned UEFA club coefficient rankings.
Within each of the eight groups, the clubs were split into an equal number of seeded and unseeded sides (33 seeded teams and 33 unseeded teams in total).

The draw saw St Joseph’s drawn away to Levada Tallinn from Estonia for their first leg tie. Mons Calpe will debut in European club competition football with a home tie against Santa Coloma from Andorra, whilst Europa FC will also play their first leg at home against Kauno Zalgiris from Lithuania.

These were the group seedings

Seeding groups

Group 1
Seeded:
1 Levadia Tallinn (EST)
2 Puskás Akadémia (HUN)
3 Drita (KOS)
4 Sūduva (LTU)

Unseeded:
5 Dečić (MNE)
6 Inter Turku (FIN)
7 St Joseph's (GIB)
8 Valmiera (LVA)

Group 2
Seeded:
1 La Fiorita 1967 (SMR)
2 Santa Coloma (AND)
3 Coleraine (NIR)
4 Domžale (SVN)

Unseeded:
5 Velež (BIH)
6 Mons Calpe (GIB)
7 Birkirkara (MLT)
8 Swift Hesper (LUX)

Group 7
Seeded:
1 Stjarnan (ISL)
2 The New Saints (WAL)
3 Gzira United FC (MLT)
4 Europa (GIB)

Unseeded:
5 Sant Julià (AND)
6 Glentoran (NIR)
7 Bohemians (IRL)
8 Kauno Žalgiris (LTU)

Road to Tirana: season calendar
First qualifying round draw: 15 June
Second qualifying round draw: 16 June
First qualifying round: 8 & 15 July
Third qualifying round draw: 19 July
Second qualifying round: 22 & 29 July
Play-off round draw: 2 August
Third qualifying round: 5 & 12 August
Play-offs: 19 & 26 August
Group stage draw: 27 August
Group stage: 16 & 30 September, 21 October, 4 & 25 November, 9 December
Knockout round play-off draw: 13 December
Knockout round play-offs: 17 & 24 February
Round of 16 draw: 25 February
Round of 16: 10 & 17 March
Quarter-finals & Semi-final draw: 18 March
Quarter-finals: 7 & 14 April
Semi-finals: 28 April & 5 May
Final: 25 May (National Arena, Tirana)