So the preliminary knockout started this weekend between the NI, San Marino and Kosovan champions.

 

Even though the old tournament is still in the Q-Final stage but thought I would start the new topic anyway to mark the start of the new tournament.

Draw details

 

 

Semi-final 1: San Marino vs Northern Ireland

Semi-final 2: Kosovo vs Andorra

 

Final 11/8/20

 

Linfield vs Kosovan champions

 

Winner enters the 1st Qualifying Round proper on week beginning 17/8/20

 

And here's the 1st/2nd Qualifying draws

 

Champions Path

 

Floriana (MLT)/CFR Cluj (ROU) vs GNK Dinamo (CRO)

Young Boys (SUI) vs KÍ (FRO)/Slovan Bratislava (SVK)

Celtic (SCO)/KR Reykjavík (ISL) vs Ferencváros (HUN)/Djurgården (SWE)

Flora Tallinn (EST)/Sūduva (LTU) vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)/Riga (LVA)

Legia Warszawa (POL)/Drita (KOS)/Linfield (NIR) vs Ararat-Armenia (ARM)/Omonia (CYP)

Celje (SVN)/Dundalk (IRL) vs Molde (NOR)/KuPS (FIN)

Budućnost Podgorica (MNE)/Ludogorets (BUL) vs Midtjylland (DEN)

Dynamo Brest (BLR)/Astana (KAZ) vs Connah's Quay Nomads (WAL)/Sarajevo (BIH)

Qarabağ (AZE)/Sileks (MKD) vs Sheriff (MDA)/Fola Esch (LUX)

Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)/Tirana (ALB) vs Crvena zvezda (SRB)/Europa (GIB)

 

League Path

 

AZ Alkmaar (NED) vs Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)

PAOK (GRE) vs Beşiktaş (TUR)

Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) vs Rapid Wien (AUT)

Thanks Steve for starting this topic, :)

Wednesday 19 August 2020 1st Qualifying Results

 

These are 1 legged games and the losers drop into the Europa League Qualifying 2nd round

 

 

Floriana 0 CFR Cluj 2

 

Buducnost Podgorica 1 Ludogorets 3

 

Connah's Quay Nomads 0 Sarajevo 2

 

Sheriff 2 Fola Esch 0

 

CM Celje 3 Dundalk 0

 

Dinamo Tbilisi 0 KF Tirana 2

 

Ferencvaros 2 Djurgarden 0

 

Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2 Riga FC 0

 

Flora Tallinn 1 FK Suduva 1

FK Suduva win 2-1 on penalties

 

Molde 5 KuPS 0

 

Ararat Armenia 0 Omonia Nicosia 1

 

 

Champions League qualifying

Tuesday 18 August 2020

 

Red Star Belgrade 5 Europa FC 0

 

Celtic 6 KR Reykjavik 0

 

Dinamo Brest 6 Astana 3

 

Legia Warsaw 1 Linfield 0

 

Karabakh 4 Sileks 0

 

Unlucky by NI champions Linfield going out by a single goal vs the Polish champions who are leagues above the Irish side, they even hit the bar twice. Dundalk continuing their poor league form with what can be called a shock defeat in Budapest but by their standards in recent seasons they would have been favourites here.

 

 

Edited August 19, 20204 yr by Steve201

UEFA considering whether to continue with one legged games into this seasons european cup campaign.

Wouldn't be a fan of that.

It only makes sense if there are no fans. I agree the games were exciting on the whole, but there's a huge receny bias. The past few years have had some of the most iconic Champions League moments.

 

Surely if they want to make things more exciting the answer is to remove the away goals rule?

They would keep a two legged semi final apparently, wouldn't be a fan either though!

That's even worse. Should be 1-legged or 2-legged all thru the KOs not a mix of both. That's why I never like the League Cup format.

Edited August 25, 20204 yr by Dobbo

Just watched a bit of Celtic getting knocked out tonight. They really are pretty dreadful.

Yeh terrible result for them, didn't even play a centre forward at home like, hope they walk the league though!

Seeds for the Group Stage Draw:

 

Pot one: Bayern, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Porto.

 

Pot two: Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Ajax.

 

Pot three: Dynamo Kiev, Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Olympiakos, Lazio, Krasnodar, Atalanta.

 

Pot four: Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Club Brugge, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, FC Midtjylland, Rennes, Ferencvaros.

Thanks a lot UEFA!

I did wonder why when we we pulled out with a chance of Group C (Porto) or Group H (PSG) it HAD to be Group H but eh, UEFA logic.

 

Not too bad I suppose, we shouldn't we losing to Leipzig at least.

 

In fact none of the English sides have too taxing groups.

It will probably be a battle between us and RB Leipzig for 2nd place behind PSG, it's a bit mad to think that we have 2 semi finalists from last season in our group. Juventus and Barcelona being in the same group will mean that Ronaldo and Messi will face each other again. Chelsea have the easiest group on paper with Sevilla being their only realistic threat.

The Utd group isn't that bad? Don't really get what the moaning is, if you're in pot 2 there's a likelihoood you're going to get one of the 'bigger teams' on paper. PSG are beatable on their day, or they could wipe the floor. Surely the only annoying thing for Man Utd is the midweek trip to Turkey.

The Utd group isn't that bad? Don't really get what the moaning is, if you're in pot 2 there's a likelihoood you're going to get one of the 'bigger teams' on paper. PSG are beatable on their day, or they could wipe the floor. Surely the only annoying thing for Man Utd is the midweek trip to Turkey.

It's not so much having PSG in our group but having them combined with RB Leipzig, would much rather have had Krasnodar or Red Bull Salzburg instead. The trip to Turkey wont be so bad if there are no fans in the stadium, the home fans could have made it a hostile environment to be in.

It's not so much having PSG in our group but having them combined with RB Leipzig, would much rather have had Krasnodar or Red Bull Salzburg instead. The trip to Turkey wont be so bad if there are no fans in the stadium, the home fans could have made it a hostile environment to be in.

 

Well that's the luck of the draw isn't it. Liverpool had a ridiculously tough group draw the year we won it. Think the bigger problem would be finishing 2nd in the group means you're likely to get a tough draw looking at the makeup of the draw.

Well that's the luck of the draw isn't it. Liverpool had a ridiculously tough group draw the year we won it. Think the bigger problem would be finishing 2nd in the group means you're likely to get a tough draw looking at the makeup of the draw.

Yeah that's true it is the luck of the draw, still UEFA's fault though :lol:

 

It would be pretty impossible to finish 2nd and get an easier draw in the round of 16 as it's very unlikely that an underdog would win their group even if they make it through. Probably getting drawn against the winners of Group E would be the best hope for a team finishing in 2nd place as long as they're not from the same national league.