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Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Linfield and Crusaders discover potential Europa League third qualifying round opponents

Linfield and Crusaders have discovered who they could meet if they progress to the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

Both clubs are in action in the second qualifying round this week and both appear to have different prospects.

Crusaders have it all to do against English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Linfield will fancy their chances against HB Torshavn of the Faroe Islands.

The draw for the third qualifying round takes place in Nyon on Monday, July 22.

The Champions League path (featuring Linfield) will start at approximately 11.25am (BST), with the Main Path draw (featuring Crusaders) starting at around 1pm (BST).

The winner of the HB Torshavn v Linfield tie will be unseeded in the third round and drawn against the loser of one of the following Champions League ties:

  1. The New Saints (Wales) v Kobenhaven (Denmark)
  2. Saburtaio (Georgia) v GNK Dinamo (Croatia)
  3. Sutjeska (Montenegro) v Apoel (Cyprus)
  4. Crvena zvezda (Serbia) v HJK Helsinki (Finland)
  5. CFR Cluj (Romania) v Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 

Meanwhile, Stephen Baxter's Crusaders travel to Molineaux this Thursday (July 25) to take on Wolves before hosting Nuno Espirito Santo's side at Seaview on Thursday, August 1.

It is a colossal test for the Irish League underdogs.

The Crues will be in Group 3 of the Main Path of Monday's Europa League draw, and are in the seeded side.

Some of their potential opponents in the third qualifying round include Scottish giants Rangers and AEK Larnaca from Cyprus.

They will face the losers of one of these five Europa League second round ties:

  1. AEK Larnaca FC (CYP)/PFC Levski Sofia (BUL) 
  2. FC Pyunik (ARM)/FK Jablonec (CZE) 
  3. FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda (SVK)/Atromitos FC (GRE) 
  4. Rangers FC (SCO)/FC Progrès Niederkorn (LUX) 
  5. FC Mariupol (UKR)

The first leg of the third qualifying round games will be played on August 8, with the return leg one week later on August 15.

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