Dundalk will face Celje of Slovenia in the first round of Champions League qualifying after the draw was made on Sunday morning. The Louth side will have to travel to Slovenia for the game.
Slovenia is not on the Irish governments green list so the game will more than likely take place at a neutral venue. A neutral venue more than likely would be halfway between the countries so you would be looking at Hungary, Greece or even Italy. The game will be a one off event, with no second leg. It will take place on the 17th/18th of August. This will be confirmed in the next few days by UEFA. The Lilywhites could have faced easier opposition from other countries such as the Faroes, Estonia or Iceland. However, they must now travel, but a UEFA grant will cover the cost of this.
They will face KR Reykjavik. At the moment Celtic Park will host the game. However, their is a possibility that the game be played at a neutral venue. In fact Celtic have already met this team in the Champions League they beat them 5-0 on aggregate in 2014.
Northern Ireland Premier League side Lingfield will face Drita of Kosovo in the preliminary round, if they win there they will face a tough task against Polish side Legia Warsaw.
Ferencváros (HUN) vs Djurgården (SWE)
Celtic (SCO) vs KR Reykjavík (ISL)
Legia Warszawa (POL) vs Drita (KOS)/Linfield (NIR)
Sheriff (MDA) vs Fola Esch (LUX)
Connah’s Quay Nomads (WAL) vs Sarajevo (BIH)
Crvena zvezda (SRB) vs Europa (GIB)
Budućnost Podgorica (MNE) vs Ludogorets (BUL)
Ararat-Armenia (ARM) vs Omonia (CYP)
Floriana (MLT) vs CFR Cluj (ROU)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) vs Riga (LVA)
Qarabağ (AZE) vs Sileks (MKD)
Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) vs Tirana (ALB)
Dynamo Brest (BLR) vs Astana (KAZ)
Molde (NOR) vs KuPS (FIN)
Flora Tallinn (EST) vs Sūduva (LTU)
Celje (SVN) vs Dundalk (IRL)
KÍ (FRO) vs Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
