Maltese clubs await today's draw

The opponents of Hibernians, Sliema Wanderers and Birkirkara in the first qualifying rounds of the Champions League and the UEFA Cup will be known today when the draw is made in Geneva.

None of the Maltese clubs were named among the seeded sides for the draw to be held at noon at the Noga Hilton.

Champions Hibernians, competing in the European premier club competition will come up against one of the following sides: FC Skonto (Latvia), Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus), Tampere United (Finland), Torpedo Kutaisi (Georgia), Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova); Akranes (Iceland); FC Belshina Bobruisk (Belarus); FBK Kaunas (Lithuania); Shelbourne FC (Ireland) and FK Vardar (Macedonia).

The first qualifying round of the Champions League will be played on July 11 and 18.

In the UEFA Cup, the teams participating in the qualifying round were split in ten pools, based on geographical criteria and in accordance with the coefficient ranking list.

Birkirkara, who last season managed to qualify for the first round of the competition after ousting Lokomotiv Tbilisi in the qualifying phase, face the prospect of another trip to Eastern Europe.

The Stripes were placed in group nine and could face two former European giants in Yugoslav Cup winners Red Star Belgrade and Rapid Bucharest of Romania. The other sides who could be paired with them are Viktoria Zizkov of the Czech Republic and Ukraine's Metalurh Zaporizhzhya.

Sliema Wanderers, second in the Premier League last season, could be handed a rather attractive tie in the first qualifying round as they were pitted in the same pool as Livingston, last season's Scottish Premier League surprise package.

The other seeded teams in pool four with the Wanderers are Polonia Warsaw of Poland, Austria's FC Ksrnten and Danish outfit FC Copenhagen.

The UEFA Cup qualifying round will be played on August 9 and 23.