Icelandic and Armenian team will be the opponents of Tikvesh and Shkendija in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League.

photo by UEFA

Macedonian Cup winners Tikvesh as unseeded side was drawn to face Icelandic team Breiðablik in their European debut this July. Breiðablik last season reached the Group stage of this competition and this season will celebrate its 10th European season. They qualified in the 2023 season of the Icelandic top flight when they finished 4th. The new 2024 season of Besta deild karla is currently underway and Breiðablik is 2nd after 11 rounds. The winner of this tie will face Drita of Kosovo in the 2nd round.

The other possible opponents of Tikvesh were F91 Diddeleng (Luxembourg), Tre Penne (San Marino), St Joseph’s (Gibraltar), Crusaders (Northern Ireland).

Shkendija, the runners-up of the 1.MFL, was seeded in the draw and got Armenian side Hoah as opponent.  A fairly new club formed just in 2017, Noah will make its only 3rd European summer appearance. They were runners-up in the 2023/24 of the Armenian Premier League, finishing just 2 points behind champions Pyunik. They are a team build of many foreign players and despite being unseeded in the draw they actually small favorites in the clash with Shkendija. Former Vardar players Hovhannes Hambardzumyan, Artak Dashyan and Artur Miranyan play for Noah. The winner of this tie will face Maltese side Sliema Wanderers in the 2nd round.

The other possible opponents of Shkendija were Velež (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Torpedo (Georgia), Malisheva (Kosovo) and Isloch (Belarus).

The two-legged ties will be played on 11 and 18 July with the dates and kick-offs being confirmed this Friday.

It was also made the draw for the losing sides of the Champions League 1st qualifying round. If Macedonian champions Struga get eliminated by Slovan will advance into the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League where will face the defeated team of the clash between Dinamo (Belarus) and Pyunik (Armenia).