Maccabi Tel Aviv faces opponent from Cyprus in Champions League qualifying draw
Associated Press
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv was paired with Pafos of Cyprus in the Champions League second qualifying round draw on Wednesday.
Maccabi must travel from its home city — which has been under attack this week from Iranian missiles — to Cyprus for the first-leg game on July 22 or 23, and find a stadium outside Israel for the return game the following week.
European soccer body UEFA has required Israel's national and club teams to play international competition games in neutral countries for security reasons since October 2023, when the Hamas attacks provoked wider conflict in the region.
Maccabi could stay in Cyprus, or return to Hungarian capital Budapest where it hosted a game in the Champions League preliminary round one year ago.
Ukrainian champion Dynamo Kyiv was drawn to play either Zalgiris of Lithuania or Hamrun Spartans of Malta, who start in the first qualifying round next month. Last season, Dynamo chose to host Champions League qualifying games in Lublin, Poland.
UEFA has set a deadline of Monday for clubs to propose neutral venues for their European competition games.
Hours before its opening game at the Club World Cup, Salzburg was paired with Brann in a separate sections for teams that did not win their domestic title. The first leg in Norway will be the Austrian club's first competitive game on returning from the United States.
In the FIFA club tournament later Wednesday, Salzburg plays Pachuca of Mexico in Cincinnati at 6 p.m. local time.
Scottish league runner-up Rangers will host the first leg against Panathinaikos from Greece, and Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic was paired with Swiss side Servette.
Three teams in Wednesday's draw played in the 36-team Champions League opening phase last season, though none advanced to the knockout rounds. Red Star Belgrade was best placed in 29th, Salzburg was 34th and Slovan Bratislava lost all eight games and finished 35th.
Red Star, the 1991 European champion, is away first against Vikingur of the Faeroe Islands or Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar.
Slovan hosts the first leg against Virtus of San Marino or Zrinjski Mostar of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Losing teams in the Champions League second qualifying round switch across to the Europa League, in the third qualifying round that is played in August.
Games in the first qualifying round are played from July 8-16.
Higher-ranked clubs enter the Champions League qualifying program in two subsequent rounds played in August. They include Benfica, Celtic, Club Brugge, Fenerbahce and Feyenoord.
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