Europa League. Swans hope for positive qualifying draw

Swansea City will enter the rare realms of the Europa League at midday on Friday when the third qualifying round draw is made in Switzerland.
And manager Michael Laudrup has vowed to enter the competition with the goal of progressing as far as they possibly can, despite the ever-increasing demands of the Barclays Premier League.
“We take every competition seriously – and that includes Europe,’’ he declared. “We proved that last season by winning the Capital One Cup, progressing well in the FA Cup before being knocked out by Arsenal in a replay, plus a ninth-placed finish in the Premier League.
“We were always competitive and with the players we’ve now got in the current squad then whatever team I pick it will be exactly the same. The players will be competitive.
“There is a lot of competition in the squad and I would have thought that everyone who plays will want to do well and impress.
“It will be difficult to get into the group stages, but if we can progress then you never know how far we can go.’’
The Swans will be one of 29 seeded teams along with the likes of Udinese, St Etienne, Sevilla, Stuttgart and Wilfried Bony's former club Vitesse Arnhem.
There is also a strong possibility that the club will not know for certain who they are up against even after the draw takes place, because the second qualifying round ties have not yet been played to a conclusion, with the second-legs taking place next Thursday.
While the Swans could draw the likes of Welsh Premier League side Prestatyn, Scottish Premier League pair Motherwell or Hibernian, or Northern Irish side Linfield, other destinations include Greece, Turkey, Denmark and a host of Eastern Europe destinations.
If the Swans get through the two-legged third qualifying round, then the Swans also face a two-legged play-off game before the group stage.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have to travel too far,’’ added Laudrup. “But I know there are a lot of Eastern European countries in there, so we’ll have to wait and see.’’

Europa League third qualifying round seeded teams: Swansea City, Stuttgart, Sevilla, Udinese, Club Brugge, St Etienne, FC Zurich, Rapid Vienna, Metallurg Donetsk, Estoril, Vitesse Arnhem, Kuban Krasnodar, Jagodina/Rubin Kazan, KR/Standard Liege, Beroe Stara Zagora/Hapoel Tel Aviv, Sparta Prague/Hacken, Honk/Lech Poznan, Trabzonspor/Derry City, Dila Gori/AaB, Anorthosis/Gefle, Rosenborg/St Johnstone, Olimpija Ljubljana/Zilina, Differdange 03/Utrecht, Maccabi Haifa/Khazar Lankaran, Breiðablik/Sturm Graz, Astra Giurgiu/Omonia, Chornomorets Odesa/ Dacia Chisinau, Strømsgodset/Debrecen, Hajduk Split/Turnovo

Unseeded teams: Asteras Tripolis, Randers, Motherwell, Kasimpasa, Jablonec, Hapoel Ramat Gan, Red Star Belgrade/IV, Skonto/Slovan Liberec, Thun/Chikhura Sachkhere, Slask Wroclaw/Rudar Pljevlja, Xanthi/Linfield, Ventspils/Jeunesse Esch, Tromso/InterBaku, Hodd/Aktobe, Dinamo Minsk/Lokomitva, Qarabag/Piast Gliwice, Vojvodina/Honved, Shakhtyor Salihorsk/ Milsami Orhei, Valletta/Minsk, Gothenburg/ Trencín, Malmo/Hibernian, Kukesi/Sarajevo, Rijeka/Prestatyn, Petrolul Ploiesti/Vikingur, Levadia Tallinn/Pandurii Târgu Jiu, Mladost Podgorica/Senica, Zalgiris Vilnius/Pyunik, Zrinjski Mostar/Botev Plovdiv, Irtysh Pavlodar/Široki Brijeg


http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/europe-1-laudrup-928991.aspx






Cheers


Mabon

 

I hope we draw Dynamo Kiev and Spartak Moscow in the group stages I have followed those for almost 20 years, been to loads of their games, and I never dreamed I'd ever see the Swans ever playing them.

 

Seeding groups announced

Group 2: Seeded
Breidablik (ISL)/SK Sturm Graz (AUT), Swansea City FC (ENG), FC Zürich (SUI) , FC Honka Espoo (FIN)/KKS Lech Poznań (POL), Vitesse (NED), FK Jagodina (SRB)/FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)

Unseeded
Randers FC (DEN), Skonto FC (LVA)/FC Slovan Liberec (CZE), FC Petrolul Ploieşti (ROU)/Vikingur (FRO), VMFD Žalgiris (LTU)/FC Pyunik (ARM), IL Hødd (NOR)/FC Aktobe (KAZ), Malmö FF (SWE)/Hibernian FC (SCO)


Could be a nice trip to Kazakhstan

 

Swansea City’s list of possible opponents for their Europa League third round qualifier has been narrowed down to 11.
In the seeded pots released this morning in Switzerland ahead of this afternoon’s main draw, the Swans discovered the unseeded teams they could face on August 1 and 8.
Swansea's possible opponents:
Randers FC (Denmark), Skonto FC (Lativa) or FC Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic), FC Petrolul Ploiesti (Romania) or Vikingur (Faroe Islands), VMFD Zalgiris (Lithuania) or FC Pyunik (Armenia), IL Hodd (Norway) or FC Aktobe (Kazakhstan), Malmo (Sweden) or Hibernian (Scotland).

 

Trip to Randers FC would be amazing, would get a great reception from the Danes

 

Malmo would be good for me , ain't been there in about 15 years, and its a nice place

 

A Greek barman just told me we got the winners of the Malmo/Hibs tie.

Can anyone confirm please

 

SKY sports info Bar is saying the same - looks like Malmo as I think they are ahead in the tie 2-0

 

Wow last time I saw Malmo was down the Vetch in 60 or 61 My j3 teacher Mr Davies told all of us going to see the game not to come into school with a face like a swede if we lost - amazing the things you remember!

 

BBC Sport has confirmed it - Malmo or Hibernian.

 

Yep the club are reporting it now

http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/europa-draw-930520.aspx

Be happy with that

 

Malmo aren't a bad side - we could have had an easier draw than that, assuming they get past Hibernian. I suppose on the plus side the travel will be shorter.

 

Bit of a boo boo on the Swans' site where it says that Malmo are regulars in Europe and famously lifted the European Cup in 1979 when they defeated Notts Forest. They actually LOST that final, as we all know, to a Trevor Francis goal.

Not having a go but this another example of the lack of professionalism off the field at the Liberty. I just wish they'd get their act together and start behaving like a club of stature.

 

Malmo or Hibs - potentially very nice trips. Better start saving if it's a trip to Sweden though - bloody expensive over there!

 

Trevor Francis was a great player.
He was to have been the first million pound player,but Cloughie didn't want him to have to carry that enormous burden.
So he renegotiated the fee,reducing it by one pound,and paid £999,999.00.

 

I wouldn't mind a trip to Malmo. Who on here are hoping to go on European away trips? I wonder how many we'll take away to Europe.

 

i remember malmo playing swansea town many years ago. they were not a bad team then but we should have no problem getting past them now, I think we could beat any of them to be honest and not one of them will fancy getting us so poor malmo drew the short straw...

 

I quite fancy a trip to Malmo,as well. They have to beat Hibs first.

 

Hibs are apparently confident of overturning the scoreline, so I wouldnt be spending £170 on a ticket to Copenhagen just yet!!

 

An interesting draw for the Swans. Better than playing against teams we have never heard of in the eastern extremities of New Europe.