The inaugural FIFA Club World Cup has just started in the United States, but our teams competing in the qualifiers of the European competitions next season have already had their next opponents drawn.
Ferencváros, the winner of the last seven Hungarian league titles, will be representing Hungary in the UEFA Champions League. This will be a special season for the country, as the final, for the first time ever, will be held in Budapest, Hungary. What would make it really special is if Fradi were to make it to the league phase of the competition as well. The last time they made it through the qualifiers and played in—back then, still—the group stage was in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to play most of their games in empty stadiums—head coach Robbie Keane and his crew are eager to play UCL games in front of their famously ferocious fans this time!
In order to do so, they will first have to get through either the Armenian side FC Noah or the Montenegrin side FK Budućnost Podgorica, whichever comes through in their tie. Ferencváros, due to their good showings in European competitions in the last few seasons, will be joining the qualifiers in the second round. That means they will have to knock ‘only’ two other teams after Noah or Budućnost to make it to the UCL league phase. If they happen to lose a tie, they will still have the chance to compete in the Europa League.
There, back-to-back Hungarian Cup winners Paks are already in the running. Just like last season, they will face Romanian opposition. Last time, it did not work out for them, as second-tier Corvinul beat them 4–0 on their home turf, to the shock of Hungarian fans—there is intense rivalry for historical reasons between Hungarian and Romanian sports fans. Paks won the second leg 2–0 away, but that was, evidently, not enough to advance. This time, they will have CFR 1907 Cluj from Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), Transylvania, Romania to face, the second-place finisher in the Romanian league (first division, this time…). Hopefully, the veteran top scorer of the Hungarian league last season, Dániel Böde, can lead Paks, famous for only employing Hungarian footballers, to better results this time.
In the Conference League, we got Puskás Akadémia, the second-place finishers in the Hungarian league, having to play by far the strongest opponent they could get in the second round of qualifying in the tertiary UEFA club competition, Aris Limassol FC from Cyprus. Meanwhile, fourth-place league finisher ETO FC Győr, who just played their first season in the top division after being promoted, will play either Sammarinese Tre Fiori or the Armenian FC Pyunik, depending on which side advances.
Games in the first qualifying round will be played between 8 July and 17 July, while games in the second qualifying round will be played between 22 July and 31 July.
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