The initial opponents for the four Northern Ireland clubs involved in UEFA competitions in the upcoming season have been revealed.
NIFL Premiership champions Larne are set to face San Marino champions Tre Fiori in the first round of UEFA Champions League 2026-27 qualifying.
The first leg is due to be played on 7 or 8 July with the return on 14/15 July. Confirmed fixture dates and kick-off times will be announced soon. The first leg will be in San Marino as Larne were the seeded team in the draw.
And the winners of the tie will face Serbian champions Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) in the second round of Champions League qualifying.
The first leg in round two is due to be played on 21/22 July with the return on 28/29 July. Red Star will host the second leg at their Rajko Mitic Stadium home in the Serbian capital. Again confirmed fixture dates and kick-off times will be announced by UEFA soon.
It was also announced during the Champions League first qualifying round draw that the losers of next month’s tie between Larne and Tre Fiori will drop to round three of the UEFA Conference League qualifiers.
Teams participating in round one of the Champions League qualifiers will have four hurdles to navigate if they are to make it to the league phase of the competition this season: first, second and third qualifying rounds plus a play-off round.
Coleraine, who lifted the Clearer Water Irish Cup at the start of last month, will face Finnish side HJK Helsinki in the second round of UEFA Conference League qualifying.
The first leg of the qualifier is due to be staged in Finland on 23/24 July, with the second leg on 30/31 July. The dates and kick-off times for the matches will be confirmed by UEFA by 23 June.
Glentoran and Linfield will also be in UEFA Conference League action next month – in the first round of the qualifiers.
Linfield, who won the NIFL Premiership European play-offs, are set to take on Estonian side Nomme Kalju.
The games will likely be played on 9 July and 16 July – and the winners of the tie will face League of Ireland side Shelbourne in the second round of UECL qualifying. The first leg will be in Estonia as Linfield were the seeded team in the draw.
Glentoran have been drawn to face Latvian side RFS in the first round of UECL qualifying.
The games look set to be played on 9 July and 16 July – and the winners of the tie will face either Azerbaijani side Qarabag or Vestri of Iceland in the second round of UECL qualifying. The first leg will be in Belfast as RFS were the seeded team in the draw.
The exact dates and kick-off times for the Linfield and Glentoran UECL matches in R1 of the qualifiers will be confirmed by UEFA in the coming days.
There will be three rounds of qualifiers in the Conference League this summer followed by play-offs for a place in the league phase of the Conference League, which begins in the autumn.
The draws for the various qualifiers were staged at UEFA HQ in Switzerland over the past two days.
Image: Gary Haveron’s Larne side will face Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) in round two if they get past Tre Fiori of San Marino in the first round of UEFA Champions League 2026-27 qualifying.
