Maccabi Tel Aviv will await the results of the Champions League 1st round qualifiers to see who their rivals will be in round 2
Today UEFA held the draw for the Champions League 1st and 2nd round qualifiers at their headquarters at Nyon, Switzerland. Maccabi Tel Aviv will face the winners of one of the 1st round ties, either Andorran champions FC Santa Coloma or Armenian title holders FC Banants. The first leg will be held on Tuesday July 1st or Wednesday July 2nd, with the return leg on the opposite day a week later. Before those intriguing ties take place, let's have a closer look at Maccabi's potential rivals.
FC Santa Coloma
This decorated club from the Principality of Andorra (population: 78,360), nestled on the border between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains, was established in 1986 and has since succeeded in winning eight domestic titles, nine State Cups and four Super-Cups. Last season Santa Coloma returned the league title to their la Vella Communal Stadium after two seasons finishing in second place. In the 2001/02 season, Santa Coloma made history by putting in their first appearance in the now dormant EUFA Cup, but were knocked out after back-to-back defeats by Serbian stalwarts Partizan Belgrade. Santa Coloma have made three appearances in Champions League qualifying rounds, bowing out in the first round on all three occasions. Santa Coloma have in fact never advanced to a higher round in any official UEFA competition.
Which is not to say they've never won a tie in any of their European campaigns. Ironically, their sole victory in European encounters came in the first round of the EUFA Cup in the 2007/08 season. And their victims: None other than our own Maccabi Tel Aviv! But the dizzying heights they reached after their first-leg 1-0 victory in Andorra were quickly brought to ground after a visit to Bloomfield Stadium in the return leg, where they suffered a 4-0 thrashing by the home side. La Vella Communal Stadium, where Santa Coloma play their home matches, has a capacity of 850. Sounds somewhat on the titchy side, but apparently more than sufficient to hold the number of spectators who attend Santa Coloma's home matches on a regular basis.
FC Banants (Armenia)
The Armenian champions emerged in 1992 as representatives of the province of Kotayk in the city of Abovian. Due to a financial crisis at the end of the 1995 season they first merged with Kotayk Abovian and six years later split off and moved to the nation's capital Yerevan. Having already won the Armenian State Cup twice, Banants made history this past season by winning the league title for the first time. Their first historical appearance in European competition came in the 2003/04 season in the EUFA Cup qualifiers and much like Santa Coloma, Banants are no strangers to Israeli opponents, in their case Maccabi's municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv. After drawing 1-1 away (in Holland in this case), Banants returned home to lose 1-2 in the return leg and exit the competition altogether. From that time on for the next nine seasons, Banants played in the EUFA Cup qualifiers but only once did they make it to round 2. That historic occurrence came in the first round of the 2003/04 season, when after losing at home to Dinamo Tbilisi they recorded a 0-2 victory in the return leg in Georgia. Their round 2 opponents were Ukrainian side Avanhard Dnipropetrovsk, who beat them in both encounters. But their greatest defeat in European play came against Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg in the 2008/09 EUFA Cup qualifiers, losing 7-0 away in the first leg and finishing on the wrong end of a 10-0 aggregate.
FC Barants play their European fixtures at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan, with a very respectable capacity of 14,000 seats. Sadly, though, the club have never won there a match in European competition.
