Maccabi are drawn against Greek side Asteras Tripoli F.C. in the Europa League play-off round
After the number of Maccabi Tel Aviv's potential rivals had been narrowed down to five this morning, the draw was held this afternoon at the UEFA offices in Nyon Switzerland for the play-off round of the Europa League. The result of that draw is that Maccabi will be facing a two-legged contest starting on August 21st against Greek side Asteras Tripoli F.C., with the first tie being played away and, a week later, Maccabi hosting the return leg. Head coach Oscar Garcia had this to say about the draw to the official club website: "This is a tough draw against a Greek team that knocked out Bundesliga side Mainz 05 in the previous round, one of the best teams in the Europa League. Naturally we'd like to play the return leg here in Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium and since it's a week later hopefully the situation here will have quieted down by then".
Asteras Tripoli F.C.
Current European ranking: 182
Largest European win: July 24th 2014, 4-2 against Finnish side Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) in Greece
Largest European defeat: August 8th 2013, 3-1 against Austrian side Rapid Vienna in Vienna
Appearances in UEFA Cup/Europa League qualifiers: 3
This is the third appearance in European competition for this modest club from the town of Tripoli in Greece, all three of them coming in the last three seasons. This is in fact the best run of form in the club's history, starting in 2007 with their promotion to the first tier Greek Super League. In that first season they finished seventh, just missing a place in European competition. But their continued progress was amply demonstrated in the 2012/13 season when they left their most significant mark domestically with a third-placed league finish and a first time ever appearance in the Greek FA Cup final, where they lost to Olympiakos.
In the last two seasons, Asteras were knocked out of the Europa League in the third qualifying round, first by Portuguese side C.S. Marítimo and last year by Austrian stalwarts Rapid Vienna. This year they toppled Finnish side Rovaniemen Palloseura in the second round and produced a shock in the third round by upsetting Bundesliga side Mainz 05 3-2 on aggregate.
