The 2016/17 campaign is upon us and on June 30th Maccabi Tel Aviv will play its opening match of the season in the first round of Europa League qualifying. The draw that took place earlier this afternoon in Nyon, Switzerland handed new coach Shota Arveladze the Slovenian outfit, Gorica as the Club’s first round opponent.
The first leg will take place on Thursday June 30th while the return leg will occur on July 7th. Should Maccabi advance their second round opponent will be either KS Teuta of Albania or Kazakhstan side FC Kairat Almaty with matches being played on Thursday July 14th and July 21st.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will be ranked throughout the qualifying rounds and perhaps in the playoffs as well. The draw consisted of 96 teams with 48 ranked and 48 unranked with Maccabi being at the top of the list with 20.225 points.
Four Championships, 3 Cups and plenty of European experience – Get to know Gorica of Slovenia
Gorica is from the town of Nova Gorica and plays at the Nova Gorica Sports Park that holds 3,000 spectators. This past season Gorica finished in 4th place in their domestic league.
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The team is considered to be one of the strongest clubs that Maccabi could have been drawn against in the group that had been narrowed down earlier in the day. Gorica win the Slovenian Championship in 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006 and has won 3 Cups the most recent one being in 2014.
Gorica has many years of European experience and has played in both the Champions League Qualification Rounds as well as the Europa League qualifying matches.
