Larne will face Tre Fiori of San Marino in Champions League first round qualifying.

After winning their third Premiership title across the past four seasons last term, the Inver Reds booked a return to Europe’s premier competition.

The Co Antrim club have lost three of their four previous Champions League matches – they were narrowly eliminated by Finnish outfit HJK in 2023 before suffering a 7-0 aggregate defeat to RFS of Latvia the following year.

Entering as one of the seeded sides for 2026/27, Gary Haveron’s side will theoretically have a better chance of sealing progression.

placeholder image — Conor McKendry in action against RFS during Larne's last Champions League outing. (Photo by Jonathan Porter/Press Eye)

On paper, it appears to be a prime draw for Larne with Tre Fiori, who won the Campionato Sammarinese for the first time since 2019 last season, only winning four of their 20 matches in Europe to date.

The first-leg will be played away on July 7/8 before the reverse fixture is hosted in Northern Ireland on July 14/15.

Tre Fiori, who were beaten 2-0 by Linfield in Champions League qualifying in 2019, have previously staged home matches in Europe at the San Marino Stadium in Serravalle, which has a capacity of just under 7,000.

It remains to be seen where Larne will play European home matches – they’ve nominated Ballymena Showgrounds, but with work to replace their artificial pitch getting underway last month, the club stated “it is our aim that the works will be complete in time to bring European football back to Inver Park this summer”.

Larne created a piece of Irish League history in 2024 by becoming the first Premiership club to qualify for the Conference League.

They banked a whopping €3.57m in prize money for their European exploits and recorded a famous win over Belgium’s Gent – Tomas Cosgrove scored the decisive goal in their 1-0 triumph at Windsor Park.

Larne have returned to pre-season training as preparations ramp up for European action and Haveron is hoping to create further memories on the continental stage.

"We are preparing hard ahead of the European game as we know the standard will be incredible,” said Haveron. "We have already secured a few pre-season friendlies and we will be playing against Connah’s Quay and Rangers, so the home nations are helping each other as best as possible.

“It’s great to play two really good competitive friendlies before we hit the European games.

"This will be my sixth year in a row involved in Europe with Larne and there have been so many pinch-me moments.

"I remember being in Baku, Azerbaijan, when we were playing against Dinamo Minsk thinking ‘I am actually here with Larne in the league phase of the Conference League’.

"Playing in Europe as a player was unreal but coaching is a different level, and the wins against Lincoln Red Imps and Genk will live long in the memory.

"Our previous runs in Europe should give us that belief that we can be competitive this summer...but it all comes down to the luck of the draw.”

Linfield and Glentoran will discover their Conference League qualifying opponents at 5pm while Coleraine, who enter at the second round stage, will learn their fate on Wednesday.