UEFA Conference League: Larne face Latvia test as Cliftonville lock horns with familiar Irish League opposition
Larne and Cliftonville have learned their fate after the draw for first qualifying round of the Conference League took place in Switzerland.
Larne, who will now embark in their fifth successive season of European football, will take on Latvian side FK Auda.
Nathan Rooney’s men knew from the outset they could have faced either Penybont (Wales), Valur (Iceland), Auda (Latvia) or SJK (Finland).
Auda have only met Northern Irish competition once before, beating Cliftonville 4-1 on aggregate just last season in the Conference League Second Qualifying Round.
Larne will play at home first – with the Ballymena Showgrounds chosen as the nominated venue due to Inver Park failing a Fifa Pro Standard pitch test – before travelling to Latvia a week later.
The Inver Reds enjoyed a historic run in Europe last year as they became the first team from Northern Ireland to ever qualify for the group stage of a European competition.
Whilst they endured some difficult results on the continental stage, they ended their phase on a high note after beating Belgian side Gent.
Elsewhere, Cliftonville have been drawn to face Gibraltar side St. Joseph’s in the first qualifying round.
The Reds booked their spot in the third-tier competition of European football after a play-off success against Coleraine in the last game of the campaign.
Cliftonville were drawn into Group 5 in the early process of the draw and could have faced either Vikingur (Iceland), Partizani (Albania), Floriana (Malta) or St Joseph’s (Gibraltar).
Jim Magilton’s men will be away for the first leg and then welcome their opponents to north Belfast a week later.
St Joseph’s are no strangers to Northern Ireland after knocking out Larne in the same competition back in 2022.
First leg ties are currently pencilled in for July 10 with the return games taking place on July 17 and, while all arrangements remain subject to change owing to television, security and UEFA’s favoured single-fixture-per-city policy obligations.
Meanwhile, Dungannon Swifts will also be involved in the Conference League but will enter at the second round stage after their historic Irish Cup triumph back in May.
The draw for that stage will be made on Wednesday afternoon.