On the 20th of June in the headquarters of UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland, the opponents for the first qualifying rounds will be drawn. Among others, Nõmme Kalju will also find out against whom they are going to play. The president of the club, Kuno Tehva, will also go to the land of the bells to witness the draw.
The biggest possible opponent will be of course the big club of England and the 2010 year European League finalist Fulham who made it to the international club competition because of the “Fair Play” game. They finished last season in the league on the eight position.
It is also possible to meet with estonians who play in the clubs abroad. For example the duo of estonians Enar Jääger and Sander Post belong to the Aalesund players list and the game leader of our national team Konstantin Vassiljev plays in Luka Koper.
As the head coach of Nõmme Kalju, Igor Prins, already told in a previous interview to the clubs homepage, the competition is taken very seriously. „Nõmme Kalju takes UEFA Europa League competitions very seriously. We will definately try our best because it is a very important game,“ said Prins.
„We will hope for the two most positive scenarios for us in the draw – the first would be an equal match and a real possibility to get further, the second would be an attractive opponent such as Fulham. The hope to get further should of course also stay if we play against someone like Fulham,“ commented the draw the president of the club Kuno Tehva.
Nõmmes team will start in the first qualifying round of the European League where the opponent for us will be drawn from the following teams:
Fulham (England)
Elfsborg (Sweden)
Tromsø (Norway)
St Patrick’s Athletic (Ireland)
Qarabağ (Aserbaidzhan)
Jagiellonia Białystok (Poland)
Rabotnički (Macedonia)
Aalesund (Norway)
Spartak Trnava (Slovakia)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
Honka (Finland)
Varaždin (Croatia)
Minsk (Belarus)
Olimpi Rustavi (Georgia)
Rad (Serbia)
Häcken (Sweden)
Široki Brijeg (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
KR Reykjavík (Iceland)
The New Saints (Wales)
Renova (Macedonia)
Luka Koper (Slovenia)
Budućnost Podgorica (Montenegro)
Birkirkara (Malta)
Paks (Hungary)
Ferencváros (Hungary)
The first game of Kalju will take place on the 30th of June and the rematch will be on the 7th of July. Kaljus home-field game will be held on the A. Le Coq Arena, in Tallinn.