Celtic handed Icelandic trip

22 June 2015 10:47

Celtic have been drawn against FC Stjarnan of Iceland in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

Ronny Deila's side, who won the Scottish Premiership ahead of Aberdeen, will begin their campaign on July 14 or 15 with the second leg a week later on July 21 or 22.

The Bhoys failed to reach the group stages in 2014-15, when they lost out to Slovenian side Maribor having been re-instated into the play-off round despite a 6-1 aggregate defeat by Legia Warsaw, with the Polish side ejected from the competition by UEFA after fielding an ineligible player.

Irish club Dundalk face a tough test against BATE Borisov, the champions of Belarus.

Elsewhere i n the first qualifying round, The New Saints of Wales, one of the seeded teams, will play B36 Torshavn of the Faroe Islands while Northern Ireland side Crusaders were drawn against Estonian side Levadia Talinn.

Stjarnan defeated Motherwell and Lech Poznan in the Europa League qualifying rounds last season before being thumped 9-0 on aggregate by Inter Milan in the play-off for the group stage.

Barclays Premier League club West Ham are set to enter the first round of the Europa League qualifying, having been given a place via the UEFA Fair Play table.

The Irons will be joined in Monday's draw by Scottish sides Aberdeen and St Johnstone, with those fixtures set to be played on July 2.

Scottish FA Cup winners Inverness will make their debut in European competition in the second qualifying round, the draw for which also follows later.

Source: PA