Dundalk drawn against BATE Borisov in Champions League qualifier

Dundalk had a one in six chance of meeting Celtic, but must instead be content with BATE Borisov as their opposition in the Champions League second qualifying round.

The Belarusian side are reigning champions in their domestic league, and with 11 titles the most successful club side in Belarus.

In 2001, BATE reached the first round of the Uefa Cup, their first appearance in European competition beyond the qualifying rounds.

Since then they have reached the Champions League group stages on four occasions, drawing twice with Juventus in 2008 and last year beating Athletic Bilbao.

In 2011 they were eliminated in the Round of 32 of the Europa League by PSG on the away goals rule. Among their ex players is former Arsenal and Barcelona midfielder Alexander Hleb.

The ties against the League of Ireland champions will be played on July 14/15th and July 21st/22nd.

Celtic, meanwhile will play FC Stjarnan of Iceland.

In the Europa League both Shamrock Rovers and UCD have been drawn against opponents from Luxembourg.

Pat Fenlon’s side will play Progres Niederkorn, who came fourth in the league there last season while Collie O’Neill’s UCD face F91 Dudelange who finished one place and four points higher.

Cork City also received what looks to be a favourable draw with John Caulfield’s side facing a trip to Reykjavik to play KR who, though well capable of challenging the Irish side, should still be the sort of opponents that the southerners would hope to beat.

KR have been regulars in Europe over the last few years but they were beaten home and away by Celtic last year and their only real wins of note in recent years have been against Glentoran (twice) and MSK Zilina of Slovakia. Just over a decade ago they lost out to Shelbourne in a Champions league qualifier on away goals.

St Patrick’s Athletic, meanwhile, will take on Skonto Riga, the once formidable Latvian champions who have been through some tough times since winning 14 domestic titles in a row. They did win another title in 2010, the year after they had been put out of the Europa League qualifiers by Derry City, but last year they were thrown out of that competition by Uefa over the scale of their unpaid debts.

Their local FA then imposed transfer restrictions on the club but they nevertheless went on to finish second in the league, thanks in no small part to 20 year-old striker Vladislav Gutskovis who scored 28 of their 77 goals.