Romanian football champions CFR Cluj will face FC Astana (Kazakhstan) in the Champions League first qualifying round, according to the draw in Nyon on Tuesday.
The first match will be played in Kazakhstan on July 9 or 10 and the return match will take place in Cluj-Napoca on July 16 or 17.
FC Astana is on the top position in the Kazakhstan’s championship. Romanian footballer Dorin Rotariu is playing for the Kazakh team.
CFR Cluj official Bogdan Mara has told digisport.ro that they would have preferred another team.
“We would have preferred any other team, except for Astana and Red Star Belgrade. It is a very long trip, the pitch is artificial. It is a powerful team which plays every year in European competitions. That’s it. We need to get more information about the team. The match away will be very tough. If we defeat them, this would be a great success. Right now, we don’t know very much about the adversaries, in the coming days we’ll find out more and we’ll get prepared.” Bogdan Mara said.
FCSB and Universitatea Craiova face weak adversaries in Europa League qualifying rounds
Romanian vice-champions FCSB will face Milsami Orhei (Republic of Moldova) in the Europa League first qualifying round. The first match will be at home on July 11. The return match will be on July 18.
Universitatea Craiova will play in the same competition against Sabail (Aarbaidjan), the first match away on July 11, with the return match in Craiova on July 18.