Less than a month after last season's winners were crowned, the 2023-24 Champions League begins with its preliminary playoffs on Tuesday, when Tre Penne meet Breidablik.
Champions of San Marino and Iceland respectively, the clubs will take part in a four-team tournament, hosted at Breidablik's Kopavogsvollur Stadium.
Match preview
© Reuters
Offering the prize of a place in the first qualifying round proper, the Champions League preliminaries will be held in Iceland this week, with two midweek semi-finals to be followed by a final on Friday.
Montenegro's Buducnost and Andorran outsiders Atletic d'Escaldes are also involved in a process which will produce a winner that proceeds to the next round, where established names such as Ferencvaros and Maccabi Haifa await.
The three teams eliminated will then be transferred to the Europa Conference League's second qualifying stage, so there is plenty at stake for tournament hosts Breidablik when the event gets under way in Kopavogur.
While making the 2024 final at Wembley is pure fantasy for the Icelandic champions, progressing towards a first Champions League group-stage place represents a more feasible dream - albeit one unlikely to come to fruition, given the strength of teams taking part later on.
Based a short distance south of Reykjavik, Breidablik won their national championship for just the second time last term and earned another shot at the big time, after they fell in the Europa Conference League's third qualifying round to Aberdeen and then Istanbul Basaksehir over the past two summers.
Twelve years after their first Icelandic title, they finished well clear of KA to finish first in 2022, and the ongoing defence of their crown sees them sitting third in the standings after 13 rounds of the current campaign.
Most recently, Oskar Thorvaldsson's side have followed progress to the cup semi-finals with a 2-2 draw with FH and a 5-2 defeat to local rivals HK - hardly the ideal preparation for the club's latest tilt at continental competition.
Tre Penne, meanwhile, wrapped up their Campionato Sammarinese title with a 2-0 win over Faetano at the end of April, before losing the Coppa Titano final to SS Virtus a few weeks later.
Being crowned kings of calcio in San Marino by a single point was made all the sweeter after the five-time national champions lost out by the same margin 12 months earlier, and Stefano Ceci's side now embark on a European adventure.
Ceci signed on for another year as Biancazzurri boss shortly after leading his team to domestic glory, and they will kick off the 2023-24 campaign with a contest in which they are distinct outsiders: not only are Tre Penne pitched against the playoff hosts, but they have also won just one of 20 UEFA competition games to date.
Team News
After finishing as Breidablik's top scorer en route to the title last term, Isak Thorvaldsson departed for Rosenborg, so Iceland international Jason Dadi Svanthorsson provides the home side's chief goal threat this week.
Having netted 11 times in 2022 - and, incidentally, made his national team debut against San Marino - the 23-year-old forward should feature on the wing.
Former Halmstad defender Hoskuldur Gunnlaugsson captains the side, while Stefan Sigurdarson - who bagged a brace in the shock 5-2 loss to HK - is set to start up front.
Tre Penne will be able to include two players selected by San Marino for the recent Euro 2024 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Finland, as Luca Ceccaroli and Michael Battistini may feature at some stage.
Imre Badalassi leads the Biancazzurri's attack, having scored 15 league goals last season, while several new faces in Stefano Ceci's squad include recent arrivals Roberto Rosini, Marcello Scarponi and Senegalese midfielder Assane Fall.
Tre Penne possible starting lineup:
Migani; Maio, Rosini, Bellucci, Barretta; Scarponi, Fall, De Falco; Ceccaroli, Badalassi, Dormi
Breidablik possible starting lineup:
Einarsson; Gunlaugsson, Margeirsson, Adalsteinsson, Yeoman; Ludvikson; Sventhorsson, A. Sigurdarson, Eyjolfsson; S. Sigurdarson, Steindorsson
We say: Tre Penne 1-4 Breidablik
Although Breidablik's recent results have not matched their form when winning the 2022 domestic title, their greater depth of experience will come to the fore on Tuesday. Tre Penne are routinely swept aside on the European stage and will have to make do with a place in the Conference League qualifiers on this occasion.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
