It was a difficult fortnight for The New Saints and Caernarfon Town, with both teams losing heavily in the second European qualifying round.
The New Saints lost 7-1 on aggregate against the Hungarian champions, Ferencváros in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, and so the Saints drop down to the third qualifying round of the Europa League.
Although Caernarfon Town started strongly in their two matches against the Polish giants, Legia Warszawa, the Poles were too strong in the end and won 11-0 over the two legs.
Which means only the Saints are left to fly the JD Cymru Premier flag, and the European adventure continues against Petrocub Hîncești this Tuesday.
Petrocub Hîncești (Moldova) v The New Saints | Tuesday, 6 August – 18:00 (Live online)
(Stadionul Orășenesc, Bălți – First Leg of Europa League Third Qualifying Round 2024/25)
The New Saints have reached the third qualifying round for only the fifth time in their history, and the club is aiming to reach one of Europe’s main competitions for the first time ever.
If the Saints were to win this round against the Moldovan champions, then the Oswestry outfit would be certain to play in either the main competition of the Europa League or UEFA Conference League.
Beat Petrocub, and the Saints would qualify for the Europa League play-off where the winning team will step into the main competition of the Europa League, and the losing team will step into the main competition of the UEFA Conference League.
But if the Saints lose this round against Petrocub, then they would have to win their next round in the UEFA Congress play-offs in order to reach that main competition.
Petrocub Hîncești were crowned Moldovan SuperLiga champions for the first time in their history in 2023/24, ending Sheriff Tiraspol’s run of eight consecutive championships.
The squad is full of Moldovan internationals, including captain Vladimir Ambros, who scored against France in a 2019 qualifier.
Petrocub have played in Europe in every season since 2018, winning four of their 11 European ties to date (36%).
This year, the newly crowned Moldovan champions beat Ordabasy of Kazakhstan in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, before losing 2-1 on aggregate against APOEL of Cyprus in the last round.
Since 1996 the New Saints have played 82 games in Europe winning 18 of those (22%), and in 42 European rounds the club has progressed on 10 occasions (24%).
Their best run came in the 2010/11 season – despite winning only one round that season (against Bohemians in the second qualifying round of the Champions League), before losing against Anderlecht, the Saints had a play-off to reach the League Europa.
But after losing 5-2 over two legs against CSKA Sofia, the Saints continue to dream of reaching the group stage.
The winners of the tie will face either Qarabağ or Ludogorets Razgrad in the UEFA Europa League play-off round.
Should The New Saints fail to beat FC Petrocub, they will face either FK Panevėžys or Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the play-off round of the UEFA Conference League.
