Skoda Xanthi return to the Europa League

Skoda Xanthi FC, the club from the North of Greece will be making its fourth appearance ever in a European competition next season. Xanthi will face either Fuglafjordur of the Faroe Islands or Linfield, a semi-professional team, from Northern Ireland in the Second Qualifying Round of the 2013/14 Europa League.

However, Xanthi did not qualify directly for the opportunity to play in the Europa League. It was because neither the club that did qualify, PAS Giannina, nor the club that ranked below them, Panathinaikos, were granted permission to participate in the Europa League by UEFA. This left the place to be filled by Skoda Xanthi, who ranked seventh in the league table at the end of the 2012/13 season.

Regardless of the way the club qualified, in a month from now they will be playing their first matches in the hope of progressing further in the competition. Let’s hope this time they’ll have a better luck than when they played against Lazio (2002/03), Middlesbrough (2005/06) and Dinamo Bucureşti (2006/07).

Source : http://www.football.co.uk/skoda_xanthi/skoda_xanthi_return_to_the_europa_league__rss4325340.shtml