Saints drawn against Bulgarians CSKA Sofia

The New Saints will face Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia in the Europa League Play-Off following this afternoon's draw in Nyon. The first leg match will be played in Sofia on 19th August, with the return leg in the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham on 26th August 2010.

The Playoff match gives the Saints the opportunity to qualify for the Group stage of the Europa League, which would be a substantial financial bonus for the club as well as guaranteeing six more European matches, so there's a huge incentive for the Saints.

Mike Davies' team will now play in the Europa League following their elimination from the Champions League, which is another bonus of winning the first match in the Champions League, which TNS did so convincingly against Bohemians.

CSKA is historically known as the Bulgarian Army sports club. Currently the sports club's departments are autonomous and are separated as of 1992. Therefore, the only connection of the departments to the Army are the historical traditions and the Bulgarian Army Stadium. Nevertheless, in the moment all of the clubs who have a connection to the sports society are incorporated into one joint society called United Sports Clubs CSKA, which is currently a successor of the previous disbanded organization.

In the last round of the Europa League, CSKA beat Cliftonville from Northern Ireland 5-1 on aggregate, so it will be a tough assignment for Davies' side.

The first legs will be played on 19 August, with the returns to follow a week later. The 37 play-off winners will join holders Club Atletico de Madrid and the ten defeated sides from the UEFA Champions League play-offs in the group stage which kicks off on 16 September. The group stage draw takes place in Monaco on 27 August.