European debutants avoid biggest clubs in new competition
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — UEFA’s newest competition will give several teams their first chance to play in the group stage of a European tournament. Lincoln Red Imps, Flora Tallinn and Alashkert are among the smallest in the 32-team field for the Europa Conference League and they all managed to avoid the biggest teams in the draw. Gibraltar champion Lincoln will face Copenhagen, PAOK Thessaloniki and Slovan Bratislava. Estonian club Flora Tallinn landed trips to Belgium, Serbia and Cyprus to face Gent, Partizan Belgrade and Anorthosis. And Armenian club Alashkert was drawn to face Austrian team LASK, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and HJK Helsinki.