Maltese champions Birkirkara will be one of the seeded teams in the first qualifying round of next season’s competition.

This was announced by club chairman Victor Zammit who also said that the seeding will provide the Stripes with a better chance to accede to the second qualifying round.

Zammit said: “After winning the league a second time, our primary targets in the immediate future are to win the double by claiming the FA Trophy and also make a bold effort to reach the second qualifying round of the Champions league.”

Birkirkara will be placed 10th among the seeded teams. They have amassed 1,880 points for their coefficient. The other teams to be seeded will be the champions of Slovenia, Mypa of Finland, Apollon Limassol of Cyprus, Siroki Brijeg of Bosnia, Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova, Rabotnike Skopje of Macedonia, Ekranas Panevezys of Lithuania, Bolnisi of Georgia, Hafnarfjardar of Iceland and Metalurgs Liepaja of Latvia.

Teams against whom Birkirkara might be drawn for this round are Shakhtor Saligorsk of Belarus, Cork City of Ireland, Linfield of Northern Ireland, Pyunik Yerevan of Armenia, Tallinn of Estonia, Llansantffraid of Wales, the champions of Azerbaijan, Torshavn of the Faroe Islands, Elbasani of Albania, Dudelange of Luxembourg and Aktobe of Kazakhstan.

Dates for the first qualifying round have been set by UEFA for 12 and 19 July.

Zammit added that the club is well aware of the chance to make progress in the competition. “There is a fair chance. We will leave no stone unturned to be successful,” he said yesterday.

This is obviously the second time that Birkirkara are taking part in the Champions League: otherwise, they have played regularly in the UEFA Cup.

On one occasion, in 2001, they managed to reach the second round in the UEFA Cup having eliminated Lokomotiv Tbilisi of Georgia in the first round.

The club chairman also said that he will be meeting coach Stephen Azzopardi to secure his future with the Stripes and then start working on the next season.