Valletta were given what on paper seems to be an easy tie in the first qualifying round of the Europa League when the draws were made yesterday.

The citizens will be facing San Marino’s La Fiorita while Sliema will be meeting Khazar Lankaran of Azerbaijan while Hibernians were drawn to face Vojvodina.

The Paolites tie against Serbia’s third biggest club has been considered by UEFA’s official website, uefa.com, as one of the highlights of the round.

It will be the second time that the Paolites will be facingVojvodina of Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city after the capital, Belgrade.

In season 2007-08, the Serbians had advanced on a 5-1 aggregate win over the two matches.

They are currently managed by Marko Nicolic.

Vojvodina, is one of the most popular clubs in the country. In its long history, Vojvodina was one of the most successful clubs in the former Yugoslavia, winning two First League titles, in 1966 and 1989, was runners-up in 1957, 1962 and 1975, achieved the 3rd place in 1992 and finished as 5th in the competition's all-time table.[2] Vojvodina was also runners-up of the Yugoslav Cup in 1951.

They won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1976, the Mitropa Cup in 1977 and was also runners-up of the Mitropa Cup in 1957 and the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1998 . From 1993 to 1997, Vojvodina achieved in the national championship the 3rd place five times in a row and was runners-up of the domestic cup in 1997. They were runners-up of the Serbian SuperLiga in 2009 and achieved the 3rd place in 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Vojvodina was also runners-up of the Serbian Cup in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013. The club is the third oldest football club in the Serbian SuperLiga and the most successful football club in Serbia next to the rivals Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade.

Sliema’s opponents Khazar Lankaran FK is an Azerbaijani football club based in Lankaran, who play in the Azerbaijan Premier League. Khazar Lankaran have won the Premier league title only once, and the Azerbaijan Cup three times.

Their home ground is Lankaran City Stadium. It has a capacity of 15,000 and is the third largest stadium in Azerbaijan.

In 17 July 2009, UEFA approved the stadium for the usage during international football matches. The stadium hosted its first senior international match on 5 September 2009, between Azerbaijan and Finland.

Khazar is one of the best supported clubs in Azerbaijan, having the highest attendance in the Caucasus region. Supporters of Khazar Lankaran are drawn from all over the Southern Region and beyond, with supporters’ clubs all across the world.

S.P. La Fiorita are Valletta’s opponents.

Fiorita is a San Marino football club, based in Montegiardino. The club was founded in 1967.

Fiorita currently plays in Girone A of the San Marino football championship. The team’s colours are blue and yellow.

Their successes so far include two league titles in 1986-87, 1989-90, three cups in 1985-1986, 2011-12, 2012-13, the San Marino Federal Trophy in 1986, 1987, 2007 and the San Marino Super Cup in 2012.