The New Saints continue their European campaign in the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round, hosting FC Differdange 03 of Luxembourg in the first leg at Park Hall on Wednesday (KO 19:00 BST).
Craig Harrison’s side have dropped into the competition they made history in last season after a 2-1 aggregate defeat to KF Shkendija in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.
It means that the Saints must now three ties if they are to reach the League Phase for the second consecutive season, while defeat will see them exit European competition.
The tie against Differdange 03 will bring back memories of when TNS dropped into the UEFA Conference League at this stage two years and were pitted against another side from Luxembourg, FC Swift Hesperange. The JD Cymru Premier champions will hope for a different outcome on this occasion though as they fell to a 4-3 defeat on aggregate.
Differdange won the Luxembourg top-flight title for the second consecutive season in 2024/25, but were beaten 4-2 on aggregate by Kosovan side FC Drita in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.
The furthest the club have ever reached in European competition was in 2011/12 when they were beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the play-off round of UEFA Europa League qualifying, while their only previous tie against Welsh opposition was in 2015/16 when they triumphed 4-3 on aggregate over Bala Town in the UEFA Europa League.
Last season’s top scorer Guillaume Trani has joined French Ligue 2 side Red Star this summer, but new arrival Samir Hadji has already found the net against Drita in the UEFA Champions League. Centre-back Kevin D’Anzico is a two-cap Luxembourg international, while summer signing Boris Mfoumou made his debut for Cameroon earlier this year.
TNS’ record signing Ben Wilson endured two frustrating performances against KF Shkendija as he missed a number of key chances, so Craig Harrison may turn to fellow new arrival Ken Charles or last season’s top scorer Aramide Oteh to lead the line on Wednesday.
New goalkeeper Nathan Shepperd impressed with some important saves in North Macedonia, while other summer signings Jack Nadin and Jacob Owen are still waiting to make their debuts.
The winner of the tie will meet either FCI Levadia Tallinn of Estonia or Georgian side FC Iberia 1999 in the third qualifying round, as confirmed in Monday’s draw.
“We’re very disappointed to go out of the Champions League at this stage, but we know what we need to do now, we need to win two ties to get to the same stage [of qualifying] that we did last year,” Craig Harrison said after last week’s defeat to Shkendija.
“Everyone is devastated, everyone’s chins are on the floor, there is real disappointment. But the experience of Petrocub last year, when we thought we should have gone through and then bounced back to go through in the next round, we need to remember that.
“We’ve made it a little bit harder for ourselves, but it’s important that we move on quite quickly because we can’t let it affect us.”
