Fulham draw Faroe Islands side NSI Runavik in Europa League

Bobby Zamora, Fulham

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Fulham have been drawn against NSI Runavik of the Faroe Islands in the first round of the Europa League.

The club, now under Martin Jol’s management, were handed a place in the competition via the Uefa Fair Play League.

The first leg will be at Craven Cottage on Thursday June 30 and is set to be Jol’s first competitive game in charge of the west London club.

The second-leg will be played Thursday July 7 at Runavik stadium.

NSI Runavik finished third in the Faroe Islands Premier League and have never won a Europa League match before, losing all six games that they have played.

Fulham reached the final of the tournament in the 2009-10 season after a superb run in which they beat Juventus, Wolfsburg and many more top clubs before losing to Atletico Madrid in Germany.

Reaching the final that season helped Roy Hodgson win the 2010 LMA Manager of the Year by the highest margin in the history of the award before he left in the summer for Liverpool.

It will be a long route to the final for Fulham if they want to repeat history as there are a further two qualification rounds and a subsequent play-off round before they can even get to the group stages.

FA Cup runners up Stoke City enter the competition in the third round, while relegated League Cup holders Birmingham City start in the play-off round.

The winners of the tie between Fulham and NSI Runavik will play semi-professional club Crusaders of Northern Ireland in the second round, with the legs to be played on June 14 and June 21 respectively.

Another tie of note in the first round Europa League draw is an all-British fixture between Welsh side TNS and Crusaders’ fierce local rivals Cliftonville.