Turkish Süper Lig powerhouse Fenerbahçe was drawn against Dynamo Kyiv from war-torn Ukraine in the second qualifying round for the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League.
The match next month will mark Ukrainian football's return to the European top tier and the club’s first competitive game since the Russian invasion started.
Dynamo was among four teams in Wednesday's draw for runners-up from mid-ranking leagues.
Dynamo was in second place in the Ukrainian league when it paused in February after Russia invaded. The league never resumed. No league title was awarded to leader Shakhtar Donetsk but the standings were used to decide Ukraine’s entries for the next UEFA club competitions.
It is unclear where Dynamo will host Fenerbahçe in the first leg on July 19 or 20. The return game will be in Turkey on July 26 or 27.
Shakhtar officials have been in talks to use the stadium of Polish club Legia Warsaw when the team starts its Champions League group program in September.
Dynamo would have to advance through three qualifying rounds to join Shakhtar in the 32-team group stage.
Russian teams have been banned by UEFA from European club competitions, but that decision is being challenged by four clubs at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Zenit St. Petersburg won the Russian league title.
In the other pairing of league runners-up, Danish club Midtjylland was drawn to face Cypriot team AEK Larnaca.
A separate draw for national champions in the second qualifying round paired Israeli club Maccabi Haifa with Greek team Olympiacos, while Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb will play either Shkupi of North Macedonia or Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar, and Swiss club Zurich will face either Polish team Lech Poznan or Qarabağ of Azerbaijan.
Fernerbahçe, in the meantime, began preparations for the upcoming season with its first training under new coach Jorge Jesus Wednesday.
Most of the squad, including Yellow Canaries' latest transfer, Brazilian midfielder Lincoln Henrique, attended the training session at the club's Samandıra facilities in Istanbul.
Arda Güler and Miguel Crespo, both out with injuries, did not join the camp.
The footballers did warmups, before being put through the Yo-Yo intermittent test during the first day of training.
Prior to the session, the new Portuguese coach introduced his staff and technical team, including assistant manager and former Fenerbahçe footballer Mehmet Aurelio, to the players.
The 67-year-old Jesus told his players that he joined Fenerbahçe to win.
Süper Lig's Başakşehir and Konyaspor's also got their UEFA European Conference League second qualifying round rivals Wednesday.
Başakşehir was matched with Israel's Maccabi Netanya, while Konyaspor was paired with Belarus' Bate Borisov.
The draw for the UEFA Europa Conference League's second Qualifying Round was held at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Başakşehir will play the first match at home and Konyaspor will play the first match in Belarus.
The first matches in the UEFA European Conference League's second Preliminary Round will be held on July 21 and the return matches will be held on July 28.
Teams that pass the play-off round after the third qualifying round will qualify for the group stage, which will start on Sept. 8.
