- West Ham’s UEFA Europa League campaign gets underway with tie in Slovenia
- Domzale finished third in Slovenian PrvaLiga last season
- Hammers’ eighth European campaign begins
When and where?
NK Domzale v West Ham UnitedUEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round First Leg
Thursday 28 July 2016, 8.45pm CEST (7.45pm BST)
Stadion Stozice, Ljubljana
What’s the story?
West Ham United’s European adventure begins on Thursday with the first leg of their UEFA Europa League third qualifying round tie against NK Domzale of Slovenia.The Hammers qualified for the competition after finishing seventh in the Premier League, earning an eighth participation in European football in the process.
With a European Cup Winners’ Cup victory under their belts in 1965, and a final appearance in the same tournament eleven years later, West Ham boast a proud record in Europe.
Their opponents on Thursday, NK Domzale, earned their place in the Europa League by finishing third in their domestic league last term.
Founded in 1921, they are one of Slovenia’s oldest football clubs and have twice won the national title, in 2006/07 and 2007/08.
So far in their run this term they have defeated Lusitans of Andorra – who West Ham beat in the first qualifying round last season – and Belarusian side Shakhtyor Soligorsk.
They are also two games into their league campaign, and currently sit third in the table with four points.
Team news
West Ham will be without left back Aaron Cresswell, who faces a period of up to four months out after suffering a knee injury in the friendly victory over Karlsruher SC on Saturday.Dimitri Payet, James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna are out due to their participation in the latter stages of Euro 2016, while Manuel Lanzini has suffered a knee problem on international duty with Argentina.
New signings Sofiane Feghouli, Gokhan Tore and Havard Nordtveit could make their first competitive appearances for the Club, while Reece Oxford joined up with the group this week after appearing for England at the UEFA U19 Championships in Germany.
Any links between the two?
No direct links, but Adrian spent his formative years at Real Betis with Domzale defender Alvaro Brachi.The Seville-born right back is a year older than the Hammers stopper and appeared for the Club’s B and C teams before moving on in 2007. He joined Domzale earlier this year after a spell in Hungary with Videoton.