Now based in England, right on the border with Wales, and playing in the UEFA Championship of the latter member, the team is also aiming for history. No Welsh club has ever made it past the group stage and The New Saints have only the second chance in their history.
“Panevėžius” was the third opponent out of four, who has won the most titles in his country’s championships. It is true that the representatives of Wales cannot be proud of such a history as the teams of Finland or Israel, but they already have 16 titles under their belt. Most of them were won since 2011.
At the end of the last millennium, the club was based in Wales and went by the name of the sponsor Total Network Solutions. A subsequent merger with Oswestry Town and the withdrawal of the sponsor led to the new name The New Saints. Since 2011, the Welsh flagship has won as many as 11 trophies, the latest of them in impressive style.
In 32 rounds, the Oswestry club won as many as 30 victories, drew twice and collected 92 points, surpassing the closest rival by 33 points. In 2016, “The New Saints” won as many as 27 victories in a row in local competitions and surpassed the previous record of the Amsterdam “Ajax” team, achieved in the 1971-1972 season. Then the Englishman Craig Harrison, who was at the helm of the team, is working and now, it is true, there was a break from 2017 to 2022 when he coached other teams.
The Oswestry club played identically to Panevėžys in the first round of the Champions League qualifying competition – the confrontations with Tuža Dečič from Montenegro ended 3:0 and 1:1. Coincidences continued in the second round as well, where Budapest “Ferencvaroš” was recognized 1:7 advantage, in turn, in the third round of the Europa League qualifying competition Hincheschis “Petrocub” from Moldova lost 0:1 on aggregate. The multiple Welsh champions also had meetings with Lithuanian clubs: “Sūduvai” from Marijampolė lost 0:1 and 0:1, but “Kauno Žalgiris” was defeated even 5:0 and 5:1 both times.
Many football players played in victorious confrontations with the Lithuanian team – Ryan Astles, Declan McManus, Daniel Redmond, Leo Smith, Danny Davies or Jordan Williams. However, the latter will miss the match in Vilnius due to the red card he received.
Cardiff, Swansea or Wrexham, which has become famous in recent years, are clubs that represent Wales but compete successfully in the English football system. TNS has a unique chance to announce itself and Welsh football more loudly to Europe and emerge from the shadow of the country’s much richer giants.
The first confrontation between “Panevėžys” and “The New Saints” will take place on August 22, Thursday. The start of the meeting at the LFF stadium is at 7:30 p.m.
2024-08-21 10:36:36