Uefa Cup: Derry City will play French giants Paris St Germain in the first round proper of the Uefa Cup, the draw for which was made in Monaco this morning.
City will be big underdogs going into the tie but the glamour fixture is just reward for Stephen Kenny's men who bravely battled past IFK Gothenburg and Gretna in the qualifying rounds.
Greek side Panathinaikos, Hertha Berlin of Germany, Austria Vienna and Litex Lovech of Bulgaria were the other teams Derry could have faced.
Derry will host the first leg on September 14th but it remains to be seen where the game will be played. They then travel to Paris a fortnight later.
The club are keen to play at their Brandywell Stadium but the capacity for European games is restricted to just under 3000 because of Uefa rules.
Switching to Lansdowne Road has been mooted and may now be the most likely option, although Kenny last night said he would prefer to play at home.
That, though, depended on today's draw and after being paired with the French side there may be little or no alternative but to play in Dublin where the club would hope to attract many neutrals to the venue.
Derry City chief executive Jim Roddy has ruled Windsor Park out as a possible venue and indicated the game will be staged in Dublin if it is indeed moved.
"It's a big decision to take the game away from our city," Roddy says. "It's not really what we want to do, so over the next 24 hours we'll decide what will happen.
"We don't want to get into any political issues. We just want to play football. But that doesn't concern us as much as stripping the city of something that's going to belong to it for ever more.
". . .we represent a city that is very proud of itself, and we've a moral obligation to the people of the city to sell it. So if we were to move from Derry to Dublin, it would be something we would do with a very large heart."
PSG may not be quite the European power of old but still they boast a fine tradition on the continent.
They finished ninth in the league last season but won the French Cup and boast Portuguese striker Pauleta and French international midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo among their ranks.
PSG are also past winners of the now defunct Uefa Cup Winners' Cup (1995-96) as well as the InterToto Cup in 2001.
In the qualifying rounds, Derry beat Gothenburg home and away to progress on a 2-0 aggregate scoreline.
They then beat Scottish side Gretna 5-1 away from home before securing their place in today's draw with a 2-2 result at the Brandywell last night.
Norwegian side IK Start, who beat Drogheda United in a dramatic penalty shoot out at Dalymount Park last night, are paired with Dutch masters Ajax.
Newcastle's reward for beating Latvian side Ventspils is another trip to the Baltic region to take on Levadia Tallinn of Estonia who beat Bohemians in the same competition two seasons ago.
West Ham face a trip to Sicily for a tie with Palermo. Steven Reid's Blackburn begin their European campaign against Salzburg, while Tottenham take on Slavia Prague.
Rangers' first European game under Paul Le Guen will be against Norwegian team Molde while Hearts' consolation for missing out on the Champions League is a meeting with Czech side Sparta Prague.
Holders Sevilla of Spain will start the defence of their crown against Greek side Atromitos.
Uefa Cup, first round draw
Chernomorets (Ukraine) v Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)
SC Braga (Portugal) v Chievo Verona (Italy)
Levadia Tallinn (Estonia) v Newcastle United (England)
Molde (Norway) v Rangers (Scotland)
Standard Liege (Belgium) v Celta Vigo (Spain)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel) v Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)
Derry City (Ireland) v Paris St Germain (France)
Hertha Berlin (Germany) v Odense (Denmark)
Legia Warsaw (Poland) v Austria Vienna (Austria)
Panathinaikos (Greece) v Metalurg Zaporizhya (Ukraine)
Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia) v Waregem (Belgium)
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) v Hearts (Scotland)
Fenerbahce (Turkey) v Randers (Denmark)
Salzburg (Austria) v Blackburn Rovers (England)
Schalke 04 (Germany) v Nancy (France)
Ethnikos Achnas (Cyprus) v Lens (France)
Slovan Liberec (Cz Republic) v Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) v Kayserispor (Turkey)
Rubin Kazan (Russia) v Parma (Italy)
Brondby (Denmark) v Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
Atromitos (Greece) v Sevilla (Spain)
Besiktas (Turkey) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Vitoria Setubal (Portugal) v SC Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Olympique Marseille (France) v Mlada Boleslav (Cz Republic)
Atvidabergs (Sweden) v Grasshoppers (Switzerland)
Rapid Bucharest (Romania) v Nacional (Portugal)
Trabzonspor (Turkey) v Osasuna (Spain)
Basel (Switzerland) v Rabotnicki (Macedonia)
West Ham United (England) v Palermo (Italy)
Feyenoord (Netherlands) v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria)
Ruzomberok (Slovakia) v Club Bruges (Belgium)
Sion (Switzerland) v Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) v Groningen (Netherlands)
Xanthi (Greece) v Dinamo Bucharest (Romania)
Slavia Prague (Cz Republic) v Tottenham Hotspur (England)
IK Start (Norway) v Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia) v Espanyol (Spain)
Wisla Krakow (Poland) v Iraklis (Greece)
Livorno (Italy) v Pasching (Austria)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) v AJ Auxerre (France)
