FOOTBALL: Caersws ready to do battle in Bulgaria.

Byline: Mel ap Iorwerth

FOLLOWING the completion of the Bulgarian season, Caersws FC now know who their opponents will be in the first round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup later this month.

FK Marek Dupnica are the side named by the Bulgarian Football Federation, but it is unclear if they will switch the match to Sofia.

The Bulgarian League splits into a Championship and Relegation play-off system after the regular season is completed. FK Marek finished 11th out of 14 in the regular season, and won the relegation section after being promoted at the end of last season.

The town of Dupnica was known until 1992 as Stanke Dimitrov but the club goes back much further, to 1919 in fact, and was born with the name DFS Spartak Stanke Dimitrov. The current name came about in 1992 when the town's name was changed after the break-up of the Eastern Bloc.

The town itself is 91km south of the Bulgarian capital Sofia and FK Marek play in the 20,000 capacity Bontzuk Stadium in red shirts and white shorts.

Previous European experience is limited. They first appeared in the 1977-78 UEFA Cup when, after a 3-2 aggregate win over Ferencvaros Budapest, they were defeated 2-3 on aggregate by FC Bayern Munich. This was followed by anouting in the old Cup Winners' Cup in 1978-79, but they lost 3-5 on aggregate to Scotland's Aberdeen.

They have made two appearances in the old style Intertoto Cup. In 1980 they finished second to IFK Goteborg in a group also containing B1903 Kobenhavn and FK Austria Salzburg. The following season they finished bottom of their group after playing Stuttgarter Kickers, IF Viking Stavanger and Willem II Tilburg.

What chances of Caersws being the first Welsh side to win a match in the Intertoto competition? Should they win the tie, the mid-Wales Bluebirds will play the winners of the match between Czech side FC Stavo Artikel Brno and MS Ashdod of Israel.

Caersws will be taking 60 fans on the away first leg on June 22 with the second leg at Aberystwyth's Park Avenue on Saturday June 29.

l A squad of Aberystwyth Town players returned to Wales after winning a once prestigous European tournament by unexpectedly beating the hosts Tonegido in the final. The squad was a mixture of reserve and Youth team players and this is the first time a Welsh team has won the tournament, which in the past has been graced by squads from the likes of Aston Villa, Wolves, Newtown, Presteigne and Penrhyncoch!

Just three teams made the starting line-up with Town joined by VUC from Holland and the hosts Tonegido.

The matches were 20 minutes each way. Aberystwyth beat Tonegido 1-0 with Iestyn Thomas on target and then lost by the same margin to VUC Den Haag. VUC needed a draw to put the Dutch hosts out but Tonegido ran out winners 3-0. This set up a final between Tonegido and Aber, with Liam Hinton-Jones scoring the winner.