Northern Ireland's European representatives moved a step closer to discovering their opponents in the Champions League and Europa Conference League following today's pre-draw announcements by UEFA.

The governing body will make the draws late on Tuesday morning but have grouped all competing clubs into a series of pots from which their potential opponents will be selected.

In the Champions League Linfield have been unseeded which means they will face one of the following seeded clubs:-
Malmö FF (Sweden), Bodo Glimt (Norway), HJK Helsinki (Finland), The New Saints (Wales) and Lithuanian side Žalgiris Vilnius.

Meanwhile, last seasons runners-up Cliftonville, Irish Cup holders Crusaders and play-off winners Larne will compete in the Conference League.

Crusaders have been seeded, and will therefore face one of FCB Magpies (Gibraltar), Derry City (Republic of Ireland), SJK Seinajoki (Finland), Newtown (Wales) and KR Reykjavik (Iceland).

Cliftonville and Larne are amongst the unseeded sides. The Reds will be paired with one of Bala Town (Wales), Breidablik (Iceland), Europa (Gibraltar), DAC (Slovakia) and Fola Esch (Luxembourg).

And Larne, who impressed on their continental debut last season, will come up against either Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), Buducnost Podgorica (Montenegro), B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands), Gzira United (Malta) and St. Joseph's of Gibraltar.

The first leg across all competitions will take place in early July with the return games typically a week later although fans are strongly advised to await confirmation from their own club before booking travel.