St Pat’s face trip to Romania

St Patrick’s Athletic have been drawn against Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League play-offs.

St Pat’s emerged from their qualifier against Russian top-flight side Krylya Sovetov on the away goals rule after a 3-3 aggregate draw.

Steaua Bucharest, European Cup winners in 1986, may not be the force of old but still drubbed Scottish side Motherwell 6-1 over two legs in the last round. The Romanian side also managed to reach the semi-finals of this competition as recently as 2006.

The Inchicore side have the advantage of playing the second leg of the tie at Richmond Park.

Everton will take on Czech side Sigma Olomouc. The Toffees, who reached the FA Cup final last season and finished fifth in the Barclays Premier League, will be at home in the first leg against the side who knocked out Aberdeen in the third qualifying round of the competition.

Hearts will face Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, who were eliminated from the Champions League after a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Red Bull Salzburg in the third qualifying round.

Aston Villa, who qualified for the Europa League by finishing sixth in the Premier League, were drawn against Rapid Vienna.

The Austrian side finished second in their domestic league, four points behind Red Bull Salzburg, and were denied a European trophy by an English side in 1985 when Everton beat them in the Cup Winners' Cup final.

The play-off round ties will be played on 20 and 27 August.

UEFA Europa League Play-Off fixtures:

PAOK v Heerenveen
Dinamo Zagreb v Hearts
Werder Bremen v FK Aktobe
Everton v Sigma Olomouc
BATE v Litex Lovech
NAC v Villarreal
Lech Poznan v Club Brugge
Fulham v Amkar Perm
Galatasaray v Levadia Tallin
Teplice v Hapoel Tel Aviv
Metalurg Donetsk v Austria Vienna
FC Twente v FK Qarabag
Roma v MFK Kosice
Dinamo Moscow v CSKA Sofia
Genk v Lille
PSV v Bnei Yehuda
Lazio v Elfsborg
Trabzonspor v Toulouse
Partizan Belgrade v MSK Zilina
FK Baku v Basel
Ajax v Slovan Bratislava
Shakhtar Donetsk v Sivasspor
Brondby v Hertha Berlin
Athletic Bilbao v Tromso
FK Sarajevo v CFR Cluj
Rapid Vienna v Aston Villa
Steaua Bucharest v St Patrick's
Sparta Prague v Maribor
Zenit St Petersburg v Nacional
Genoa v Odense
Dinamo Bucharest v Slovan Liberec
Guingamp v Hamburg
FC Sion v Fenerbahce
Sturm Graz v Metalist Kharkiv
Slavia Prague v Crvena Zvezda
Benfica v Vorskla
SC Vaslui v AEK Athens
Stabaek v Valencia