A LEAGUE ONE stadium is set to host European football for the first time.
The decision was agreed by Uefa despite the 9,875-capacity ground never hosting football at higher than third tier level in England.
In fact, the club that own the ground have never been in the top flight before.
However, Welsh side The New Saints were forced to make contingency plans following their shock run to qualify for the Conference League.
Despite being from Wales, TNS already play their home games in England – however their 3,000-capacity Park Hall ground in Oswestry, Shropshire, was deemed too small to host European group games by Uefa.
As a Welsh club, TNS’ preference was to host games in Wales – and their first port of call was Hollywood-owned Wrexham.
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In 2005, when the team was still called Total Network Solutions, Wrexham hosted their Champions League qualifier with Liverpool.
However, the Racecourse Ground was not available to host the games on this occasion.
Chairman Mike Harris said back in August: “Places like Cardiff are three hours away from where we are, so our fans and stakeholders can’t really get there.
“It’s got to be somewhere more local.
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“It’s [Shrewsbury’s Croud Meadow] a ground that fits Uefa criteria and it’s 20 minutes down the road from us, so it’s an option.
“Wrexham and Shrewsbury would be most ideal for us, but I’m not sure the Racecourse is available.
“So it’s our priority to get the games in a stadium that can cater for the games, but also giving the people around us a chance to go and watch.”
TNS take on Astana on Thursday evening at 8pm in their first ever European group stage home game.
Tickets are now on sale from £16 for adults.
In their opening game, they put up a brave fight away at last season’s finalists Fiorentina, who feature former Man Utd goalkeeper David de Gea in their side.
The Welsh champions held the Italians for over an hour before succumbing to a 2-0 defeat after goals from Yacine Adli and Moise Kean.
Their other four group games will be against Djurgarden and Panathinaikos at home and Shamrock Rovers and Celje away.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
