WHILE football clubs from across Europe are enjoying, or maybe enduring, pre-season friendlies across the globe, for some teams in the region the season proper has already begun.

Every year, clubs from Uefa’s 55 nations vie for a place in the region’s continental competitions, and for some, the season can begin just a few weeks after the previous one ended.

Vikingur Reykjavik, who defeated perennial Welsh hopefuls The New Saints in the Europa Conference League qualifiers on Thursday, began their 2022/23 campaign all the way back on June 21 in the Champions League qualifiers.

The Icelandic side made it through the preliminary playoffs in that competition only to draw Swedish champions Malmo in the first qualifying round, losing an entertaining two-legged tie 6-5 on aggregate.

This saw Vikingur Reykjavik (not to be confused with Vikingur Gota of the Faroe Islands or Norwegian side Viking who are also present in these qualifiers) drop into the Conference League where they drew the Welsh club and will be hoping to finish the job in the second leg in Oswestry next week.

The Conference League is now Uefa’s other big qualifying tournament along with the Champions League, and the prize money of a few hundred thousand pounds or more on offer in the early rounds can make a huge difference to these clubs.

Qualification for the Europa League, the middle tier of Uefa’s three tournaments, is much shorter and begins in August, by which time some of the teams who have been knocked out of the Champions League will drop in.

One team to whom that could apply, and one of the more notable stories in this season’s qualifiers, are Northern Irish side, Linfield.

Last season’s NIFL Premiership champions defeated The New Saints in the first qualifying round of the Champions League to set up a tie with one of last season’s European success stories, Bodo/Glimt.

The Norwegians won all of their home games in the Conference League last season, including two wins (one with a 6-1 scoreline) against Jose Mourinho’s Roma, and a 5-1 aggregate victory against Celtic in the first knockout round. They eventually exited at the quarter-finals stage, losing 4-0 to Roma in the second leg in Italy, but they raised their profile massively in that tournament.

Despite Bodo/Glimt’s experience, Linfield were able to win the first leg of this second qualifying round tie 1-0 at their Windsor Park home in Belfast. They did so thanks to a well-taken goal from Kirk Millar, which wouldn’t have looked out of place in the latter stages of this competition.

If Linfield hold on to the win and progress to the next qualifying round, they will be guaranteed at least a place in the Europa Conference League group stage, but not before they get a chance to qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League.

If Bodo/Glimt come back and win the tie, Linfield will at least get the chance to win a playoff to enter the Conference League group stage after getting a chance in the Europa League qualifiers.

Put simply, Linfield’s win against The New Saints, plus the existence of the new Conference League tournament which began last season, means they have put themselves in with a great chance of being the first Northern Irish club to reach the group stages of a Uefa competition.

Linfield are managed by former Manchester United youth player, Northern Ireland international, and Preston and Leeds forward David Healy. Since becoming their manager in 2015, Healy has guided his boyhood club to five NIFL Premiership titles and two Irish Cups.

Under his management, Linfield almost made the Europa League group stages in 2019 but lost a playoff on away goals against Azerbaijani side Qarabag.

Win or lose against Bodo/Glimt, Linfield’s route across Uefa’s three competitions is already mapped out, but Healy is trying to ensure they don’t get ahead of themselves.

“Obviously we’re aware of who are potential opponents might be in both competitions, but no matter who you get, they will be tough opponents,” he said prior to the first leg.

“The majority of the time, you will be up against the domestic champion from another country and nearly every domestic champion is now aiming for a place in the group stage of a European competition.

“The most important game for us was the TNS match, because we knew victory there gave us a realistic shot at making the group stage of one of the three tournaments.

“But that’s not to say we won’t be going out hell for leather to beat Bodo/Glimt. We want to give ourselves a fighting chance when we travel to Norway next week.

“Our home record is good in Europe, so we have every reason to be optimistic.”

The 1-0 win shows they were right to be optimistic, and though winning or even drawing in Norway won’t be easy against the side that had a perfect home record in Europe last season, the important thing is they’ve given themselves the fighting chance Healy was hoping for.

Linfield’s story is one of many across Europe that could begin and end before most clubs taking part in the tournament proper return from their commercial pre-season tours. But the Northern Irish side will be hoping their story continues and they can join the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United in the group stage of a Uefa competition, whichever one of the three tournaments it might be.