The weird and wonderful early qualifying rounds of European competitions are a thing to behold.
Starting in the height of summer, usually before the end of the previous season’s major tournaments, teams that you’ve never heard of, often with unpronounceable names lock horns in the hope of making it to the various competitions’ group stages.
And they often throw up brilliant stories, perhaps of fallen giants reduced to minnow status, or former Premier League players you’d forgotten existed now trying their luck in all four corners of the continent.
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This year is no exception, as we take you to Gibraltar, via the north east of England for one of the stories of the 2024/25 season so far.
This one starts back in 2013, when die-hard Newcastle United supporter Mick Embleton and a group of friends who drank in the Gibraltar watering hole Bruno’s Bar & Restaurant decided to create a pub team. Bruno’s Magpies were born.
Embleton was duly appointed as the first manager and after a couple of mid-table finishes in the Gibraltar Second Division, they landed a sponsor ahead of the 2015/16 season and the team began to grow into a more serious venture.
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Eddie Howe’s side did not qualify for Europe this season (Image credit: Getty Images)
Further progress followed and after finishing third in the Gibraltar Football League last season, they secured a place in the UEFA Conference League first qualifying round, where they were drawn against Irish side Derry City.
Starting as heavy underdogs, Bruno’s Magpies claimed a stunning 2-0 first-leg win thanks to goals from Ash Taylor and Francisco Zuniga ahead of Thursday night’s second leg in Derry.
The hosts clawed back the deficit shortly before the hour mark and the match would go into extra time, with Magpies’ substitute Evan de Haro scoring a 111th-minute winner to hand the former pub team a historic first-ever win in European competition.
And while the original Magpies back on Tyneside will have to watch European competition from home this season after their seventh-placed finish in the Premier League saw them fail to qualify for Europe, Bruno’s Magpies are now preparing for a trip to Denmark to take on FC Copenhagen, who finished third in the Danish league last season, for a place in the third and final qualifying round. And they may just have the support of the Geordie Nation behind them.
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