Celtic’s trip to Bosnia will be their first competitive one ever

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When Celtic take to Bosnia for the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against Sarajevo, it’ll be yet another first for them.

That’s because the Hoops have actually never faced a single side from Bosnia in Europe. Their meeting against Sarajevo is a club first for both, as it’s the first competitive meeting between the two sides. But Celtic’s association with Bosnia will also be fresh as they travel there for the first time in European competition.

Celtic have faced sides from 42 different nations in European competition. Now, they can add another onto that when they take the trip to face Sarajevo.

In that list sits countries such as Gibraltar, Malta, and Kazakhstan respectively. The Hoops have fair traveled over the years.

Should Celtic qualify from that round, they will face either Estonia’s Nomme Kalju or Macedonia’s Shkendija. Incredibly, Celtic have also never played competitively against sides from either of those countries.

That tells you something about the opposition

If you’re one to read into that sort of thing, it also tells you a little about the competition too. Neither of the three sides have done anything of note in Europe. Neither have the nations as a whole.

We can all talk about avoiding complacency. That’s all very well and good, but Celtic have been given a golden chance to get to the third qualifying round of the Champions League with this draw.

The Celtic management team and playing staff will likely be thinking the same, even if they can’t come out and say it. Two new countries with little footballing pedigree shows we should overcome the challenges ahead of us.

Shkendija have won just two Champions League ties in their history, after being founded back in 1979. As for Nomme Kilju, however, they’ve only won one in their history back in 2013 against HJK Helsinki. Neither have the pedigree that will make Celtic fans quake.

So we can’t argue with the trips we’ve been given for the upcoming qualifiers. All signs point to a successful first two rounds of qualification, so long as the Hoops don’t underestimate the opposition.