EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW: Derry City handed tough trip to Denmark in Europa League qualifier

Derry City has been paired with Danish club, FC Midtjylland in the Europa League first round qualifier.

The draw took place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon this afternoon pairing the Candy Stripes with the 2015 Danish Superliga champions who boost the services of Dutch World Cup finalists and ex-Spurs and Real Madrid star, Rafael van der Vaart.

Derry will travel to the MCH Arena in Herning for the first leg on June 29th next with the return leg at Sligo Showgrounds on July 6th.

The Danish club famously recorded a 2-1 victory over Manchester United in the Europa League qualifying stages during the 2015/16 season after losing 5-1 to the Red Devils in the first leg.

They also knocked Southampton out of the Europa League in 2015 with a 2-1 aggregate victory in 2015.

It's certainly not the draw Derry boss, Kenny Shiels will have hoped for as FC Midtjylland is considered the toughest of the seven possible opponents Derry could have faced.

The Candy Stripes, who were unseeded in group seven, could have faced Norwegian side Haugesund, Latvian team Ventspils, Liechtenstein side FC Vaduz, who play in the Swiss League, or Slovenian League side NK Domžale.