BALA Town will be hoping to keep their tie alive when they travel to take on Swedish opponents AIK Fotboll in the away leg of their Europa League showdown this Thursday.

The Lakesiders were beaten 3-0 in their warm-up match against Northern Ireland champions Crusaders on Airbus UK Broughton's 3G pitch on Saturday, and Colin Caton's men will travel to Stockholm expecting a huge test in the opening leg.

Swedish League champions in 2009, AIK are third in the all-time Allsvenskan Swedish table, and the club holds the record for being the Swedish club with most seasons in the top flight.

AIK reached the quarter-finals of the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and qualified for the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League group stage. In 2012–13 the Swedish club reached the UEFA Europa League group stage, and held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw.

AIK play at the 50,000 seater Friends Arena, in the municipality of Stockholm, which has been selected to host the Europa League Final next season, and is also home to the Swedish national team.

The stadium’s capacity is over 25 times the population of Bala - but the match is will be played at the club’s smaller Tele2 Arena - whilst Bala will play their home leg at the Corbett Sports Stadium in Rhyl.

The Swedish leg has been confirmed to take place on Thursday, 30 June, with the home leg set to be played at Rhyl on Thursday, 7 July, with a 6.30pm kick-off.

For home and neutral supporters, tickets will be available to buy at the Rhyl Club Shop on the day only.

The winners of the tie will go on to meet FC Pyunik (Armenia) or Europa FC (Gibraltar) in the second qualifying round.

It will be the latest chapter in a remarkable story for Bala Town, who were only promoted into the second tier of Welsh football, the Cymru Alliance, in 2004.

Four seasons later the Lakesiders sealed promotion to the Welsh Premier, and qualified to for Europe for the first time in their history in 2013 as play-off winners.

The Lakesiders were drawn against Estonian outfit Levadia Tallinn of Estonia, and after winning the home leg 1-0, they bowed out of the competition when going down 3-1 in the reverse fixture in Tallinn.

Then, in 2015, the Lakesiders finished as runners-up to The New Saints in the Welsh Premier League, thus qualifying again for the Europa League competition.

They only narrowly missed out on playing Turkish giants Trabzonspor in the second qualifying round, when losing on 4-3 on aggregate to Luxembourg side FC Differdange 03, after losing the away leg 3-1.

Bala were winning the home leg 2-0, and looked set to progress by virtue of their away goal, until they crucially conceded an injury time goal that sent them out.

This year’s draw, however, promises to be the toughest test yet for Bala, against a side that is currently 12 matches into its season, with six wins, four draws and two defeats placing them fourth in the league, and within five points of leaders Malmo.

AIK had an average home attendance of over 21,000 during last season, which was the highest in Sweden, and is regarded as one of the biggest clubs in the country.

Meanwhile Welsh Premier side Llandudno also have a huge tie, with Alan Morgan’s men paired with IFK Gothenburg - who won the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987.

More recently the Swedes, who also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League twice, have not enjoyed as much domestic success, but are still considered to be one of the “Big Three” in Swedish football, along with Malmo and AIK.

Welsh Premier side Gap Connah’s Quay have also drawn Scandanavian opposition, against Staebaek of Norway, now managed by Scotsman Billy McKinlay.

Welsh Premier League champions The New Saints will meanwhile face minnows Tre Penne of San Marino in the first qualifying round of the Champions League.

Should the Saints succeed in their first round clash, they will then face a meeting with Cypriot champions Apeol.