Inside the Champions League 2023 preliminaries in Iceland

KOPAVOGUR, Iceland — Antonio Barretta had just realised a childhood dream. The delivery driver from San Marino, playing for the country’s league champion, Tre Penne, had scored in the Champions League under leaden skies, in an Icelandic downpour, in front of 621 supporters. But his moment was missing something.

“It’s a little bit disappointing because there was no Champions League music before the game, you know? ‘The Champions!'” Barretta told ESPN, mimicking the Champions League anthem. “I think UEFA can improve that for us, but for sure, it was a great sensation to score in the Champions League.”

Tre Penne lost 7-1 to Breidablik, the champions of Iceland, in their preliminary round tie at Kopavogsvollur, the home team’s neat-but-tiny 1,709-seat stadium in a town of 38,000 just five miles outside Reykjavik. Six hours earlier at the same venue, FK Buducnost Podgorica of Montenegro defeated Andorra’s Atletic Club d’Escaldes 3-0 in the first Champions League fixture of the 2023-24 season. Their reward? A decider against Breidablik three days later for the prize of facing the Republic of Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers in the first qualifying round later this month.

The glamour and riches of the Champions League group stages are far away — that’s when the music starts. After the preliminary round — two 90-minute semifinals and a final — there are four more qualification rounds before the possibility of facing Real Madrid, Barcelona or Premier League giants. For the teams doing battle in Iceland, such a distant prospect must feel like standing on the surface of Pluto waiting to catch a glimpse of the sun.

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