Two worlds will collide when Luxembourgish side Fola Esch travel to Scotland to face Aberdeen this week.
The Europa League tie pits the Luxembourg league runners-up against the Scottish Premiership runners-up.
That is where the similarities end.
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has a football administration department who look after all of the club’s travel and accommodation arrangements.
The Dons’ European opponents Fola Esch rely on vice-president Goergen Gilbert.
His squad are semi-professional, meaning players have to finish work before coming to training, while McInnes has his squad at his disposal all day every day if he wishes.
Despite the differences Gilbert believes his club can upset the Dons at Pittodrie in the first leg.
Gilbert said: “Aberdeen is an old traditional club and we are the oldest club in Luxembourg having been founded in 1906.
“We play in the same colours, but that is where our similarities end.
“Their organisation is much larger than mine as I have nobody who works for me.
“I organise everything at the club.
“We have two players who we are not sure if they can play and for us two players make a big difference.
“We have 24 players in our squad but four players are 17 and are from our youth team while we only have nine professional players in the squad. Professional in Luxembourg is not the same as professional in Scotland as our players are still part-time.
“Most of our players have jobs and one of our goalkeepers is a postman who will be delivering the mail before running to the airport to catch the flight to Aberdeen with the rest of the team.
“Every away European tie is a challenge for us as we have to arrange time off work for the players and even organising an airplane for this trip was difficult.
“We will have 61 people on our flight which includes the team, technical staff and supporters. It has been quite a challenge for me to organise.”
Veteran midfielder Ronny Souto will miss the game due to his dismissal against Croatia Zagreb last year, adding to the task facing a Fola Esch side which has yet to win a European tie.
Gilbert knows the odds are stacked against his side ending their wait against the Dons but they have threats in their side such as leading goalscorer Stefano Bensi, the Luxembourg international forward who scored 21 goals in 31 games for his club last season.
The Luxembourgers are part-time, but have shown glimpses of what they are capable of in recent years and Gilbert hopes consistent displays can make the games against Aberdeen ones to savour.
He said: “We were hoping for a better draw. This is our fifth European campaign in the last 10 years and we have always been drawn with the strongest possible opponent.
“We regard ourselves as being of a similar level to Aberdeen technically, but physically their players are stronger and their ability to press the ball is much better than ours.
“We held Zagreb to a 1-1 draw in Croatia last year and also had a very good result with a goalless draw against Gothenburg two years ago.
“We know when we have a good day we are capable of getting good results.”The challenge is to have two good days.
“A 1-1 draw on Thursday would be a great result for us but of course we have to play a second game too and our hopes of going through will depend so much on what happens in the first game at Pittodrie this week.”
The second leg next week will be held at Luxembourg’s national stadium, the 8,000 capacity Stade Josy Barthel, as Fola Esch’s home ground, Stade Emile Mayrisch, does not meet Uefa’s stadium criteria.
However, Esch are used to giving up home advantage to play in Europe and Gilbert said: “Luxembourg City is only 20km away from Esch so it is no problem for us to play there.
“There are only four Uefa-compliant pitches in the country and the national stadium at Luxembourg City is the closest one to us so we are used to playing there.”
Away from the football Gilbert is looking forward to dining out in the Granite City and it seems he is already making plans to visit one establishment during his brief stay this week.
He said: “I know Aberdeen has a church which has been turned into a good restaurant.
“Hopefully I will get the chance to visit.”
Ready for the return of key Dons men
Fola Esch director of football Pascal Welter expects Aberdeen’s experienced campaigners to return when he side faces the Dons at Pittodrie on Thursday.
Welter was an interested spectator at Glebe Park on Sunday as he watched the Dons canter to a 3-0 victory against Brechin City in Angus. Welter was surprised by the formation used by Derek McInnes against Brechin but expects his club will face a much changed Aberdeen team in the Europa League first qualifying round first leg at Pittodrie.
He said: “They usually play one in attack but they played three against Brechin which was a surprise, but that was perhaps due to the players who were not there.
“We expect Niall McGinn, Jonny Hayes, Kenny McLean and Ash Taylor to play if they are available on Thursday.”
Despite watching a Dons team shorn of several first team regulars Welter saw enough to give him confidence his club can compete against Aberdeen across the two legs.
He said: “Aberdeen played very central against Brechin. They are strong defensively and direct in attack and it is clear Jayden Stockley is very good in the air while Adam Rooney has scored a lot of goals for them in the last two seasons.
“We beat the Luxembourg champions, F91 Dudeleange, 6-2 but we are two weeks ahead of them in our preparations so I would not look too much into the result. We respect Aberdeen and their quality, but we believe we can cause them problems.”
