RANGERS are still in the dark as to when their Europa League first round clash with St Joseph’s will be played next week.

The Gibraltarians set up a meeting with Steven Gerrard’s side by beating Prishtina on Tuesday as a 2-0 victory earned them a 3-1 aggregate win in the preliminary round.

Talks between Rangers and St Joseph’s regarding the trip to Gibraltar took place on Wednesday but UEFA have still to confirm when the first leg of the tie will be played.

The matter is complicated by the fact that Europa FC are also in prelim action and play the second match of their tie against Sant Julia of Andorra on Thursday night.

If Europa overcome a 3-2 deficit and progress to the qualifying stages, they would then be scheduled to play their first match against Legia Warsaw on Thursday, July 11 at the Victoria Stadium.

That could mean that Rangers’ meeting with St Joseph’s is brought forward 48 hours and takes place on Tuesday, July 9 and it had been claimed on Wednesday that the game had been confirmed for that date.

That is not the case, however, and Rangers are still pushing UEFA to confirm a date and kick-off time for their first competitive match of the new campaign.

In the event that Europa do progress this week, UEFA could ask Legia to switch the ties and play the first leg in Poland, therefore allowing Rangers to play at the Victoria Stadium on Thursday evening.

Gibraltar will host the Small Island Games next week and concerns have been raised from police authorities over their ability to manage that event and the two UEFA qualifiers in such a short timescale.

The uncertainty has left the Light Blues unable to put any travel plans in place and Supporters Liaison Officer Greg Marshall has urged supporters not to make their own arrangements at present.

He said: “To update, UEFA still aren’t in a position to confirm the date of next weeks first round qualifier. We were hopeful that an agreement would be reached that would allow us to confirm the fixture but it has not been possible.

“The date will be subject to the result of Europa vs Sant Julia fixture tomorrow evening. If Europa qualify our match will be on Tuesday 9th and if Sant Julia progress it will be on Thursday 11th. We apologise for the inconvenience caused.”