Athletic’s possible Copa opponents narrowed to four

The list of possible Copa opponents for Athletic has been narrowed to four teams. The club will enter the draw for the first round on Monday at 1 p.m., after the Federation published the team groupings yesterday.

The matchups will be arranged according to geographical proximity. Where possible, clubs from lower divisions will be paired with teams from higher divisions.

Sestao River is among the possibilities. It secured its place by beating Terrasa heavily and qualifying for the Copa Federación semi-finals. Sestao River is guaranteed to face a top-division team; if that is not Athletic, it will be Osasuna, Alavés or Espanyol.

The other three possible opponents for Athletic will be decided after the second legs of the preliminary rounds, which are being played this weekend. The draw will therefore reveal which teams make up the first-round field under the announced proximity and division criteria.