All-Ireland-winning coach Jim McGuinness may await Shamrock Rovers in pre-season Atlantic Cup

Shamrock Rover could come up against a familiar face from home when they take part in the Atlantic cup pre-season tournament in Portugal next month.

Donegal's All-Ireland-winning gaelic football manager Jim McGuiness is now assistant manager with Chinese Super League side Beijing Sinobo Guoan, who are potential opponents for the Hoops.

Rovers and Beijing are two of six teams so far confirmed for the annual tournament, which takes place in Algarve between January 29^th and February 6^th.

Also confirmed are Swedish pair Hammarby IF and IF Norkopping, as well as Danish side AGF Aarhus, while Czech club FK Jablonec return for a fourth straight year.

Two more teams are set to be announced before the final draw is made to determine which sides face whom in the groups, before all eight sides move to ranked finals.

The competition was designed by ex-Sweden and Arsenal player Stefan Schwarz for clubs from leagues that don't operate during the winter, such as the Scandinavian countries, Ukraine and Russia.

The 2017 edition saw Champions League knock-out regulars Shakhtar Donetsk send a team, while Dundalk's Europa League opponents Zenit St Petersburg competed in 2016.

The 2015 edition saw Mlada Boleslav and FC Midtjylland, opponents of Rovers and Derry City respectively in last year's Europa League, take part.

This won't be the first time in recent vintage that Rovers have gone overseas for a pre-season tournament - two years ago Pat Fenlon's Hoops travelled to Kerala in India for the Sait Nagjee tournament.