Irish league champions Dundalk are in Belarus tonight as they begin their Champions League journey against BATE Borisov.

It's a tough challenge given their opponent's pedigree, but we'd like to shed a little of light on Belarusian football, which remains relatively unknown to most of us. 

A young football nation

Belarus came into being as a country in the wake of the break-up of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the '90s.

Thus the national team did not play their first official match until 1992, which was a friendly against Ukraine. 

However, since then they have yet to make a major impact at international level, failing to qualify for a major tournament.

Clubs scene

Like the national team, the Belarusian Premier League also began in 1992 and in terms of eras, we can split it into three phases.

Dinamo Minsk, from the capital, were the only club from Belarus in the Soviet Top League at the time that Iron Curtain came down and they dominated the new league in its early years, winning six of the first seven titles.

Then between 1998 and 2005, there were seven different champions. But as discussed previously, that level of flux is no longer the case as Dundalk's opponents BATE took a stranglehold on the domestic scene.

The current champions of Belarus have won the last nine league titles on the trot and have also qualified for the Champions League group stages.

Successful moments

Dinamo Minsk were the first and only club from the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (its former name under Communist rule) to win the Soviet Top League, doing so in 1982.

However, the night that BATE Borisov defeated Bayern Munich 3-1 in a Champions League group stage tie in October 2012 also stands out. All the more impressive given that the same Bayern team went on to complete a treble at the end of that season under Juup Heynckes.

BATE Borysow 3-1 Bayern Monachium highlights... by f100000462793569

That stadium eh?

BATE's stadium might hold just under 13,000 supporters but it certainly looks impressive... 

A general view of the Borisov-Arena stadium in Borisov, Belarus, prior to international friendly soccer match between Belarus and Mexico, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Most well-known player

That would be a midfielder familiar to watchers of Arsenal and Barcelona. Alexander Hleb is still a member of the Belarus national team, but it's been a while since he has played at the highest level when it comes to club football.

The 34-year-old made 150 appearances scoring 12 times in all competitions for Arsenal between 2005 and 2008, before making the switch to Barcelona.

Currently in Turkey with GençlerbirliÄŸi, he has also played in Russia and his native Belarus since cutting ties with Barca in 2012.

Here's a reminder of his talents at Arsenal: