⚽ UEFA Conference League 2026-2027 🥉

[Daniel91]

Midtjylland beat Dinamo in the Europa League last season and played very well in that competition and realistically Rijeka will not be the favorite in this match.
On the other hand, Hajduk beat Zalgiris 4:0 and with an aggregate score of 9:2 they advanced to the final round of the qualifiers.
I've been following Hajduk for years and I don't remember when they were so good and convincing in the European qualifiers.
Their next opponent will be Polish Rakow, a team with the same market value as Hajduk so you could say they were lucky with the draw.
It seems to me that this is Hajduk's best chance in the last 10 years to finally qualify for the group stage of a European club competition.

It wasn't an exciting match, Rijeka suffered and they only drew due to luck and not talent.
For the next match in Rijeka i see it as really tough, it will actually be a tough opponent to face, i don't see a victory or a draw for them.
In football, luck certainly counts, but matches cannot be won with luck alone.

Yes, I agree, it was a bad and somewhat boring game, but I wouldn't say that Rijeka advanced to the next round of qualifiers just because of luck.
In the first match, Rijeka was a much better team and missed a lot of big opportunities for a convincing victory with a 2-3 goal difference.
In the return match, Rijeka dominated most of the match and kept possession of the ball, but the truth is that towards the end of the match they gave in and had to defend and Ilves missed the opportunity to score and win at least extra time and a chance for the overall victory.
Rijeka's opponent in the final round of qualifiers will be the Danish representative Midtjylland, whose market value is 2 times higher than Rijeka.
It will be a real test for this Rijeka team, whether they have the quality to repeat last year's success, qualifying for the group stage of the conference league.

[Frankolala]

The Qarabag pitch is an extremely difficult pitch. One for the support, two because it is a particularly difficult pitch where last year, even in the Champions League, many high-profile teams really struggled. Chelsea even managed to lose. So i wouldn't give up on Qarabag.

It doesn't mean that Qarabag cannot lose at home because of their field. I know that most teams do take their home matches very serious but it also boils down to their opponents. Chelsea was in a bad condition last season and I'm not surprised that they found it difficult to win Qarabag at home. Qarabag might lose their next match at home.

[pawel7777]

We had 20 games played today in the 1st leg of the play-off round and 11 of them ended with a draw. Therefore, the 2nd leg should be quite interesting as a lot will be decided then.
The biggest disappointment, in my opinion, is Atalanta's goalless draw against Hapoel Tel Aviv at home. I haven't watched the game so don't know what happened there, but it looks like either Atalanta didn't take this tournament seriously, or maybe they underestimated Hapoel and showed up unprepared. Or maybe they rested some of the key players ahead of their first Serie A game of the season this Sunday, when they will face Sassuolo at home.

[kizilhare]

There were two matches in the Conference League that I was following. In the first, the Azerbaijani side Qarabag—which had already drawn attention in the Champions League last year—defeated Twente 1–0 away in the Conference League play-offs. I had expected Twente to secure an advantageous result, but Qarabag won instead, gaining the upper hand for the tie.

The other match was between Motherwell and Freiburg. Freiburg, a Conference League finalist last season, secured an advantage by winning 3–1, putting them in a strong position to reach the league stage this year.

I believe Freiburg is the team that will go all the way to the final this year, though Qarabag could also advance at least as far as the quarter-finals.

[Futurexxx]

The Qarabag pitch is an extremely difficult pitch. One for the support, two because it is a particularly difficult pitch where last year, even in the Champions League, many high-profile teams really struggled. Chelsea even managed to lose. So i wouldn't give up on Qarabag.

In football shit also do happens, so because Chelsea lost there last season doesn't make Qarabag invincible on their own turf. If the put in a below pair performance against twente on their home turf they might be beaten and eliminated, so they should not start being complacent because they will be playing at home or start underrating their opponent, because if they do, even though they have a fine record there, it would not save them because record break in a single day, so until then, I would not just say that they have advanced to the next round yet, because it's still an open game.

[LTU_btc]

They started to invest the money from Europe smartlly and it gave them back, for a club from Andorra they are expensive, around 5 mil in transfer value. Not much it may seem but remember it a small country with pretty small league and funding.

Yeah, now they have lot of Spanish players who have experience in lower Spanish divisions and even La Liga or some ok level foreign clubs. And what we have now - they ended away game with Drita 2:2 and have great chance to reach group stage with positive result at home.
From whole Europe now only Andorra, San Marino and Montenegro never had clubs playing in group stage of UEFA tournament, so, Escalades can make history.

The Qarabag pitch is an extremely difficult pitch. One for the support, two because it is a particularly difficult pitch where last year, even in the Champions League, many high-profile teams really struggled. Chelsea even managed to lose. So i wouldn't give up on Qarabag.

From what I remember from previous season, Qarabag is playing in potato field - their pitch is in very poor condition and it probably one of main factors why it's so difficult for away team to win there.
From other results, Atalanta disappointed me by failing to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv at home. All other results is more or less ok.

[nikola22]

From what I remember from previous season, Qarabag is playing in potato field - their pitch is in very poor condition and it probably one of main factors why it's so difficult for away team to win there.
From other results, Atalanta disappointed me by failing to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv at home. All other results is more or less ok.

the catch of the Conference League is that teams from the top leagues may not be particularly eager to play in it. many of these teams face a tough fight in their leagues, some even for survival, so wasting energy in another tournament could be costly. in Atalanta's case, this could be precisely the situation where Serie A is the priority and the Conference League can be sacrificed.

[Daniel91]

The case of the Scottish club Hearts is surely the most unusual in a long time in European club competitions.
They started their journey in European club competitions this season in the second round of Champions League qualification against Austrian champions Sturm and lost convincingly in both games, 2:0 at home in Scotland and 4:0 in Austria, a total of 6:0.
Hearts then continued their European journey in the third round of Europa League qualification against Portugal's Benfica.
They lost convincingly again, with a total score of 7:2 in 2 games.
In the end, in the final round of qualification for the Conference League, they played 2:2 in both games against Rapid from Vienna and in the end, after a penalty shootout, they won and qualified for the group stage of the Conference League, without a single victory in the European club qualifications, and after conceding as many as 17 goals and being eliminated from as many as 2 competitions.
What can a club like this expect in the group stage of the Conference League?

[Lucius]

~snip~
What can a club like this expect in the group stage of the Conference League?

It's hard to say, but this type of qualification allows even very bad teams to qualify for a competition - and I wouldn't be surprised if UEFA invents another competition for even worse clubs.

I wonder if Hajduk Split and Rijeka have a chance tonight? Hajduk drew with Rakow at home and it won't be easy for them tonight in Poland, while Rijeka lost in Denmark and only with some great play can they make up for minus 2 goals.

[Ahli38]

(Source)
Tonight Monaco will face Gornik Zabrze in the second leg of the Conference League qualifiers. The match is set to kick off very soon. And Monaco managed to take the lead on aggregate in the first leg last week while playing on the road. This upcoming match will be a great opportunity for Monaco to secure qualification since they’ll be playing at home at Stade Louis II. So I personally believe that Monaco will definitely dominate the match against Gornik Zabrze this time around. I predict that Monaco will win by at least a one-goal margin like the last week. But I will placing a bet on Monaco with a one-and-a-half-goal handicap against Gornik Zabrze for this match. What are your thoughts?

[paco92x]

~snip~
What can a club like this expect in the group stage of the Conference League?

It's hard to say, but this type of qualification allows even very bad teams to qualify for a competition - and I wouldn't be surprised if UEFA invents another competition for even worse clubs.

I wonder if Hajduk Split and Rijeka have a chance tonight? Hajduk drew with Rakow at home and it won't be easy for them tonight in Poland, while Rijeka lost in Denmark and only with some great play can they make up for minus 2 goals.

Congrats to Hearts! I didn’t think they had what it takes to qualify for the Conference League, and the red card surely made things even worse, but somehow they managed to find the strength to hold on until penalties and get through. Ultra lucky.

I had a feeling that Dinamo wouldn’t make it to the UCL, and the same feeling is following me for Rijeka and Hajduk. It would be the first time that Croatia has three clubs in Europe if they all manage to get through. And I don’t think anyone would have a problem with that, but I still think it will be very hard to happen.

[Daniel91]

~snip~
What can a club like this expect in the group stage of the Conference League?

It's hard to say, but this type of qualification allows even very bad teams to qualify for a competition - and I wouldn't be surprised if UEFA invents another competition for even worse clubs.

I wonder if Hajduk Split and Rijeka have a chance tonight? Hajduk drew with Rakow at home and it won't be easy for them tonight in Poland, while Rijeka lost in Denmark and only with some great play can they make up for minus 2 goals.

Congrats to Hearts! I didn’t think they had what it takes to qualify for the Conference League, and the red card surely made things even worse, but somehow they managed to find the strength to hold on until penalties and get through. Ultra lucky.

I had a feeling that Dinamo wouldn’t make it to the UCL, and the same feeling is following me for Rijeka and Hajduk. It would be the first time that Croatia has three clubs in Europe if they all manage to get through. And I don’t think anyone would have a problem with that, but I still think it will be very hard to happen.

It seems you were wrong, at least as far as Hajduk is concerned. Hajduk only qualified for the group stage of the conference league after a 15-year wait, after a 3-2 extra-time win against Rakow.
I actually had the feeling that Rakow and Hajduk were equal teams in terms of quality, after watching their first match, and that Hajduk was not without a chance to win and advance to the group stage of the competition.
In any case, Rakow was a much more favorable draw for Hajduk than opponents in previous years, such as Everton, Galatasaray, Villarreal or PAOK, who were too strong opponents for Hajduk.
Hajduk took advantage of their opportunity and achieved great success for the club and Croatian club football.
In the match between Rijeka and Midtjylland, it is 1-1 after half-time and it is obvious that Rijeka is in for a very difficult task.
However, this was expected because this Rijeka team is weaker than last season, when they played in the group stage of this competition, and Midtjylland is a stronger and more quality opponent than Rijeka.

[LTU_btc]

So, we will have first team from Andorra playing in group stage of UEFA tournament. Inter Escalades beats Drita on penalties. I looked at odds before the game, there was 1.70 fro them to qualify, offcourse I took it.
So, now only San Marino and Montenegro never had team playing in group stage.
Rangers is so bad that didn't even qualified to Conference league, they got kicked out by Jablonec on penalties. Another Scottish club Hibernian is down against Gent too, looks that their league ranking is going to drop significantly next year.

[RaltcoinsB]

So, we will have first team from Andorra playing in group stage of UEFA tournament. Inter Escalades beats Drita on penalties. I looked at odds before the game, there was 1.70 fro them to qualify, offcourse I took it.
So, now only San Marino and Montenegro never had team playing in group stage.
Rangers is so bad that didn't even qualified to Conference league, they got kicked out by Jablonec on penalties. Another Scottish club Hibernian is down against Gent too, looks that their league ranking is going to drop significantly next year.

It would be wrong to dismiss the Conference League as insignificant, because teams like Freiburg, Twente, Monaco, Panathinaikos, Copenhagen, Ajax, Atalanta, Brighton, Braga, and Getafe are already there. Plus, teams from European competitions will be added. Trabzonspor and Kairat are other teams that could potentially create surprises in the Conference League. In fact, the competition in the Conference League this year will be very high. I'm sure we'll see some enjoyable matches.

[Lannakosa]

This is probably one of the few rounds in the Conference League where I can find several games that I had almost no doubts about. I’m talking about the matches Ajax and Brighton,both teams are playing at home. The game was especially important for Brighton because they drew the away leg, so they needed to win at home. Ajax had already won the first leg away, but I had almost no doubt that they would win at home as well because they are clearly superior to their opponent.

[pawel7777]

After Celtic got embarrassed in the Champions League playoffs, Rangers also got humiliated today as they dropped out of the competition by losing to Jablonec in a penalty shootout.
Hearts turned out to be better at penalties than their league rivals, and they eliminated Rapid Wien, despite playing away. The last Scottish club, Motherwell, didn't have much to say against German Freiburg. They lost 7-2 on aggregate.

Good performance by the Dutch teams. Both Twente and Ajax are going through.

Atalanta, who disappointed in the 1st leg by drawing 0-0 against Hapoel Tel Aviv, today did the minimum and won 1-0 away. Still, you would expect to see a bit more from a team that's considered to be one of the strongest teams in the bunch.

[Daniel91]

From what I remember from previous season, Qarabag is playing in potato field - their pitch is in very poor condition and it probably one of main factors why it's so difficult for away team to win there.
From other results, Atalanta disappointed me by failing to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv at home. All other results is more or less ok.

the catch of the Conference League is that teams from the top leagues may not be particularly eager to play in it. many of these teams face a tough fight in their leagues, some even for survival, so wasting energy in another tournament could be costly. in Atalanta's case, this could be precisely the situation where Serie A is the priority and the Conference League can be sacrificed.

It's true that teams aiming for the championship in high-quality leagues like the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga might not take the Conference League seriously. It's not as prestigious a competition as the Champions League or Europa League. However, teams aiming for success in Europe and wanting to add a trophy to their collection pay close attention to it. In fact, while it might seem easy, there are very tough opponents. Rangers were considered favorites against Jablonec, but they were eliminated and can't even qualify for the Conference League. So, despite appearing easy, it will be a highly competitive cup.

For big clubs, especially from the English league, who had the misfortune of not being able to qualify for the elite European club competition, the Champions League, which brings prestige and serious earnings to the participants of the competition, it is always an open question whether they should focus more on the national championship and win a place in the Champions League next season or try to win this less important European trophy.
By the way, it seems to me that Scottish club football is in crisis, Rangers was eliminated by Jablonec and Hearts barely qualified for the group stage of this competition, after being eliminated from the Champions League and Europa League with convincing and big defeats and without a single win in the qualifiers.
Honestly, I feel sorry for Partizan, they had a great opportunity in Spain to achieve a much better result against Getafe after having a player more at the score 1:1 but in the end they lost 3:1.
And in the return match in Belgrade they were close but fell short by 1 goal, they won 2:1.

[Futurexxx]

After Celtic got embarrassed in the Champions League playoffs, Rangers also got humiliated today as they dropped out of the competition by losing to Jablonec in a penalty shootout.
Hearts turned out to be better at penalties than their league rivals, and they eliminated Rapid Wien, despite playing away. The last Scottish club, Motherwell, didn't have much to say against German Freiburg. They lost 7-2 on aggregate.

Good performance by the Dutch teams. Both Twente and Ajax are going through.

Atalanta, who disappointed in the 1st leg by drawing 0-0 against Hapoel Tel Aviv, today did the minimum and won 1-0 away. Still, you would expect to see a bit more from a team that's considered to be one of the strongest teams in the bunch.

Apart from heart that progresses, the rest of other Scottish team were really disappointing in europe especially Celtic that everyone initially thought might qualify due to their first leg results. Though their fate has been decided already, but this failure is going to hunt them throughout this season and I don't think that their fans will take it easy on them anytime soon, because their elimination was due to complacency, not because they doesn't have the team required to compete.

As for Atalanta, I did expect them to progress to the uefa conference league because they are a lot better than their opponent, so even after drawing at home goalless, I never stop believing that they can still qualify, because their squad quality is way higher than that if Hapoel tel aviv.

[Sim_card]

This is probably one of the few rounds in the Conference League where I can find several games that I had almost no doubts about. I’m talking about the matches Ajax and Brighton,both teams are playing at home. The game was especially important for Brighton because they drew the away leg, so they needed to win at home. Ajax had already won the first leg away, but I had almost no doubt that they would win at home as well because they are clearly superior to their opponent.

It was an easy win for Brighton as they defeated their visitors on a clean sheet. The game ended in a 4-0 victory and that gave them the qualification to the next stage. As for Ajax, they won both home and away. They won their visitors with a 5-3 victory.

[Lucius]

~snip~
Honestly, I feel sorry for Partizan, they had a great opportunity in Spain to achieve a much better result against Getafe after having a player more at the score 1:1 but in the end they lost 3:1.
And in the return match in Belgrade they were close but fell short by 1 goal, they won 2:1.

Are you their fan or do you have another reason?

I don't really care about their clubs, although from time to time their fans develop some morbid banner to remind the neighbors who they are. Clubs that glorify war criminals and sing about killing their neighbors are not on the list of those I want to see in any competition.