The Conference is the only one of the three European competitions that requires at least one preliminary round to qualify: in other words, no teams have already qualified for the single group stage. The 2025-26 edition will feature the winners of the play-offs and the losers of the Europa League play-offs.
The representatives of the five major European leagues have almost all secured qualification: in addition to Fiorentina, who were overwhelming in the first leg against Ukraine’s Polissya Zhytomyr, Crystal Palace have also made significant progress. The English side, automatically “relegated” to the Conference League by UEFA due to strict rules regarding multiple ownership, won “only” 1-0 against Norway’s Fredrikstad in London, but should not face any major risks in Norway.
In fact, despite showing all their good will in England, the Scandinavians do not have the quality necessary to hurt Oliver Glasner’s Eagles, who are also favorites in the second leg. The other two possible winners are Rapid Vienna and RFS Riga: the Austrians were surprisingly forced to surrender 2-1 to the tough Hungarians of Gyor in the first leg, a result that can still be overturned in front of their home crowd. The same goes for the Latvians of RFS Riga, who were defeated 1-0 a week ago by the Maltese Hamrun Spartans, protagonists of a real “fairy tale” so far, but one that could end in the Baltic capital.
Predictions for the other matches
Besiktas could only manage a 1-1 draw with Lausanne in the first leg: the Bianconeri are now counting on home advantage to overcome an opponent that proved tougher than expected in Switzerland. There should be no shortage of goals in Turkey.
AZ Alkmaar, on the other hand, have already secured qualification: the Dutch side won 2-0 against Levski in Sofia and have a good chance of another big win on home turf. Shakhtar Donetsk and Mainz, on the other hand, are at risk: the Ukrainians must win in Switzerland against Servette, while the Germans are forced to overturn the 2-1 deficit they suffered in Norway against Rosenborg to avoid a painful elimination. Finally, at least one goal per side in Cluj-Hacken: watch out for the Romanians’ pride, who were crushed 7-2 in Sweden and are practically already eliminated.
Conference League: possible winners
Crystal Palace (in Fredrikstad-Crystal Palace)
RFS Riga (in RFS Riga-Hamrun Spartans)
Rapid Vienna (in Rapid Vienna-Gyor ETO)
Matches with at least three goals in total
Besiktas-Lausanne
AZ Alkmaar-Levski Sofia
Mainz-Rosenborg
Conference League: matches with at least one goal per team
Omonia Nicosia-Wolfsberger
Cluj-Hacken
Servette-Shakhtar Donetsk
Odds comparison
RFS Riga’s victory is quoted at 1.58 on Lottomatica and 1.55 on Snai. The “Goal” sign in Cluj-Hacken is quoted at 1.40 on Lottomatica and Snai.
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