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Europa League: Established European Teams Battle Hungry Up-And-Comers in First Qualifying Round Return Leg

by Joseph King

image Europa League: Established European Teams Battle Hungry Up-And-Comers in First Qualifying Round Return Leg
Eight teams will move on to the Europa League second qualifying round this Thursday and be one step closer to the ultimate goal of making it to the league stage. There's an interesting mix of recognisable European powerhouses and a few lesser-known sides that are hoping that it will finally be their turn to shine. We take a look at a few of the more captivating return leg fixtures.

First qualifying round reaches its climax

The Europa League first qualifying round will reach its conclusion today with 16 teams fighting to advance to the second round. While it’s still early on in the qualification journey, these matches still carry incredibly high stakes, especially for the smaller nations.

Each round progressed in the qualifiers greatly increases the chances for a team to make it to the league stage of either the Europa League or the Conference League. As a reminder, those that suffer defeat here will drop into the Conference League Main Path second qualifying round, while those that advance will have a guaranteed spot in the Conference League third qualifying round in the event that they should be sent home in the next round.

Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting second leg matches below.

Aktobe vs Legia Warsaw

As we highlighted before the first leg, Legia Warsaw is one of the most accomplished teams in this first qualifying round. They certainly would have been hoping for a larger buffer as they head to Kazakhstan to contest the second leg. They were only able to score once in Warsaw, a 25th minute strike by Vahan Bichakhchyan which turned out to be the deciding goal in a 1-0 win for the Polish side.

Despite only the single goal separating these two sides, the bookmakers are confident in Legia’s ability to seal the deal here and have them listed as heavy favourites to progress. Aktobe likely won’t be giving those odds much mind though, as they will feel that they successfully navigated an extremely tricky first leg away fixture. Now returning to their home turf, the Kazakh side has a brilliant opportunity to send home an established European side. Our experts believe that we could be in for another low-scoring match here, similar to the first leg. See the full analysis in our Aktobe vs Legia Warsaw prediction! 

  • Date and time: 17 July, 17:00 BST
  • Venue: Ortaliq Stadion, Aktobe
  • Aggregate score: Legia Warsaw leads 1-0

Partizan vs AEK Larnaca

This is an interesting fixture that has a few layers to it. First of all, these two teams have history against one another in this competition. They faced off in the third qualifying round back in the 2022-23 campaign, and it was AEK Larnaca that would emerge victorious on that occasion with a 4-3 aggregate win. The Cypriot side are the favourites to once again knock out Serbian giants Partizan following a 1-0 first leg win.

For Partizan, this is an incredibly important return leg. The 27-time Serbian SuperLiga champions have the highest debt amount of any of the teams involved in the Europa League first qualifying round. Thus, making it to the league stage of this competition is of the utmost importance. The stakes are now set for this showdown on Thursday which is sure to be a tense affair. See how our experts are approaching the match in our Partizan Belgrade vs AEK Larnaca prediction.

  • Date and time: 17 July, 20:00 BST
  • Venue: Partizan Stadium, Belgrade
  • Aggregate score: AEK Larnaca leads 1-0

CFJ Cluj vs Paksi FC

Paksi and Cluj battle in the first leg

Hungarian side Paks have never made it to the group/league stage of a UEFA competition. The furthest they’ve gotten in the Europa League was in 2011-12 when they made the third qualifying round. Their Romanian opponent, however, has plenty of history in European competitions. CFJ Cluj competed in the group stage of the Champions League on three occasions, and most recently made the Europa League group stage in the 2020-21 campaign.

It sets up another matchup between an established European team against one that is looking to finally make the breakthrough. That’s the backdrop for this second leg with the winner of this fixture advancing to take on Swiss side Lugano in the second qualifying round. Have Paks missed their chance at qualification after failing to take advantage of home field in the first leg? Our experts seem to think so! Check out our CFR Cluj vs Paksi FC prediction for the full breakdown.

  • Date and time: 17 July, 18:30
  • Venue: Dr. Constantin Radulescu Stadium, Cluj
  • Aggregate score: 0-0

First leg full results

  • Sabah (2) vs Celje (3)
  • AEK Larnaca (1) vs Partizan (0)
  • Sheriff (4) vs Prishtina (0)
  • Paks (0) vs CFR Cluj (0)
  • Levski Sofia (0) vs H. Beer Sheva (0)
  • Shakhtar Donetsk (6) vs Ilves (0)
  • Spartak Trnava (0) vs Hacken (1)
  • Legia Warsaw (1) vs FC Aktobe (0)

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