September 8th, 2022 will go down in history as a truly momentous date. The world collectively stopped and held its breath in anticipation of the new Europa Conference League campaign.
The inaugural Conference League was a thrilling advert for Europe’s newest continental club competition, with teams from as far afield as Kazakhstan and Gibraltar seeking to make their mark. Bodø/Glimt’s heroic charge to the quarter-finals, in which they twice beat eventual winners Roma, is already the stuff of football folklore. Sides as varied as Lincoln Red Imps and Union Berlin made their European debuts, with varying degrees of success, while managers such as Brendan Rodgers and Nuno Espirito Santo who arrogantly took the competition for granted were soon humbled.
Now a new cast of teams stands on the verge of greatness. Who will rise to the occasion?
Early Kickoffs
Group A
Legendary purple-kitted Italian outfit ACF Fiorentina make their first European group-stage appearance since 2016-17 in this season’s Conference League and, after an underwhelming start to their Serie A campaign – three of their four(!) goals were scored on the opening day – will be hoping to kickstart their season with a continental run. Luckily for I Viola, they begin with an accommodating home fixture against Latvian side FK RFS (Rīgas Futbola Skola), who are themselves debutants in a continental group stage. Anything other than a Fiorentina win at home to one of the competition’s weakest teams would be both a stirring upset and a noteworthy failure on the Tuscans’ part.
The group’s other fixture sees fan-owned Scottish side Heart of Midlothian FC take on Turkish side İstanbul Başakşehir. Başakşehir are perhaps most famous for 1) their links to Turkey’s ruling AKP and 2) beating Manchester United in the 2020 Champions League group stage through a Demba Ba goal, and are now managed by another former Newcastle player in the form of Emre Belözoğlu, the first Turkish footballer ever to be convicted of on-pitch racial hate crimes. The Jam Tarts are not favourites here even with home advantage, but anyone not wanting a Hearts win surely has a heart of stone.
Group B
One of the competition’s more intriguing groups is kicked off by another purple-kitted side in the form of RSC Anderlecht, here by the skin of their teeth after beating Young Boys on penalties in the playoff. Their inaugural Conference League fixture is at home to Danish side Silkeborg IF, licking their wounds after a Europa League playoff at the hands of Finnish side HJK (participants in this competition last season). An Anderlecht win seems the most plausible outcome here, and is probably required if the Belgian side hope to qualify from a tough group also featuring Romanian side FCSB and an out-of-sorts but still formidable West Ham.
Group C
Fresh from an Ekstraklasa title, Polish champions Lech Poznań arrive in the 2022-23 Conference League hoping to improve on their last European outing, a frankly dismal Europa League campaign in 2020-21 whose only real highlight was a home win over Standard Liège. Unfortunately, their first ever Conference League fixture is an away trip to the mighty Villarreal. Led by continental maestro Unai Emery, last season’s Champions League semifinalists have made an unusually strong start domestically and are the runaway competition favourites. Anything other than a Villarreal win would constitute a real triumph for Lech Poznań.
The group’s other fixture features yet another purple-kitted side with European pedigree, as one-time Cup Winners’ Cup… winners FK Austria Wien make their first European group-stage appearance since 2017-18. Smarting from an emphatic 6-1 Europa League playoff defeat at the hands of Fenerbahçe and looking alarmingly porous at the back, Die Weilchen need to return to winning ways sooner rather than later. Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva FC, who missed out on a Conference League place last season through a shock playoff loss to the Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta, are standing in Austria Wien’s way. Hapoel have also made an indifferent start to their campaign, despite a 5-0 opening-day drubbing of Beitar Jerusalem, but have every chance of achieving a result here. I make this likely to be the campaign’s first draw.
Group D
Group D kicks off with a mouthwatering clash between two of the group stage’s other leading sides, as OGC Nice welcome 1. FC Köln to the Côte d’Azur. Effzeh have continued last season’s fine form and are still unbeaten in the Bundesliga, despite some leakiness at the back. Nice have had no such luck in Ligue 1 – former manager Cristophe Galtier has acrimoniously left for PSG, while their raft of new signings (including, allegedly, Ross Barkley) have yet to gel. With only goal difference keeping them out of the relegation zone, manager Lucien Favre badly needs a strong European run to help kickstart Nice’s season. Köln are nevertheless unlikely to be obliging opposition and a Köln win seems on the cards.
The group’s other fixture sees FK Partizan, one half of Belgrade’s great footballing rivalry, travel to Czechia to play 1. FC Slovácko. The Czech side’s fourth-placed league finish last season, coupled with a first-ever Czech Cup win, made last season possibly their greatest ever, and a first taste of European group-stage football is their reward in this campaign. Despite this wave of positivity they seem the most likely team to prop up Group D, and Partizan will be targeting six points from them, starting with a Partizan win tonight, in a bit to seal an upset qualification.
Group G
Few things sum up the spirit of the Conference League better than a minnow getting its first taste of European action, and Group G’s first fixture delivers in style. Kosovar(!) champions FC Ballkani, from the small town of Suva Reka, are the first Kosovar side ever to qualify for the group stage of a European competition, having beaten North Macedonian side KF Shkupi in the playoffs. Ballkani’s 1,500-seater home ground is so small that their Conference League home games are instead being played at the Kosovar national stadium in Prishtina, where this evening they host European regulars in the form of Romanian side CFR Cluj. Anything other than a Cluj win seems outlandishly unlikely here, but such a charged occasion might just throw up an upset…
Standout Early Kickoffs
Villarreal CF – KKS Lech Poznań (Group C)
OGC Nice – 1. FC Köln (Group D)
FC Ballkani – CFR Cluj (Group G)
Late Kickoffs
Group B
It would be a brave man who bets against West Ham United FC to make a deep run in the Conference League, even amid a league campaign in which the Londoners have looked laboured and disjointed. Their first test comes in the form of the Conference League’s other Romanian side FC FCSB, one of two clubs which, through a deeply arcane legal dispute dating back to the era of post-Communist privatisation, claims the legacy of European Cup winners Steaua București. (Romanian law currently recognises the other claimant, second-tier CSA Steaua București, as the rightful holders of the legacy, while the capitalist running dogs at UEFA have sided with FCSB.) FCSB have endured a start to their league season almost as bad as West Ham’s and so, given the quality gap, a home West Ham win seems both likely and a good way for David Moyes to soothe any itchy trigger-fingers in the London Stadium boardroom.
Group E
Group E’s headline tie sees Dutch European regulars AZ take on Ukrainian side SC Dnipro-1, the unofficial but spiritual successors to former Soviet heavyweights and 2015 Europa League runners-up FC Dnipro. Russia’s ongoing invasion means that nothing in Ukrainian football is simple in 2022, and so Dnipro-1’s “home” Conference League games are being played in Slovakia. Given these factors, an AZ win seems highly likely, but perhaps Dnipro-1 will take inspiration from Shakhtar’s Tuesday night humiliation of LawnBallSport Leipzig and deliver another upset?
The group’s other fixture is rather lower-stakes but no less stirring. Football Manager devotees will be well aware that Liechtensteiner outfit FC Vaduz are unique in European football, in that they compete in the Swiss league pyramid while being under the aegis of the Liechtensteiner governing body. Vaduz thus cannot qualify for European competition through the Swiss league, instead gaining entry to the Conference League qualifying rounds through the Liechtenstein Football Cup. Winning the Conference League is the only way they can qualify for the Europa League, winning the Europa League is the only way they can qualify for the Champions League, and winning the Champions League would be the only way they could appear in consecutive instalments of the Champions League. This season, despite competing in the Swiss second tier, Vaduz managed to become the first-ever Liechtensteiner side to qualify for a group stage, beating Austrian giants Rapid Wien in the Conference League playoff. Fired by this gloriously absurd turn of events, they might just fancy their chances at home to Cypriot side Apollon Limassol, although the Cypriots are European regulars. This fixture at the scenic Rheinpark-Stadion in Liechtenstein promises to be worth a watch in any case.
Group F
The Conference League contains more dark horses than a stable in a new moon, and both Molde FK of Norway and Belgium’s KAA Gent will doubtless consider themselves in with a chance of a cup run. The Norwegian side, who count Erling Haaland and Ole Gunnar Solskjær among their alumni, are in imperious domestic form and are set fair to win their fifth Eliteserien title. Gent, by contrast, have followed up their meek round-of-16 elimination by PAOK last season with a mediocre start to their league campaign, and would do well to heed the example of the Roma team who went to Norway in a complacent mood last season. Gent may have the pedigree but a Molde win here, which seems plausible, would kickstart their campaign in style.
Group F’s other fixture already has the unfortunate air of an attempt to dodge the group’s wooden spoon. Sweden’s Djurgårdens IF last reached a European group stage in the 1996 Intertoto Cup, while they last played (and beat) tonight’s Irish opposition Shamrock Rovers in a 2002-3 UEFA Cup qualifier. Rovers, by contrast, last reached a group stage relatively recently, in the form of the 2011-12 Europa League, although as they finished bottom of the group with 0 points memories of it might be muted. A Djurgårdens win seems the smart money tonight despite the Rovers’ home advantage, but it would be a substantial (if pleasant) surprise if either side troubled the knockout rounds of the competition.
Group G
In what has become a running theme in the build-up to this season’s Conference League, Turkish Cup winners Sivasspor Kulübü are undergoing a poor start to their domestic campaign and are winless after five games. The visit of elite Czech side SK Slavia Praha posts a sterner test than a side in poor form might like, and barring a surprise from Cluj the battle between Sivasspor and Slavia looks likely to determine who will top this group. Slavia have taken some notable European scalps in recent seasons, including Union Berlin, Leicester and Sevilla, and a Slavia win would only compound Sivasspor’s misery. It would not be entirely surprising if the Anatolian side have a new manager by the time they head to Czechia despite their cup heroics last season.
Group H
RFS aren’t the only Baltic side making their debut this season, as FK Žalgiris became the first Lithuanian side ever to appear in a European group stage – a feat made possible by an impressive Champions League second-qualifying-round win over mighty Malmö of Sweden. Since Flora of Estonia appeared last season, all three Baltic republics have now experienced European group-stage football courtesy of the Conference League, another testament to the competition’s impact. Žalgiris’ reward is a trip across Poland to face ŠK Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia, who have considerable European pedigree but were ultimately underwhelming in the Conference League last time out. The Slovaks really ought to qualify for the knockout stages this season, and a Slovan win would go a long way to settling the nerves and making that possible.
Slovan’s only real challengers in this group are Swiss giants FC Basel, who unlike Slovan qualified from their group last season but then went out to Marseille in the second round of 16. Basel will be expecting to finish top of this group, with their first test being a home tie against FC Pyunik Yerevan of Armenia. Pyunik, the most successful side in Armenia, are following in the footsteps of compatriots FC Alashkert, who made their own inaugural group-stage appearance last season, although Pyunik’s hopes of qualifying to the knockout stages look just as slim as Alashkert’s were.
Standout Late Kickoffs
SC Dnipro-1 – AZ (Group E)
FC Vaduz – Apollon Limassol (Group E)
Molde FK – KAA Gent (Group F)
