It’s back, it’s beautiful, and it has retained the services of Unai Emery. It’s the Europa Conference League, now into its third season – which is also its last before it moves to a “Swiss system” as utterly inscrutable as a Zürich deposit box. With Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Bosnia and Herzegovina making their debut appearances in European competition, this campaign promises plenty of intrigue.
Group A
One of the competition’s more straightforward-looking groups. KÍ Klaksvík are the Faroe Islands’ first-ever qualifiers for a European group stage, joining NK Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia (themselves debutants in Europe), Lille OSC of France and Slovakian stalwarts Slovan Bratislava.
Lille, on their first Conference outing, are overwhelming favourites to top the group, despite a rather unconvincing playoff victory to reach this stage. They will aim to make an impression in the knockouts – and, perhaps, to emulate or better Marseille’s run to the semi-finals in the inaugural 2021-22 Conference League.
Standout Result: Their 2-1 playoff home win over HNK Rijeka, purely by default.
Players to Watch: Canadian livewire Jonathan David took a while to settle after moving to Lille, but is now both one of Ligue 1’s most accomplished (and productive) forwards and serious contender for the Golden Boot. Keep an eye out for former Manchester United youngster Angel Gomes too.
Slovan Bratislava are no strangers to European competition, having featured in all three Conference Leagues to date in addition to three Europa League (EL) group stages. After a true damp squib of a campaign in 2021-22, the reigning Slovak champions made the knockouts last time out – only to lose to Basel, the team who finished second in their group, on penalties. They will be expecting to at least equal that showing this time out.
Standout Result: Again virtually by default, their 1-0 Champions League Second Qualifying Round win over fellow Conferencers HŠK Zrinjski Mostar.
Players to Watch: Manchester City academy product Vladimír Weiss is a youth no longer, but at 33 managed to grab 3 goals across Slovan’s various qualifying games. Marko Tolić represents quality on loan from Dinamo Zagreb, while Premier League enjoyers may recognise one-time Watford man Juraj Kucka and noted Stoke flop Kevin Wimmer.
KÍ Klaksvík captured the imagination of football fans across the continent on their journey to the Conference League. Giants in the Faroese top flight, KÍ are nevertheless minnows on the European stage, hailing from a town of only 5,000 people. They stunned BK Häcken and fellow Conferencers Ferencváros in the Champions League qualifiers, guaranteeing themselves some form of European group stage football in the process. Successive defeats to Molde and Sheriff Tiraspol ensured a place in the Conference League. Can they cap their folkloric campaign with some more upsets?
Standout Result: For sheer drama it would be their penalty victory over Häcken, but for quality there can be no overlooking their stunning 3-0 away victory over Ferencváros. A counterattacking masterclass and a fine display of clinical finishing.
Players to Watch: Arní Frederiksberg netted a frankly ludicrous six goals for KÍ in qualifying, including a brace against Ferencváros that was a study in composure. Luc Kassi also made some telling contributions, including goals against both Ferencváros and Molde.
Slovenian PrvaLiga champions Olimpia Ljubljana got here the same way as KÍ, albeit in rather less dramatic fashion. A regulation win against Valmiera of Latvia in the Champions League first qualifying round was followed by a more impressive win over fellow first-time Conferencers (there is a theme developing here) Ludogorets Razgrad to guarantee some form of European football into the autumn, before successive eliminations by Galatasaray and Qarabağ brought them to the Conference. Getting out of the group is highly unlikely, but any win will represent a fine achievement in its own right.
Standout Result: Timi Max Elšnik’s stoppage-time winner in Olimpija’s 2-1 win over 10-man Ludogorets would have been ample enough drama in its own right, only for the Bulgarian side to both win and miss a 102nd-minute penalty that would have taken the tie to extra time.
Players to Watch: The aforementioned Timi Max Elšnik, formerly of Derby County, Mansfield Town and Northampton Town and now a Slovenian international, is likely to be key to any success Olimpija enjoy in the Conference League, while teenage centre-back Marcel Ratnik has been ever-present this season. With some strong performances he could find himself in line for a move abroad.
Group B
Experience and novelty collide in Group B too, where Conference League ever-presents KAA Gent (they of the dubious badge) and 2021-22 entrants Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC and FK Zorya Luhansk face off against Breiðablik, the first Icelandic team ever to play in a European group stage.
Gent will be aiming to top their group as a bare minimum, having been blessed with manageable opposition. An unconvincing group-stage performance last season nevertheless preceded a run to the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual winners West Ham, while in 2021-22 they topped their group comfortably only to exit to PAOK in the second knockout round. They currently find themselves top of the Belgian Pro League with a game in hand; will they be able to successfully juggle multiple competitions this season?
Standout Result: Gent thrashed Pogoń Szczecin 5-0 in the home leg of their Conference League Third Qualifying Round tie, with a hat-trick from Gift Orban the highlight of a win that demonstrated their credentials at this level.
Players to Watch: Gift Orban is the name on everyone’s lips, the young Nigeria forward’s agility and composure in front of goal contributing to an electrifying 15 goals in 16 games(!) in the Belgian top flight last term. He is linked with a Premier League move in January, and yet he is not Gent’s highest scorer in the Conference League this season – that honour belongs to journeyman forward Hugo Cuypers, whose 7 goals in qualifying will likewise attract interest from abroad sooner rather than later.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv‘s 2021-22 Conference League journey saw them advance out of a very easy group in second place, only for the Israeli outfit to meet (and lose to) PSV in the first knockout round. Their progression to this year’s group stage has been relatively serene, with only 3 goals conceded against 12 scored while they also top the Israeli top flight at the time of writing, but they are likely to finish a comfortable yet distant second this time around too.
Standout Result: Maccabi swept aside Slovenian league leaders Celje 4-1 in their Europa League playoff first leg, despite the Slovenians recovering to make it 1-1 after half an hour. Maccabi will need that fortitude in spades to get out of their group.
Players to Watch: Veteran forward Eran Zahavi is undeniably Maccabi’s main man; the PSV alumnus, who was also extraordinarily prolific in China, netted five goals in qualifying. Yvann Maçon, the Guadeloupean right-back on loan from Saint-Étienne, is meanwhile hoping to reinvigorate a once-promising career on the other side of the Mediterranean.
FK Zorya Luhansk‘s 1-0 win away to CSKA Sofia in 2021-22 was one of the worst games of football I have ever watched in my entire life. In an admittedly tough group, the three-time Europa League group stage participants failed to shine. They find themselves back at this stage after a narrow but valiant aggregate Europa League playoff defeat to Slavia Praha, with a much kinder group than in 2021. However, their campaign will be complicated by the fact that their European “home” games (themselves previously played in Zaporizhzhia rather than Luhansk due to Russian occupation) are now in Lublin in Poland, a mere 900 miles away from their previous home. Progression to a knockout round for the first time in Zorya’s history is possible and would represent a real achievement.
Standout Result: Their 2-1 home win over Slavia Praha in the aforementioned playoff was an immensely creditable result against opposition with serious European pedigree, and looked like it might be enough to force extra time until Matěj Jurásek’s late goal for Slavia sent the away side through. Zorya can take heart, though.
Players to Watch: For obvious reasons Zorya’s squad now consists almost entirely of Ukrainians, many of them relatively untried. Teenage goalkeeper Oleksandr Saputin has been handed a chance to shine thanks to “senior” goalkeeper Dmytro Matsapura (himself only 23) damaging his cruciate ligament. Young centre-back Arseniy Bagatov is also out injured but should be back to lend some youthful zest to Zorya’s backline for most of the group stage.
Breiðablik have, like KÍ, captured hearts and minds in getting this far, becoming the first team ever to reach the group stage of European competition having started in the preliminary round. Two humbling defeats to København and Zrinjski Mostar put the Icelanders’ aspirations in danger, but they rebounded to beat Struga of (North) Macedonia home and away in the Conference League playoffs and seal their place in history. Any result from here is a great one, but Breiðablik will fancy their chances of bloodying another nose or two along the way.
Standout Result: Breiðablik racked up higher scorelines in their two preliminary round games, but it was their controlled and professional 3-1 aggregate dispatching of Irish outfit Shamrock Rovers in the Champions League First Qualifying Round – including a 1-0 win away at Tallaght – that truly made their later success seem possible.
Players to Watch: Breiðablik’s squad is, remarkably but unsurprisingly for a club with such a strong academy, composed almost entirely of Icelanders, with two Faroese players the only foreign flavour. Kristófer Kristinsson, who has notable experience in the Eredivisie and the Danish Superliga, is Breiðablik’s talisman up top, but it was the midfield pair of Höskuldur Gunnlaugsson and Viktor Karl Einarsson – both of them Breiðablik academy products! – who got the goals over Struga to send Breiðablik through.
Group C
Remarkably, three former Champions League group stage participants find themselves together in Group C. Two of them – GNK Dinamo Zagreb and Astana FK – played each other in this season’s Champions League qualifiers, while FC Viktoria Plzeň are perhaps most famous for causing Real Madrid an almighty scare at the Bernabeu in the 2018-19 Champions League group stage. It’s hard not to feel for FK Ballkani of Kosovo, who have done incredibly well to reach this stage for the second consecutive year.
Dinamo Zagreb are the group’s unambiguous favourites, and candidates to make a deep run in the competition. They will, frankly, be a little disappointed to be at this level, having lost successive winnable ties in the Champions League and Europa League to AEK Athens and Sparta Praha respectively. They will aim to top this group, and not doing so would surely go down as a notable failure.
Standout Result: Dinamo’s 3-1 Europa League playoff home win over Sparta Praha has this title by default, as the only game the Croatian side won in qualifying. Reality bit in the second leg, where they lost 4-1.
Players to Watch: Dinamo’s academy is renowned across Europe for nurturing young talent, most notably a young midfielder by the name of Luka Modrić. Martin Baturina looks set to be Dinamo’s next big sale, chipping in with goals and assists aplenty in last season’s top flight, but has yet to truly make his mark in European competition. Bruno Petković is the team’s talismanic striker and, at 29, is still firmly in his prime years.
Viktoria Plzeň represent the chief threat to Dinamo’s aspirations. Plzeň finished a distant third in last season’s Czech top flight, but used that to their advantage this season. They entered the Conference League at the second qualifying round and, after squeaking through that tie against Kosovar side Grita courtesy of a penalty in the 24th minute of stoppage time (not a typo), have swatted aside all subsequent opposition. They will likewise view anything other than qualification as a severe disappointment, and have a chance at taking top spot in the group.
Standout Result: Plzeň thrashed Tobol of Kazakhstan 3-0 at home in their Conference League playoff to secure their progression to the group stage in style. That Tobol are enduring a dreadful season by their standards only removes some lustre from Plzeň’s win.
Players to Watch: Plzeň’s squad prioritises experience over youthful promise. One-cap Ivorian veteran Ibrahim Benjamin Traoré was, at 35, Plzeň’s talisman in qualifying, with two goals and two assists. One-time Everton prospect Jindřich Staněk is Czechia’s first choice in goal and offers important solidity, while Matěj Vydra has yet to truly impress for Plzeň after a decade in English football.
FC Astana round out the trio of Champions League alumni. Despite coming into this qualifying campaign as defending Kazakh champions, Astana have underwhelmed somewhat this season and find themselves in third place. Their European campaign has also been something of a damp squib, with a narrow Conference playoff victory over Albanian minnows Partizani not enough to erase the memory of successive humiliations at the hand of Dinamo (in the Champions League second qualifying round) and Ludogorets (in the Europa League third qualifying round). Getting out of the group would represent a feat as impressive as it is unlikely.
Standout Result: Slim pickings here, with a 2-1 home win over Ludogorets technically the pick of the bunch despite Astana’s subsequent thrashing in the away leg.
Players to Watch: Dembo Darboe, a well-travelled Gambian striker on loan from Al-Nasr (of Dubai), was Astana’s top scorer in qualifying, albeit with two goals from eight games. Varazdat Haroyan, who captains and has 76 caps for Armenia and has also briefly played in LaLiga, will need to be at his best in central defence for Astana to have any chance of progression.
Ballkani are making their second successive Conference League group stage appearance. In 2022-23 they gave Slavia Praha the fright of their lives before ultimately recording a famous 4-3 win over Sivasspor of Turkey; their last-place finish was not a reflection of their quality. The defending Kosovar champions have a realistic shot at third place this season, having advanced through qualification with a minimum of fuss, and could even cause problems for the group’s two heavyweights.
Standout Result: Ballkani utterly humiliated BATE Borisov of Belarus at home in the first leg of their playoff tie, winning 4-1 in style. That they lost the away leg 1-0 was immaterial. If Ballkani can bring their free-scoring form to the group stage, they will be an excellent watch.
Players to Watch: Armend Thaqi is a 31-year-old right-back. This has not stopped him from racking up 4 goals and 7 assists across last season’s group stage and this season’s qualification run, including both a goal and an assist against BATE in the playoff first leg and two goals and an assist against Sivasspor last season. One of the Conference League’s first true legends in the making is supported in defence by fellow Kosovar international Lumbardh Dellova, while hot prospect Lindon Emërllahu is currently sidelined by injury but will hope to make an appearance at some stage.
Group D
Group D is replete with star power. FK Bodø/Glimt, from Norway’s Arctic far north, made waves in the inaugural Conference League (remember them thrashing José Mourinho’s Roma 6-1 at home in the groups? Of course you do), before making a brief cameo appearance in the first knockout round last season. They are joined this time around by Belgian Champions League regulars Club Brugge KV, for whom Scott Parker is tragically niet langer hoofdcoach, as well as Turkish Süper Lig legends Beşiktaş JK. FC Lugano, who sound like an Italian side but are actually from the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland, round out the group after defeat in the Europa League playoffs.
Bodø/Glimt got here in some style. The Norwegian Eliteserien frontrunners scored 18 goals in six games, including demolitions of both Bohemians 1905 of Czechia and Pyunik of Armenia. They almost came unstuck, however, needing extra time to triumph over Romanian Szekler dark money outfit Sepsi OSK. Despite the stature of their opposition I would back Bodø/Glimt to get out of their group and, with a kind enough knockout draw, potentially make serious inroads into the latter stages.
Standout Result: Bodø/Glimt made far harder work of their home match against Sepsi than they needed to so, despite the high drama of that occasion, I’d proffer their two-legged 7-2 dismantling of Bohemians as their finest performance to date.
Players to Watch: Bodø’s eye for a player is one of the keys to their success, and Amahl Pellegrino is a case in point. The Tanzanian-Norwegian veteran returned to Norway after a brief stint in Saudi Arabia, and has since scored a completely absurd 57 (not a typo) goals in all competitions – almost a third of his career total – in the last 18 months. He has chipped in with 5 goals and 4 assists in Bodø/Glimt’s qualifying games, including a decisive brace against Sepsi, and should be able to power them out of the group stage. Midfield duo Albert Grønbæk and Patrick Berg, the captain, meanwhile offer a blend of solidity and invention in the middle of the park, while Omar Elabdellaoui is hoping for a late-career flourish after a bizarre sparkler-related eye injury derailed his Galatasaray career.
Predicting how a Turkish team will do in Europe is a total fool’s errand, and Beşiktaş are no different. In theory, a major league like Turkey’s should be sending teams deep into this competition. In practice, both Başakşehir and Sivasspor were thrashed in the second knockout round last season, while in 2021-22 no Turkish team even made the group stage and Fenerbahçe were unceremoniously dispatched as soon as they dropped down from the EL. Beşiktaş, although making an indifferent start to their Süper Lig campaign, have nevertheless overcome capable opposition in Neftchi Baku and Dynamo Kyiv to reach the group stage and have a squad of real quality and depth. They ought to make it far into this season’s knockouts. Time will tell.
Standout Result: Dynamo Kyiv equalised twice “at home” (in Romania) to Beşiktaş, but the Black Eagles found a stoppage-time winner to go into the second leg 3-2 up. They finished the job back in Istanbul in rather less eventful fashion.
Players to Watch: So many to choose from, so little time! Beşiktaş have Premier League experience in spades, none more notable than that of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, while Ante Rebić has experience of two different Big Five leagues and cult hero Vincent Aboubakar will no doubt make his influence felt in due course. Ersin Destanoğlu in goal is Beşiktaş’ outstanding homegrown prospect.
Club Brugge, jokes about their ill-fated dalliance with Scott Parker aside, are arguably the team to beat in this group. They are firmly in the mix in the Belgian title race and made relatively light work of qualification, rising to the occasion to knock out Osasuna of LaLiga. They will not be favourites to win the competition, but their plentiful European experience (they last failed to reach a continental group stage in 2017-18) should enable them to see off greener challengers.
Standout Result: With 20 minutes of their playoff second leg at home to Osasuna remaining, Brugge were trailing 3-2 on aggregate. They rallied, however, with a pair of late goals from Vetlesen and Olsen (more below) seeing them over the line. That composure and resolve could yet prove very important.
Players to Watch: Hans Vanaken isn’t getting any younger, yet he still remains Brugge’s talisman. The towering midfielder exerts a similarly imposing influence on his side as captain and has made an excellent start to Brugge’s domestic season. Hugo Vetlesen has experience at this level, having been a key contributor to Bodø/Glimt’s barnstorming 2021-22 campaign, while fellow 23-year-old talent Andreas Skov Olsen is blooming at last and looks set to terrorise Conference defences from his berth on the right. The young Dutch left-back Bjorn Meijer, once recovered from injury will ensure opponents feel the heat on the opposite flank as well.
Lugano are a side with an extensive history in the Swiss game, although their last title win came in 1949. The current incarnation are a phoenix club, founded in 2004 after the original FC Lugano’s financial implosion, and in the last decade Lugano have steadily returned to prominence. This has been aided in no small part by American billionaire and Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto’s purchase of the club in 2021, which could lead to a title challenge in what is an unusually wide-open Swiss domestic campaign. They are nevertheless the clear minnows of this group.
Standout Result: N/A. Lugano’s only European fixture this season was a Europa League playoff tie against Brighton sidekicks Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium. Lugano lost both legs without scoring, despite dominating possession (to little effect).
Players to Watch: Žan Celar made his Slovenia debut last season, although he has yet to score for his country. This has not been a problem at Lugano; he was the third-top scorer in the Swiss Super League with 16 goals last season. Club record signing Ignacio Aliseda (signed from… Chicago Fire) will provide dynamism down the right, while Albian Hajdari is perhaps the most promising of Lugano’s younger players signed from Italy.
Group E
This group’s obvious frontrunners are Aston Villa FC, ably stewarded by the most decorated manager in the history of non-Champions League European competition. Legia Warszawa and AZ will do battle for the second qualifying spot, while HŠK Zrinjski Mostar are Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first-ever representatives in a European group stage. The irony of this is presumably not lost on their ultranationalist Bosnian-Croat ultras.
Aston Villa are clear favourites for the Conference League as a whole, and will view anything less than a final appearance at minimum as an embarrassment. Unai Emery is a maestro in Europe, and shepherded Villarreal to 6 wins from the 6 Conference games he managed last season. Despite facing competition on three other fronts (two domestic cups and the league), Villa can plausibly emulate West Ham last season in taking 18 points from their group games. There is an argument that Premier League sides should not be allowed to play in this competition.
Standout Result: Villa battered Hibernian of Scotland 5-0 away, allowing the second leg (won 3-0) to be played like a training match.
Players to Watch: Young Colombian forward Jhon Durán opened his Premier League account this season and can likely expect to earn substantial minutes in the Conference. He should be a contender for the Golden Boot. Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans are yet to truly shine in the Premier League for Villa but could find their feet here, while electrifying winger-cum-second-striker Moussa Diaby is plausibly the best player in the competition but will likely be rested for at least some of Villa’s matches. Jacob Ramsey should be able to dominate after his return from injury.
Legia Warszawa had an utterly disastrous 2021-22 season, finishing bottom of their Europa League group and 10th in the Polish Ekstraklasa, before rebounding to finish runners-up in 2022-23. This is therefore their first taste of Conference League football, although they faced a troublesome qualifying campaign that saw them almost eliminated in both the third round and the playoffs (they won the latter tie 6-5 on penalties).
Standout Result: Legia recovered from a 2-1 first leg home defeat to Austria Wien (of… Austria), overcoming their famously purple-shirted opponents in a seesawing 8-goal thriller in Wien to win 5-3 on the night and 6-5 on aggregate.
Players to Watch: Tomáš Pekhart is 34 but has started this season in exceptional form. After a brief and ill-fated move to Gaziantep in Turkey, he returned to Legia in January – one week before the devastating Gaziantep earthquake. Pekhart has 8 goals in 13 games this season and should cause problems for most defences, while defensive midfielder Bartosz Slisz and goalkeeper Kacper Tobiasz represent youthful quality at the other end of the pitch.
AZ (not AZ Alkmaar – the A in AZ stands for Alkmaar) are the only side to have topped their Conference group in both campaigns to date, although it will represent an enormous upset if they do so again this time around. One of three teams to have won every Eredivisie game so far, the Dutch side are in fine domestic form, although they were almost knocked out of Conference qualifying by Norwegian side Brann and required penalties to reach the group stage. They should be aiming to reach the knockouts for a third successive season.
Standout Result: Thin gruel here. Arguably their 3-0 aggregate win over FC Santa Coloma of Andorra, which is the epitome of a standout by default.
Players to Watch: 19-year-old Ruben van Bommel is the son of Mark van Bommel and grandson of Bert van Marwijk. A new arrival at AFAS Stadion this summer, his tally of 3 goals and 1 assist suggests substantial promise. AZ are also the latest stop in former Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan‘s nomadic career, while forward Vangelis Pavlidis – although yet to score in the Conference League – has begun the Eredivisie season in truly devastating form.
Zrinjski Mostar are the third and final team representing a new country in this season’s Conference. The Bosnian-Croat side have thus far struggled to balance their European and domestic commitments, despite winning two consecutive Bosnian titles, but did well to qualify for the Conference despite losing to fellow Conferencers Slovan Bratislava (who also eliminated them in the Conference playoff last season) in the second round of Champions League qualifying. In such a strong group, any positive results at all will represent a creditable campaign.
Standout Result: Zrinjski crushed fellow Conferencers Breiðablik in the Europa League third qualifying round, with an emphatic 6-2 win in the first leg rendering the 1-0 second leg away defeat entirely irrelevant. This was also the only qualifying tie Zrinjski won outright, as they required penalties to defeat Urartu of Armenia in the Champions League first qualifying round.
Players to Watch: Bosnian international Nemanja Bilbija is by far the most prolific striker in the history of the Bosnian Premijer Liga, Zrinjski’s chief source of experience and top scorer so far this season, with a mighty 9 goals from 12 games, and keeping him quiet will be essential for the group’s other three teams as they seek to avoid a major upset. The rather younger Matija Malekinušić offers creativity on the right wing (*badum-tss*), while fellow Croat Mario Ćuže is highly rated but has yet to truly make a direct impact from the left flank so far this season.
Group F
A potentially intriguing group. Last season’s beaten finalists ACF Fiorentina return to the scene of their triumph and tragedy, while Belgian Pro League runners-up KRC Genk (not to be confused with KAA Gent) rather limped to qualification but are here regardless. Hungarian champions Ferencvárosi TC were humiliated in the Champions League first qualifying round by fellow Conferencers KÍ but could yet make a surprise run for the knockouts, while Belgrade’s historical third club FK Čukarički will most likely be fighting it out with Ferencváros for third place.
Fiorentina will be aiming for another emphatic run to the Conference’s latter stages. They are only here as a consequence of Juventus’ ban from European competition, having lost both the Coppa Italia and Conference final last season, and have made a typically Florencian mixed bag of both the early Serie A campaign and their own playoff fixture. They nevertheless find themselves in a group which, capably led by manager Vincenzo Italiano, they really ought to top comfortably.
Standout Result: Purely by default, their 2-0 second-leg playoff win over Rapid Wien. Fiorentina dominated the first leg only to lose to a Rapid penalty, but managed to rectify their errors at home.
Players to Watch: Fiorentina are potentially short of goals this season, having lost both Luka Jović and Arthur Cabral in the summer – the duo scored 14 goals between them in last season’s Conference. I Viola will be hoping that Nicolás González nevertheless retains his knack of scoring important goals, having sent Fiorentina through to last season’s final. Veteran winger Giacomo Bonaventura‘s contract expires next summer. Dodô offers notable quality at right-back, but perhaps Fiorentina’s most intriguing players are Barcelona, Juventus and Liverpool legend Arthur Melo and former Everton centre-back Yerry Mina, signed on loan and on a free transfer respectively.
Genk were, frankly, utterly unconvincing in qualifying, losing successive Champions League and Europa League qualifying ties to find themselves in a Conference League playoff against Adana Demirspor of Turkey. They required a penalty shootout to win that one too. In theory, a side with their European experience (this is their fifth group stage in the last decade) should be able to make relatively short work of teams from Serbia and Hungary. In practice, you could be forgiven for wondering if the Belgian outfit will be looking nervously over their shoulders.
Standout Result: Having been beaten by Servette and Olympiakos, it’s the only game they actually won, their Conference playoff first leg. They beat Adana Demirspor 2-1 at home courtesy of a 93rd-minute winner. See what I mean?
Players to Watch: Maarten Vandevoordt is one of Europe’s most promising young goalkeepers, which is why he is joining RB Leipzig next summer. Genk have one final season of his services though, and he will likely be vital to any success the Belgians have. The same could be said of captain Bryan Heynen, who has gone from strength to strength in the last 18 months and could soon make his debut for Belgium. Keep an eye out for Bilal El Khannouss; the teenage winger has been at Genk since he was 15 and, after a breakout campaign last season which also saw him debut at the World Cup for Morocco, will be hoping to develop the end product to match his undoubted promise this season.
Čukarički have historically been the poor relation of Belgrade football, with a solitary Serbian Cup win paling in comparison to the exploits of FK Partizan and Crvena zvezda. In 2011, however, they were privatised and acquired by the pharmaceutical company ADOC, who have pumped money into the club in order to challenge the “Big Two”‘s dominance. The result: Čukarički’s first-ever European group stage campaign, although they might have hoped for a slightly gentler group given their stuttering domestic form.
Standout Result: N/A. They emphatically lost both legs of their Europa League playoff, their only European fixture so far this season, to Olympiakos.
Players to Watch: Igor Miladinović scored Čukarički’s only goal in either game against Olympiakos, a late first-leg consolation in Athens. This could be the young midfielder’s breakout season; he has already scored two Super Liga goals as well. Club captain Marko Docić is inarguably the side’s talisman, having scored and laid on 24 goals in the league last season, while Đorđe Ivanović is yet to really get going this season but will be crucial as and when he does.
Ferencváros are a side who are, with backing from Orbán Viktor’s Hungarian government, increasingly forcing Europe to sit up and take notice. They made the knockout rounds of European competition for the first time ever last season, as they remarkably topped a Europa League group that also contained Crvena zvezda, Trabzonspor and Monaco. They are, despite their humiliation by KÍ, in with a puncher’s chance of repeating the feat this season after sailing through Conference qualification, having continued previous seasons’ substantial spending over the summer.
Standout Result: FK Žalgiris were, last season, the first Lithuanian side ever to reach a European group stage. Ferencváros ensured that dream would not be repeated this season by thrashing them 4-0 in the Lithuanian national team’s own stadium.
Players to Watch: Adama Traoré (not that one, or that one) signed for Ferencváros from Sheriff Tiraspol last season, and has kept up his habit of scoring in European competition with 6 goals in this season’s Conference qualifiers. If Ferencváros are to make the knockouts his performances will be key – as will those of Lisztes Krisztián, a dynamic homegrown attacking midfielder, who is joining Eintracht Frankfurt next summer and will therefore be looking to finish his time at Ferencváros on a high. Marquinhos (not that one, or that one) offers additional creativity on the left, while Norwegian international Kristoffer Zachariassen is a further source of goals. Ferencváros could represent a real surprise package this season.
Group G
PAE PAOK and HJK both featured in the inaugural Europa Conference League in 2021-22, with PAOK enjoying rather more success than the side from the Finnish capital. Both are back after a year’s absence, this time joined by Conference debutants Aberdeen FC and Eintracht Frankfurt. This group is one of the competition’s more straightforward, with Frankurt expecting to comfortably top the group and PAOK likely to follow them into the knockouts once more.
Eintracht are, by Conference standards, European royalty, having lost the 1959-60 European Cup final (under the stewardship of former Wehrmacht officer Paul Oßwald) and won the UEFA Cup/Europa League in both 1979-80 and 2021-22. Having progressed from their Champions League group last season, the Conference League will hold no fear for the Eagles – and may even help kickstart their stuttering domestic form, where they have only taken 4 points and 4 goals from their first 4 games.
Standout Result: They calmly dispatched Levski Sofia 2-0 in the second, home leg of their playoff tie, having been a little unlucky to draw the first leg 1-1.
Players to Watch: The first leg saw Randal Kolo Muani’s final goal for Eintracht before he forced a move to PSG; in his absence Eintracht have focused more on squad-building and exciting young talents than on marquee signings, and the Conference League should offer them a chance to shine. Tricky winger Farès Chaïbi, signed from Toulouse, offers a threat from the left and is a newly-minted Algeria international, while Malmö youth product and Swedish international Hugo Larsson will hope to pull some strings from deep. World Cup winner Mario Götze should be able to build on his successful debut with Eintracht last season, while centre-back Robin Koch has a career to rebuild after a torrid few years at Leeds.
Aberdeen have made a truly wretched start to this season, with their only win from eight games in all competitions a 2-1 Scottish League Cup win over third-tier side Stirling Albion. They are second-bottom of the Scottish Premiership, with only goals scored (3) keeping them from the foot of the table. The mood around the club could fairly be described as mutinous, and even HJK might fancy their chances of a result or two. Progression seems unlikely in the extreme.
Standout Result: N/A. A 2-2 draw away to BK Häcken in the first leg of their Europa League playoff was at least better than their capitulation at home in the return fixture.
Players to Watch: Liverpool loanee Rhys Williams is the most notable of 13 new arrivals at Pittodrie this season, but will have his work cut out at the back. Fellow Liverpool alumnus Leighton Clarkson is more of an unknown quantity but could shine in this competition. Duk was prolific in the Scottish Premiership last season but has failed to get off the mark so far this campaign, with North Macedonia international Bojan Miovski instead shouldering Aberdeen’s goalscoring burden. He has scored 5 of Aberdeen’s 8 goals in all competitions so far this season.
PAOK have plenty of European experience, and have rebounded from their shock qualifying exit at the hands of Levski Sofia last season to sail through this campaign’s qualification with only two goals conceded. They reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural Conference League and, while repeating that particular feat might prove beyond them, PAOK should not face any problems in qualifying from a group no stronger than the one they graced two years ago.
Standout Result: Heart of Midlothian made last season’s group stage, finishing third in a strong group. PAOK thrashed them 6-1 on aggregate, including a 4-0 win in Thessaloniki, to ensure that would not be repeated.
Players to Watch: Kiril Despodov is the name on everyone’s lips (alright, some people’s lips), having completed a move from Ludogorets just before the transfer window shut. He has been quieter this season than last, when he scored and assisted 23 times in the Bulgarian top flight, and may need to adjust his play to dovetail effectively with Andrija Živković, who has recovered from a stalled few years at Benfica to become arguably the key linkage in PAOK’s attack over the last few seasons. Brasilian midfielder Marcos Antônio, who lit up the Champions League group stage with Shakhtar in 2020-21, has joined on loan from Lazio but is out injured, while this could be a breakout campaign on the European stage for the 20-year-old attacker Giannis Konstantelias, who made his debut for Greece last season.
HJK finished a distant third place in their own 2021-22 Conference group, but shook off any disappointment to make the Europa League group stage last season. A tougher qualifying path this season saw them end up in the Conference League playoffs this time around, and they rose to the occasion to dispatch Farul Constanța. Progression to the knockouts once again seems unlikely, although they might fancy their chances of finishing third given Aberdeen’s woes.
Standout Result: A 1-0 home win over leading Norwegian side Molde was not enough to get HJK through their Champions League second qualifying round tie, but was nevertheless an impressive result.
Players to Watch: Bojan Radulović was one of HJK’s most expensive signings in years when he arrived mid-season from Swedish side AIK last August. It’s safe to say he has settled in Helsinki; an indifferent second half of 2022 gave way to a 2023 campaign where he has scored 20 goals in 33 games in all competitions, including both of HJK’s goals in their 2-0 home win over Farul. Captain Miro Tenho and Matti Peltola, both Finnish internationals, respectively offer experience and youthful promise in the centre of the park, while nomadic Swede Filip Rogić is a new signing in midfield after a six-month sojourn at Thai side Buriram.
Group H
All four teams in Group H are Conference debutants, although they will have dramatically different expectations for the campaign to come. Fenerbahçe SK are an illustrious club with a rich history, while FC Nordsjælland are an efficient Danish side whose seemingly inspiring story masks some darker realities. PFK Ludogorets 1945 bring ample European experience, while FC Spartak Trnava are the group’s minnows but achieved some notable upsets to qualify.
Fenerbahçe have begun their quest for a 20th Süper Lig title – and first in a decade – in imperious form, with 4 wins from their first 4 league games. Their road to the Conference group stage has been similarly serene, with only 2 goals conceded against 21 scored across their 6 qualification matches. No Turkish team has ever made it further than the Conference League round of 16, but given Fener’s astute recruitment this summer they might well fancy a tilt at the latter stages.
Standout Result: FC Twente are a good team who have beaten Ajax this season. Fenerbahçe humiliated them 5-1 at home in the playoff round, albeit courtesy of an early red card for the Dutch outfit.
Players to Watch: Fenerbahçe had an impressive summer of business, with 15 incoming signings. Of those, Edin Džeko is still a cut above most centre-forwards even aged 37. He has paired 6 goals with 5 assists in 8 appearances so far this season. Altay Bayındır has been replaced in goal by Croatia’s World Cup hero Dominik Livaković, while winger İrfan Kahveci has looked the most lethal of Fener’s Turkish contingent so far this season, while cult figure Dušan Tadić‘s signature inventiveness should help the attack tick over. Keep an eye out for Manchester United alumnus Fred too, who might thrive outside Old Trafford’s particularly deranged brand of limelight.
FC Nordsjælland have received plaudits in recent years for their work helping African talents to shine, courtesy of their links to the Right to Dream academy in Ghana. This positive and deeply incurious press has helped the club paper over two distinct but linked scandals, namely a shadowy transfer agreement with Manchester City (which saw the latter accused of breaking third-party ownership regulations five years ago) and persistent allegations of abuse at Right to Dream. Despite this moral void Nordsjælland’s sporting work is undeniably impressive, and they reached this season’s group stage without conceding a goal. They will have one eye on the knockouts.
Standout Result: Nordsjælland thrashed FK Partizan 5-0 at home in their playoff first leg, stunning a Serbian side which had reached the knockout stages of both previous Conference editions.
Players to Watch: Nordsjælland’s transfer model is so brisk it’s sometimes hard to keep track of who’s coming or going. Norwegian teenage talent Andreas Schjelderup was sold to Benfica in January but is back on loan for this campaign; he did not feature in qualifiers but should be able to leave his mark on the group stage. Marcus Ingvartsen, newly arrived from Mainz to lend some attacking experience to a youthful squad, has 8 goals in 10 games so far this season, while Mohamed Diomandé and Ibrahim Osman should ensure they can threaten from multiple angles of approach.
What Ludogorets lack in comparative glamour they make up for in European experience. The Bulgarian champions have missed out on European group stage football exactly once in the last decade, in 2015-16, and gave a good account of themselves in a strong Europa League group last season. They played three different Conference sides in succession in this season’s qualifying campaign, knocking Ballkani out of the Champions League and Astana out of the Europa League either side of a Champions League defeat to Olimpija Ljubljana, but could not overcome Ajax in their Europa League playoff. And really there’s no shame in that.
Standout Result: Ludogorets lost their first leg away to Astana 2-1 but got their revenge a week later. A crushing 5-1 win courtesy of braces by Bernard Tekpetey and Jakub Piotrowski was enough to guarantee Ludogorets some form of group stage football.
Players to Watch: Ludogorets lost both of last season’s top scorers, Igor Thiago and Kiril Despodov, to other Conference sides over the summer. Gambian centre-back Noah Sonko Sundberg should provide some steel in defence, as well as the odd goal, but Ludogorets’ campaign may well hinge on the quality of the partnership that loanee Santos striker Rwan Seco can strike up with Schalke alumnus Bernard Tekpetey.
Spartak Trnava are, like Ludogorets, unlikely to make it out of this group, but they might well throw up a few surprises along the way to add to their exploits in qualifying. Last season’s quarter-finalists Lech Poznań were dispatched in the Conference third qualifying round, and then joined on the scrapheap by Dnipro-1 of Ukraine. Their league form has, however, suffered in the course of this, and they are presently marooned in mid-table in the Slovak top flight.
Standout Result: It has to be Spartak’s second-leg win over Lech Poznań. Returning to Slovakia with a 2-1 deficit, Spartak dominated a feisty encounter (four yellow cards were handed out in the 97th minute) to win 3-1 on the night and 4-3 overall.
Players to Watch: Last season’s top scorer Abdulrahman Taiwo now plies his trade in Latvia, but Spartak have a number of experienced players who have stepped up in his place. The young Ghanaian winger Kelvin Ofori offers directness from the left, while older attacking duo Erik Daniel and former Austrian international Marco Djuricin bring goals to the table too. Experienced centre-back Lukáš Štetina has chipped in with three goals in Conference qualification, which are also the only goals he has ever scored for Spartak. The wonders of the Conference.
Predictions
The Kenilworth Road Away End Award for the Club Which Becomes The Easiest Numbers Fuel For Content Aggregators: KÍ Klaksvík
The Charlton Athletic Fan Forum Award for the Club Which Hires Alan Pardew to a Senior Leadership Role: Slovan Bratislava
The Super League Greece Award for the First Team to Get Slapped With a Stadium Ban By UEFA: Zrinjski Mostar
The Neil Lennon Award for the Club Which Hires Will Still: KAA Gent
Europa Conference League Winners: Aston Villa
