Europa League First Qualifying Round Preview

UEFA Europa League football is back for the 2026/27 season, the 18th under the competition's current guise. More than a month and a half after Aston Villa won the final, Europe's second tier tournament will begin on Thursday with a dozen sides.

It will be a challenge for all 12 teams, who will be hoping to qualify for the league phase, though they will have to successfully negotiate four qualifying rounds. Under the current format, only Elfsborg have been able to achieve such a feat.

Here is a preview of the six ties to begin the UEL season.

Regular Domestic Champions In Unfamiliar Territory

There are two teams in this Europa League qualifying rounds who are used to playing in the Champions League. One of them are Hungary's Ferencváros, who will take on Vojvodina. It is the first time in more than 50 years that Fradi will meet a Serbian side. The defeated Crvena zvezda in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup Winners Cup, where they reached the final before losing to Dynamo Kyiv. Vojvodina, who finished second in Serbia, beat Honvéd home and away in the UEL 13 years ago.

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The other surprise entrant at this stage are Qarabağ, who made the knockout round playoffs in the UCL last term. Their latest continental journey will begin against Iceland's Vestri. The Azeri side have prevailed in each of their last eight ties in UEL qualifying, with their last failure coming in 2013/14 in the playoff round. Vestri, currently plying heir trade in the second tier in Iceland, have never participated in Europe before this.

Tie of the Round: Dynamo Kyiv vs Universitatea Cluj

For the tie of the round, two-time Cup Winners Cup champions Dynamo Kyiv will be given a tough test in their tie as they take on Romanian outfit Universitatea Cluj.

After a disappointing 2025/26 campaign, which saw them finish fourth in Ukraine and crash out of Europe at the UEFA Conference League group phase. Cup glory saw them return to the UEL, where they face a steep task to try and return to the league phase for the first time since 2022/23. In nine previous games against Romanian opposition, Dynamo own a 4-3-2 record.

In stark contrast, this is just the ninth European clash in Universitatea Cluj's history. While they have never featured in the Europa League in its current state, they did take on Levski Sofia in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup first round, losing 6-5 on aggregate after extra time. Șepcile roșii finished second in both the Romanian league and cup last season behind CS Universitatea Craiova.

Looking At the UEFA Coefficient Battles For the 2026/27 Season

The other fascinating perspective about this tie is its significance in UEFA's five-year country coefficient ranking, with both Romania and Ukraine in contention to finish the season in the top 22.

Cup Winners Hope For Lengthy Run

Of the 12 sides involved in this round, seven of them prevailed in their domestic cups. Only one tie is between a pair of cup winners. Sheriff Tiraspol and Aluminij square off in one, with the Moldovans hoping to return to a league phase. This will be Aluminij's first crack at playing in Europe after winning their first major trophy.

Bulgarian side CSKA-Sofia will be favourites for their tie as they take on Derry City. This is the only repeat clash of the round, with CSKA winning 2-1 on aggregate in a third qualifying round tie 17 years ago. It led to the first of their three appearances in the group stage.

Croatian giants Hajduk Split look to qualify for a group phase for just the second time when the face Žilina of Slovakia. It is the second time in three seasons that Hajduk will face a Slovak side, and will hope for a better outcome. Ružomberok eliminated them in the penultimate stage of Conference League qualification two summers ago.

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All 12 matches in this round will occur over the next two Thursdays, with the winners entering the second qualifying round later on in the month. The losing sides will drop to the UECL, and will continue their European journeys there.