UEFA men’s club competitions first qualifying round concludes

The opening qualifying ties have already produced historic results across the continent, with clubs from Albania, Hungary and Finland among the victors. Here are some of the standout stories from the latest round of action.

UEFA Champions League: Craiova continue fine run

Universitatea Craiova overcame ML Vitebsk of Belarus 5-1 on aggregate, following a 1-0 win on Wednesday. The victory capped a historic week after they clinched the Romanian Super Cup on penalties last weekend – their third domestic trophy of 2026.

Egnatia recorded a 6-1 victory over Petrocub of Moldova, which equalled the biggest-ever winning margin for an Albanian club in European competition. The 7-2 aggregate result meant that Egnatia advanced in a UEFA Champions League tie for the first time in their history.

Several other sides reached the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round for the first time, including Ararat-Armenia, Víkingur Reykjavík, Sabah, Kauno Žalgiris and Larne.

Matthew Ridley of Larne celebrates his goal against Tre FioriCharles McQuillan/Getty Images

UEFA Europa League: Penalties required for Kyiv

In the UEFA Europa League, one tie went all the way to penalties with Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv emerging victorious over Romanian side Universitatea Cluj following a 0-0 draw on aggregate, earning themselves a second qualifying round tie with PAOK of Greece.

Fresh from playing for Haiti at the FIFA World Cup, Lenny Joseph scored the opener in a 3-0 win for Ferencváros over Vojvodina. The Hungarian side will face FC Twente in the next round, while the Serbian club drop into the UEFA Conference League qualifiers and will face four-time European champions Ajax.

See the full UEFA Europa League results and fixtures here.

UEFA Conference League: Big wins and late comebacks

In the UEFA Conference League, Levadia Tallinn mirrored their 5-0 first leg win in the return match against Caernarfon, winning 10-0 on aggregate – the biggest margin of victory in this round of qualifying.

Atlètic Club d’Escaldes left it late with David Valero converting two stoppage-time penalties to clinch a 2-1 away win in Montenegro against Mornar, putting the Andorran side through 4-2 on aggregate.

Inter Turku and Ilves secured 2-1 and 3-1 victories in their respective second legs to make it a hat-trick of Finnish sides progressing in Europe, with KuPS Kuopio having also advanced in the UEFA Champions League.

See the full UEFA Conference League results and fixtures here.