PAOK vs Club Brugge facts

Club Brugge travel to Greece to face PAOK in the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final holding a 1-0 lead following victory in Bruges.

The Belgian side struck the decisive goal only six minutes into the first game through Hugo Vetlesen, although the home side had a chance to extend their advantage in the second-half only for PAOK goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski to save Thiago's 78th-minute penalty.

PAOK – who are at this stage of the competition for the second time in three seasons – do have recent experience of a second-leg comeback having overturned a 2-0 first-leg defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the round of 16 with an emphatic 5-1 win in Greece.

Danish forward Andreas Skov Olsen scored two goals in Club Brugge's 3-0 home victory against Molde in the second leg of their round of 16 tie to help them to a 4-2 aggregate win following a 2-1 loss in Norway in the first leg.

Previous meetings

PAOK wins 0
Club Brugge wins 1
Draws 2
PAOK goals 2
Club Brugge goals 3

Club Brugge and PAOK met in the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2010/11, both games finishing 1-1. PAOK qualified in second place of Group D while the Belgian side were eliminated after finishing bottom.

Form guide

PAOK

Record vs Belgian clubs: W3 D3 L1 F7 A5
Home record vs Belgian clubs: W1 D2 L0

PAOK were unbeaten in their six previous matches against Belgian sides, winning three and drawing three, before losing at Club Brugge.

They took on Gent in the 2021/22 Europa Conference League round of 16, winning 1-0 at home in the first leg and 2-1 in Belgium to qualify for the quarter-final.

The Greek club finished second in Group F in 2021/22 behind Copenhagen but ahead of both Slovan Bratislava and Lincoln Red Imps with 11 points from their six games. That led them to a knockout round play-off against Midtjylland which they won 5-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw over two legs. They then beat Gent in the round of 16 before losing to Marseille in the quarter-finals (1-2 a, 0-1 h).

That was PAOK's 11th UEFA group stage appearance and the fifth time they had qualified from their section; their victories against Midtjylland and Gent represented their first European knockout wins, group stage to final.

A fourth-place finish in the Greek Super League last season earned a Europa Conference League place for 2023/24. They beat Beitar Jerusalem in the second qualifying round (0-0 h, 4-1 a), Hadjuk Split (0-0 a, 3-0 h) in the third and Hearts (2-1 a, 4-0 h) in the play-offs to qualify for the group stage.

The Greek side quickly took control of Group G by beating HJK Helsinki (3-2 a), 2021/22 Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt (2-1 h) and Aberdeen (3-2 a) in their first three fixtures. A 2-2 draw at home to the Scottish side checked that momentum, but concluding wins at Eintracht (2-1) and at home to HJK (4-2) ensured Răzvan Lucescu's side finished seven points clear in the standings.

Despite a 2-0 defeat in the first leg against Dinamo Zagreb in their round of 16 tie, an emphatic 5-1 home victory ensured their passage to the last eight.

PAOK have lost only one of their last 12 home games in the Europa Conference League, winning eight and drawing three.

PAOK have lost the first leg away from home in UEFA club competition 21 times but have come back to progress seven times.

In the five times they have lost 1-0, they have progressed on aggregate three times, most recently in the 2021/22 Europa Conference League knockout round play-offs when they lost at Midtjylland in Denmark in the first leg but won the second leg 2-1 in Greece and went on to win 5-3 on penalties.

PAOK's record in five UEFA penalty-shoot-outs is W1 L4:
4-5 v Eintracht Frankfurt, 1981/82 European Cup Winners' Cup first round
8-9 v Bayern München, 1983/84 UEFA Cup second round
3-4 v Sevilla, 1990/91 UEFA Cup first round
1-4 v Benfica 1999/2000 UEFA Cup second round
5-3 v Midtjylland, 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League knockout round play-off

Club Brugge

Record vs Greek clubs: W5 D5 L3 F13 A10
Away record vs Greek clubs: W0 D3 L3

Despite being unbeaten in their seven home matches against Greek teams (W5 D2), Club Brugge are without a victory in their six away games in the country (D3 L3), most recently following up a goalless home draw with AEK Athens in a Europa League qualifying play-off with a 3-0 loss in the Greek capital.

Blauw-Zwart have a formidable recent record in European football having spent each of the last five seasons in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Last season the Belgian side finished ahead of both Leverkusen and Atlético de Madrid with 11 points from their six games, losing just once and winning all three of their home games without conceding. However, their run was abruptly halted by a 7-1 aggregate defeat against Benfica in the round of 16 (0-2 h, 1-5 a).

Following three successive titles between 2019/20 and 2021/22, Club Brugge were fourth in the Belgian First Division last season, their lowest league finish in 12 years. That meant they had to come through three qualifying matches to reach the group stage, defeating Denmark's AGF Aarhus (3-0 h, 0-1 a), KA Akureyri of Iceland (5-1 h, 5-1 a) and Spanish side Osasuna (2-1 a, 2-2 h).

The Belgian side began Group D with a 1-1 home draw against Beşiktaş but won their next five matches, following their Matchday 2 victory at Bodø/Glimt by defeating Swiss side Lugano 3-1 away and 2-0 at home and then winning 5-0 away to the Turkish side again before the concluding home win against Bodø/Glimt.

Their group-topping performance brought them to a round of 16 tie against Molde, and after losing 2-1 in Norway in the first leg, they recovered with a 3-0 second-leg victory at home to reach a first UEFA quarter-final since losing to Ukrainian side Dnipro in the 2014/15 Europa League (0-0 h, 0-1 a).

That 2-1 loss against Molde in the last round ended Brugge’s run of five straight away victories in the Europa Conference League.

On 18 March, Brugge parted ways with head coach Ronny Deila after ten months in charge with youth coach Nicky Hayen appointed as his interim replacement.

Club Brugge have won the first leg at home 1-0 on 11 occasions and have progressed in six of those ties. The last time they won the home first leg by a solitary goal came in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round when they edged past Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, drawing 3-3 away to progress.

Club Brugge's record in four UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W4 L0:
4-1 v Shakhtar Donetsk, 2002/03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round
4-2 v Borussia Dortmund, 2003/04 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round
4-3 v Vålerenga, 2005/06 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round
4-3 v Lech Poznań, 2009/10 UEFA Europa League qualifying play-off

Links and trivia

PAOK's Mbwana Samatta played for Belgian side Genk from 2016 to 2020, and had loan spells from Fenerbahçe with both Antwerp (2021/22) and back at Genk (2022/23). He played 19 times against Club Brugge, scoring six goals.

Giannis Konstantelias spent six months on loan at Belgian side Eupen in 2022, making only eight substitute appearances.

William Troost-Ekong was a Gent player between 2015 and 17 but made only eight appearances.

Soualiho Meité was on loan at Belgian side Zulte-Waregem from LOSC Lille between 2016 and 2017, making six appearances against Club Brugge (D2 L4).

Have played together:
Kiril Despodov & Igor Thiago (Ludogorets 2022–23)
Rafa Soares & Denis Odoi (Fulham 2017)
Tomasz Kędziora & Michał Skóraś (Lech Poznán 2017 & 2022)

Tomasz Kędziora and Michał Skóraś are Poland team-mates.