Ludogorets 1-2 Dinamo Minsk
Another immediate elimination for Ludogorets, just like in all their other participations. Whenever they played the group stages they always finished bottom of their group without a single win (0-0-6 and 0-1-5), and whenever they started in the domestic path they never progressed from round 1.
They're the worst team in UYL history considering the subset of teams that played a minimum of 18 matches.
Hamilton Academical 4-5 Molde
This time Molde prevailed against Scottish opposition in round 1, unlike last season when they were eliminated by Hibernian. In the first leg they got the biggest win in their UYL history, 3-0, and then in the second leg despite losing 2-4 they still advanced. It was also Hamilton Academical's first ever UYL win, they were in a winless streak of 5 matches, two draws against Basel followed by two defeats against Midtjylland and one defeat against Molde.
Istanbul Basaksehir 2-5 Dinamo Zagreb
Dinamo Zagreb won both legs and advanced, just like they did in their previous participation in domestic path round 1, in 2018 against Viitorul. Istanbul Basaksehir became the second Turkish team being immediately eliminated in domestic path round 1, the first was Bursaspor in 2017 against Saburtalo, but Istanbul Basaksehir was even worse, at least Bursaspor didn't lose both legs.
Midtjylland 2-2 Famalicão (7-6 penalty shootout)
Famalicão became the first Portuguese team eliminated in domestic path round 1, the only other ever playing here was Porto in 2019 and they advanced against Liepaja. Midtjylland finally prevailed against Portuguese opposition, after being eliminated by Benfica in 2016/2017, by Porto in 2018/2019, and by Benfica in 2021/2022. It was the fifth time that Midtjylland played a penalty shootout and the fourth that they advanced.
Sheriff 6-0 Turan Turkistan
Congratulations Sheriff!
5-0 is the biggest win in their UYL history! It's the second time that they advance from domestic path round 1, the first was against Shkendija Tirana in 2019 with two wins, aggregate score 3-1. Turan Turkistan was the second team from Kazakhstan losing in domestic path round 1 with two defeats, the other was Aktobe in 2015, also lost twice, aggregate score 0-6 against Besiktas.
Puskás Akadémia 1-2 Qabala
Congratulations Qabala!
It was the sixth time that they played domestic path round 1, and the second that they progressed. The other qualification was against Sheriff in 2018, and the four eliminations were against Dinamo Moskva in 2016, APOEL in 2019, AZ Alkmaar in 2021 and Hajduk Split in 2022. Worst ever UYL participation for Puskás Akadémia, eliminated in round 1 with 1 draw and 1 defeat.
Sarajevo 2-4 Rukh Lviv
Rukh Lviv reached the domestic path round 2 for the second season in a row, and interrupted its winless streak of 3 UYL matches (Internazionale, Milan and Sarajevo). Sarajevo was the third Bosnian team in a row eliminated in domestic path round 1, last season it was Borac Banja Luka with two defeats against Ashdod, and two seasons ago Zvijezda with two defeats against Trabzonspor.
Zilina 6-0 Pafos
5-0 was the biggest win in Zilina's UYL history, above 5-1 against PAOK in 2021. Zilina is now in an undefeated streak of 4 UYL matches (Internazionale, Salzburg and Pafos x2), the longest in its UYL history. Pafos was just like Omonoia and AEL Limassol, eliminated in domestic path round 1 with two defeats. APOEL remains the only Cypriot that doesn't always lose, and even in APOEL's case losing is still the most frequent outcome.
Nantes 1-1 Lech Poznan (4-2 penalty shootout)
Nantes reached the domestic path round 2 for the second season in a row. However, last season they did it with 2 wins, aggregate score 5-0 against Pyunik, while this time they did it with two draws. While Nantes was worse than last time but still advanced, Lech Poznan was better than last time but was still eliminated. Last time they were eliminated by Hertha Berlin in 2018 with 2 defeats, aggregate score 2-5.
Klaipeda 0-14 AZ Alkmaar
12-0 in the first leg was the biggest win in UYL history. In the second leg AZ Alkmaar started with 9 different players and this time "only" won 2-0. AZ Alkmaar extended its undefeated streak to 13 UYL matches. Third season in a row with a Lithanian participant that can't progress from domestic path round 1, last season Zalgiris was eliminated by Trencin, and two seasons ago Zalgiris was eliminated by Maccabi Haifa.
HJK 5-3 Malmö
HJK became the first Finnish team reaching round 2, and also the first winning a UYL match. They progressed in attempt #4, after being eliminated by Celtic in 2015, Cork City in 2016 and Altinordu in 2018. The other Finnish participations were KaPa eliminated by Esbjerg in 2017 and Honka eliminated by Sogndal in 2019. Malmö interrupted its winless streak of 11 UYL matches when they won the second leg here, but it wasn't enough to advance.
Partizan 5-0 Universitatea Craoiva
The only clash with two UYL debutants. For the sixth season in a row the Romanian participant was eliminated in domestic path round 1 (Csikszereda x2, before them Viitorul x2, and before them Dinamo Bucharest). Partizan was the 5th different Serbian team progressing from domestic path round 1, after Rad (2015 vs Domzale), Cukaricki (2016 vs Domzale), Brodarac (2016 vs Maccabi Haifa) and Crvena Zvezda x2(2021 vs St. Patrick's and 2022 vs Omonoia)
Mainz 3-1 Maribor
Maribor is like Ludogorets, another immediate elimination, just like in all their other participations. Whenever they played group stages they always finished bottom of their group, and whenever they started in the domestic path they never progressed from round 1. They're the worst team in UYL history considering the subset of teams that played a minimum of 16 matches.
Basel 3-0 Gent
Two teams in winless streaks of 4 UYL matches, in Gent's case actually in a losing streak of 4 UYL matches too. Gent extended both its streaks to 6 now, while Basel interrupted its. Basel is the opposite of the other Swiss participant in this UYL edition, that so far lost all its 3 matches, while Gent is similar to the other Belgian participant in this UYL edition, that so far also lost all its 3 matches. The difference is that in Gent's case is already game over.
Lecce 2-6 Olympiacos
Congratulations Olympiacos!
They interrupted their losing streak of 5 UYL matches and winless streak of 6 with two 3-1 wins against the "Italian champion". It's weird to call them "Italian champion", it's the first time that a team from Italy was eliminated in domestic path round 1. And in their starting XI it was difficult to find Italian players. To lose twice, aggregate score 2-6 against Olympiacos, couldn't they do it with local players, do they have to import so many?
Dragonite wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 15:26
I expect the following teams to advance: Nantes, Zilina, Rukh Lviv, Sparta Praha, AZ Alkmaar, HJK Helsinki, Molde, Midtjylland, Turan, Partizan, Lecce, Dinamo Minsk, Mainz, Basel, Dinamo Zagreb and Puskás Akadémia.
I was wrong about 3: Sheriff advanced instead of Turan, Olympiacos instead of Lecce, and Qabala instead of Puskás Akadémia.
Champions League (all 141 participants - 1992/1993 to 2019/2020)
