UEFA Conference League PREVIEW 13 Aug 2026: three of twenty-five ties still level, Motherwell and HJK among them

Three of Thursday's twenty-five Conference League second legs are still level: HJK drew 1-1 with Motherwell, Rakow drew 0-0 with Hammarby, and Noah drew 2-2 with Sion. Motherwell's is the one with Scottish interest - they drew away and host the return under Alfred Johansson, appointed after, as a Sports Mole preview put it, "Askou subsequently left at the end of the term to join Toulouse, with Alfred Johansson appointed as his successor". The same preview noted of their opponents: "Veteran Teemu Pukki has scored two and assisted two in the Conference League this term".

Shelbourne have the harder night. Ajax won the first leg 3-1 at home - Sports Mole's preview of the return recorded that "The Dutch side emerged as 3-1 winners at home on August 6" - so Shelbourne host on Thursday two goals down. They reached this stage the hard way, The Stats Zone writing that "Shelbourne showed their frailties and deficiencies in defence in their 6-4 aggregate win over Nomme". The other British side carry a narrower lead: Hibernian beat Shkendija 2-1 at home and now travel.

Several ties look close to settled. Twente won 6-0 at home and go to Dun. Streda; Tromso won 5-0 away at CFR Cluj; Drita won 4-1 away at Tre Fiori; and Hajduk Split won 5-2 away at Zalgiris, which is the result to weigh against Futbol24's note that the Lithuanians arrived "scoring a remarkable 12 goals in their last four matches". Partizan beat Tobol 3-0 at home, St. Gallen won 3-1 away at Sheriff Tiraspol, and Inter Club d'Escaldes beat Flora 2-0 at home.

Qarabag host Dyn. Kyiv a goal down, having lost the first leg 1-0 away; Tips.GG had them reaching this round "having just survived a dramatic aggregate battle against CSKA Sofia, conceding five goals across two legs". Austria Vienna won 2-1 away at Beitar Jerusalem and host the return.

The rest all have a first leg behind them. Ilves lost 1-0 away to Rijeka and RFS 2-0 away to Jablonec. Dinamo Minsk lost 1-0 at Braga, MKK-Dnepr 1-0 at Borac Banja Luka, Dinamo Tirana 1-0 at Auda, and Gyori ETO 1-0 at Riga FC. Going the other way, Midtjylland won 2-0 away at Bohemians, Nordsjaelland 2-0 at Valur, and Gent 1-0 at Goteborg. Lugano beat NSI Runavik 2-0 at home and Inter Turku beat Vaduz 2-1 at home.