UEFA Europa League PREVIEW 20 Aug 2026: UEFA Europa League play-off first legs: Zvezda, Benfica in action

The pick of Thursday's Europa League play-off first legs is at the Stadion Rajko Mitic, where Crvena zvezda try to pick themselves up from a Champions League exit that turned sour - and from the reshuffle that followed it. Dejan Stankovic's side thrashed Larne 9-0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round only to lose 3-0 on aggregate to Hapoel Beer Sheva, going down 2-0 at home in the second leg; Stankovic resigned afterwards and has been replaced by the Spaniard Albert Riera. Their play-off opponents, Viktoria Plzen, arrive short of form and short of confidence, having opened the Czech league season with a three-match winless run. Zvezda's own website framed the tie as a chance to show "character and mental strength" of the kind shown in 2020 and 2021.

Benfica host Aarhus at the Estadio da Luz off the back of a 7-0 demolition of Casa Pia in which Vangelis Pavlidis scored a hat-trick, and they came through the previous round against Hearts, winning 6-1 at home before a 1-1 draw in Scotland. Aarhus, Danish champions for the first time in 40 years, arrive having seen their own Champions League run collapse: a 2-1 first-leg lead over Sabah Baku was wiped out by a 4-0 defeat in the return, sending them down to the Europa League. It is Aarhus who eliminated Lech Poznan from the Champions League in the second qualifying round, a tie in which Lech won 4-1 in Denmark and Aarhus won 4-1 in Poznan before the Danes took the shootout 4-3. Aarhus have lost three of their last four meetings with Benfica.

Besiktas welcome Kauno Zalgiris to Tupras Stadyumu with a European clean-sheet run of four qualifying matches, having beaten Hradec Kralove 2-0 on aggregate with a Vaclav Cerny goal settling the second leg, and having also eliminated Midtjylland 3-0 on aggregate earlier in the campaign. New head coach Vincenzo Italiano has begun with a 1-0 league win over Eyupspor. Kauno Zalgiris, the Lithuanian champions, had a brutal introduction to continental football this summer, losing 7-1 on aggregate to Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League qualifying, and they go into Thursday off the back of a 1-1 draw with Transinvest at home. It is the first time the two clubs have met in European competition.

Lech Poznan, still smarting from their Champions League exit to Aarhus on penalties, look to finish the job they started against KI Klaksvik, whom they beat 6-0 on aggregate - 1-0 at home, then 5-0 in the Faroes at the Torsvollur - keeping a clean sheet in both legs. Their play-off opponents are FC Thun, who had not reached the qualifiers at any level since 2019-20, when Spartak Moscow beat them 5-3 on aggregate in the Europa League's third qualifying round. Gian-Luca Privitelli's side have managed only three wins in eight matches domestically this season and lost three away games in a row before the weekend, conceding at least three goals in each, though they did put six past Saxon-Sports in the cup on Sunday.

Universitatea Craiova, ending a 35-year wait for the Romanian title last season, host Ararat-Armenia at the Ion Oblemenco having scraped past KuPS 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Kuopio and a 2-1 home win. Ararat-Armenia, champions of Armenia for the first time since 2020, reached this stage after beating Riga and Shamrock Rovers in the Champions League qualifying rounds before falling 3-2 on aggregate to Celje, a tie Manuel Tulipa's side led after winning the first leg 2-1 at home. Craiova have faced Armenian opposition before, drawing 1-1 at home to FC Noah in last season's Conference League league phase, but this is a first meeting with Ararat-Armenia.

Jagiellonia Bialystok host Iberia 1999 after eliminating Rangers in the third qualifying round, winning 2-1 at home before a Nik Prelec equaliser secured a 1-1 draw in Glasgow for a 3-2 aggregate success. Iberia 1999 needed extra time to get past Larne, Nika Sikharulashvili scoring the winner in the 102nd minute of the second leg for a 2-1 aggregate win after a goalless draw in Northern Ireland.

Kairat Almaty return to the Central Stadium having been eliminated from the Champions League by Levski Sofia, beaten 1-0 in both legs, and now face Anderlecht. Vitor Bruno's side opened their own European summer with a 1-1 draw against Hammarby and a 3-1 win in Brussels, then came through against PAOK, that tie settled by a 1-0 win in Greece and a 3-2 victory back at Lotto Park for a 4-2 aggregate success.

In Sweden, Allsvenskan champions Mjallby host Red Bull Salzburg at Strandvallen for the first leg of their play-off tie, the first time either club has faced the other. Mjallby, who won their maiden league title last year finishing 13 points clear of Hammarby, dropped down from the Champions League after losing to Slovan Bratislava, while Danny Rohl's Salzburg needed a fightback from two goals down in the second leg to get past Pafos 4-3 on aggregate, having won the first leg 1-0.