The European football season is already in the early stages of the final phase

Whilst Bellingham led Norway’s comeback and Merino proved once again to be the saviour against Belgium, Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers overturned the Maltese side Floriana, and the Faroe Islands champions KI Klaksvik knocked out Luxembourg’s Atert Bissen, a team that had won the domestic league as a newly promoted side. On 7 July, the World Cup was still in full swing, but on the other side of the Atlantic, someone else was already embarking on their dream. The new format for the Champions League and Europa League – with the main draw expanding from 32 to 36 teams – and the creation of the Conference League have opened the doors wide to those who have always been on the fringes of top-flight football. UEFA before the European Union. 2025 was the year of the Hamrun Spartans, the first team to represent Malta in the knockout stages of a European cup competition. Managed by an Italian, Giacomo Modica (now replaced by former World Cup winner Marco Amelia), they were knocked out in the Conference League’s group stage. It matters little; they had the satisfaction of winning at least one match. For the Kazakhs of Kairat Almaty, however, scoring was enough to celebrate: they were losing 4–0 to Bruges, but you never forget your first goal in the Champions League.

Who will look back on 2026 as their year? Certainly one of Hapoel Be’er Sheva or Sabah Baku: the Israeli side made a name for themselves in 2016 by beating Inter – first under de Boer and then under Pioli – twice in the Europa League, whilst the Azerbaijani club did not yet exist. It was founded a year later. They will face each other in one of the seven Champions League play-offs. Bodø/Glimt are also in the mix, speaking of clubs capable of achieving glory against Inter. They will face NEC Nijmegen, a Dutch side that has never reached such heights. To knock out Olympiacos in the previous round, they needed a goal from Emre Mor – a long-standing target for Italian clubs in the Turkish transfer market – and an assist from the even more veteran Dusan Tadic, the sublime attacking midfielder for ten Hag’s Ajax. Perr Schuurs is also in the squad; however, the former Torino defender is still injured.

There is even a solution for fans of the Norwegian model who now consider Bodø too mainstream: supporting Viking, the reigning Eliteserien champions. Facing Dinamo Zagreb, they would be making their debut in the final stages of the most coveted tournament. A must-win for some, a game to play for many more. Among them is Celje, which aspires to become the second Slovenian club in the Champions League after Maribor. To reach this stage, they had to knock out Ararat Armenia, another very young club founded in 2017 in the capital, Yerevan. It bears the name of the mountain of the same name, a true symbol of the country’s identity despite the fact that it has lain entirely within Turkey since 1921, just a few kilometres from the border. Ararat could become the first Armenian team to reach the knockout stages of the Europa League. To do so, they will have to beat the Romanian side Universitatea Craiova.

Summer cup competitions are like a fascinating Interrail journey, where the journey matters more than the destination. Not for everyone, though: Dejan Stankovic was sacked by Red Star Belgrade after being knocked out by Hapoel Be’er Sheva, having been sent off in the decisive match and clashed with the crowd as he left the pitch. Nor can Vincenzo Italiano afford to slip up against Beşiktaş, especially following the arrival of Dusan Vlahovic. He hasn’t done so so far and mustn’t do so against Zalgiris, a Lithuanian name usually associated with basketball. For Benfica, too, qualifying for the Europa League knockout stages is a must. The Portuguese side began their campaign on 23 July with a defeat in Switzerland, but then scored five goals against St. Gallen in the return leg and another six in a single match against Hearts. Now they face the Danish side Aarhus.

Is it better to compete in the most prestigious cup competition, knowing you cannot win it, or to take part in a less prestigious tournament where you are among the favourites? Financial returns provide their own indisputable answer, but for Atalanta, Monaco and Ajax – all of whom were in the Champions League last year – it is best not to underestimate the start of the Conference League against teams that have already been playing competitive matches for a month. They are, however, favourites against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Gornik Zabrze and Sion. It is harder, however, to determine who the favourites are between Lincoln (Gibraltar) and Larne (Northern Ireland), or between the Andorran side Inter Escaldes – a club whose crest and colours echo those of its near-namesake in Italy – and the Kosovar side Drita, a progressive team. The name means ‘light’ in Albanian, and in the stands they have the ‘Intelektualet’, the country’s best-known ultras group.