Europa League Qualifying Starts

The opening contests of the twenty-five two-game series in the opening round of qualifying for next season's Europa League were played on Thursday.

At Yerevan, Armenia:

Irakli Kobalia scored the only goal of the match at 48 minutes as Olimpi Rustavi took game one of their two-match set with Banants 1-0 on the road.

At Baku, Azerbaijan:

Viktor Ibeyoki's equalizer at 14 minutes salvaged a game one 1-1 home draw for AZAL Baku.  Ihor Voronkov scored what might still be a precious away goal for FC Minsk with his tally at 11 minutes.

At Gargzdai, Lituania:

Vuqar Nadirov scored twice (33', 70') as FK Qarabag bagged Banga Gargzdai 4-0 on the road in their series opener.

At Tallinn, Estonia:

Krste Velkoski (15'), Borce Manevski (51'), Filip Petovski (73'), and Vlatko Grozdanovski (88') each scored a goal as Rabotnicki vitually assured themselves of advancing following their match-one 4-1 domination of FC Trans Narva on the road.

At Belgrade, Serbia:

Marko Stanojevic (PK-5', 12') and Nemanja Kojic (9', 48') each scored twice as FK Rad Belgrade ripped apart visiting SP Tre Penne 6-0 in game one of their two-match series.

At Daugavpils, Latvia:

Magnus Andersen's double (31', 40') was just part of an offensive display that saw Tromso IL demolish Daugava Daugavpils 5-0 on the road in the opening contest of their two-game set.

At Boras, Sweden:

David Elm tallied twice (24', 90'+3) as Elfsborg blasted visiting Fola Esch 4-0 in their series opener.

At Vantaa, Finland:

The opening contest between FC Honka and visiting Kalju ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Varazdin, Croatia:

With Nikola Safaric (4', 59') and Dejan Glavica (40', 57') each registering a double, NK Varteks Varazdin had no trouble with visiting Lusitanos of Andorra 5-1 in game one of their two-match series.

At Budapest, Hungary:

With goals courtesy of Gyorgy Jozsi (31'), Mark Otten (33'), and Felix Almeida Felipe (69'), Ferencvaros dominated visiting Ulisses 3-0 in their series opener.

At Andorra la Vella, Andorra:

Gabor Vayer scored the only goal of the match at 14 minutes as Paksi SE took the opening match of their series 1-0 on the road over UE Santa Coloma.

At Alesund, Norway:

Aalesund spotted Neath Athletic a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, then scored four unanswered goals (Lars Fuhre [35'], Magnus Olsen [37'], Fredrik Ulvestad [PK-48'], and Kjell Sellin [77']) as they smothered the visiting Welsh club 4-1 in their series opener.

At Tbilisi, Georgia:

Nika Kvekveskiri (4') and Irakli Lekvtadze (71') each tallied once as Dinamo Tbilisi defeated visiting FC Milsami Orhei 2-0 in the first match of their two-game series.

At Trnava, Slovakia:

With Koro Kone (29'), Marek Kascak (48'), and Ladislav Tomacek (81') each knocking in a goal, Spartak Trnava dominated visiting Zeta 3-0 in the series opener.

At Torshavn, Faroe Islands:

After trailing early, KR Reykjavik, with goals from Kjartan Finnbogason (22'), Gudhmundur Gunnarsson (30'), and Baldur Sigurdsson (79') overcame IF 3-1 on the road in game one.

At Reykjavik, Iceland:

A successful penalty kick at 50 minutes courtesy of Andri Olafsson provided all the game-one scoring as IBV Vestmannaeyjar topped St. Patrick's Athletic 1-0.

At Luxembourg City, Luxembourg:

Mattias Ostberg's stoppage time equalizer (90'+3) provided what could be a precious road goal for BK Hacken as the Swedish club gained a 1-1 road deadlock in game one of their series with UN Kaerjeng 97.  Stephane Da Cruz scored at 85 minutes for the hosts.

At Oswestry, England:

Barry Johnston's equalizer at 39 minutes gave Cliftonville the advantage following their 1-1 game-one road draw with The New Saints (Alex Darlington scoring at 26 minutes for the hosts).

At London:

Damien Duff (33'), Daniel Murphy (PK-61'), and Andrew Johnson (70') each scored once as Fulham overpowered visiting NSI 3-0 in the opening game of their two-match series.

At Bialystok, Poland:

With Tomasz Frankowski providing all the scoring at 80 minutes, Jagiellonia Bialystok took the opening game of their two-match set with Irtysh of Kazakhstan 1-0 at home.

At Paola, Malta:

With Xhevair Sukaj scoring the lone goal of the match at 2 minutes, Vllaznia Shkoder took the opening match of their two-game series with Birkirkara 1-0 on the road.

At Skopje, Macedonia:

Boban Jancevski (PK-14') and Maurem Bajrami (87') each scored a goal as Renova took match one with Glentoran 2-1 at home.  Colin Nixon scored what might still be an important away goal for the Northern Irish club in first-half stoppage time (45'+3).

At Koper, Slovenia:

A stoppage time tally from Zhambyl Kukeyev (90'+3) provided a potentially precious road goal for Shakhter Karagandy as the visiting club from Kazakhstan gained a 1-1 game-one draw with FC Koper.  Davor Bubanja scored for the hosts at 84 minutes.

At Siroki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Nothing but goose eggs as the opening match between NK Siroki Brijeg and visiting NK Olimpia Ljubljana ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Podgorica, Montenegro:

Artan Sakaj scored twice (23', PK-65') as Flamurtari Vlore took the opening contest of their series with Buducnost Podgorica 3-1 on the road.