Europa League

29 games were played on Thursday as the third round of Europa League qualifying commenced.

At Dubnica nad Vahom, Slovakia:
Constantin Budescu (8'), Fwayo Tembo (49'), and Kehinde Fatai (51') provided the scoring as FC Astra Giurgiu defeated FK Trencin 3-1 on the road in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Riga, Latvia:
Maccabi Haifa held hosts FK Ventspils to a 0-0 series-opening stalemate.

At Brest, Belarus:
Paulo Henrique scored the only goal of the match in the 41st minute as Trabzonspor defeated Dinamo Minsk 1-0 on road in game one of their two-match series.

At Ploiesti, Romania:
Frank van der Struijk's own goal in the 84th minute lifted FC Petrolul Ploiesti to a series-opening 1-1 home draw with Vitesse Arnhem.  Jonathan Reis converted his penalty kick in the 52nd minute for the Dutch club's lone goal. The UEFA website stated that it was not Frank van der Struijk who tied up the game with an own goal, but that Petrolul's own Gheorghe Grozav who scored that goal.

At Aktobe, Kazakhstan:
Marat Khayrullin converted a penalty kick in the 90th minute for the only goal of FC Aktobe's series-opening 1-0 home win over Breidablik from Iceland.

At Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic:
Jan Vosahlik scored the winning goal in second-half stoppage time (90'+1) as FK Jablonec defeated Stromsgodset 2-1 in their series opener.  An own goal from the hosts' Vit Benes in the 39th minute kept the Norwegian club in the two-game series. 

At Baku, Azerbaijan:
Reynaldo dos Santos Silva scored the only goal of the match in the 89th minute as FK Qarabag took game one of their two-match series with Sweden's Gefle IF 1-0 at home.

At Hronda, Belarus:
Steven McClean scored the only goal of the match in the 69th minute as St. Johnstone got the better of FC Minsk 1-0 on the road in match one of their two-game series.

At Odessa, Ukraine:
Sito Reira (32'), Franck Dja Djedje (38'), and Aleksey Antonov (PK-78') provided the scoring as Chornomorets Odessa defeated visiting Red Star Belgrade 3-1 in their series opener.

At Randers, Denmark:
Dmitri Torbinski (12') and Jose Solomon Rondon (42') each scored once as FC Rubin Kazan held off Randers FC 2-1 on the road in match one.

At Vilnius, Lithuania:
Mantas Kuklys scored the game's lone goal in the 44th minute as FK Zalgiris Vilnius grabbed a series-opening 1-0 home win over Lech Poznan.

At Tromso, Norway:
Zdenek Ondrasek scored the only goal of the match in the 76th minute as Tromso IL grabbed a series-opening 1-0 home win over FC Differdange 03.

At Rijeka, Croatia:
Anas Sharbini (3') and Zoran Kvrzic (59') provided the scoring that carried HNK Rijeka to a game-one 2-1 home win over MSK Zilina.  Tomas Majtan scored in the 74th minute to keep the Slovakian club alive in the series.

At Gothenburg, Sweden:
Luca Zuffi scored twice (33', 63') as FC Thun took the opening match of their two-game series by holding off BK Hacken 2-1 on the road.

At Tirana, Albania:
Lucas Malacarne (6') and Renato Malota (83') each scored a goal as FK Kukesi defeated visiting Metaluhr Donetsk 2-0 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Burgas, Bulgaria:
Boris Galchev's equalizer in the 73rd minute enabled PFC Botev Plovdiv to salvage a series-opening 1-1 home deadlock with VfB Stuttgart.  Vedad Ibisevic scored for the German club in the 67th minute.

At Cluj-Napoca, Romania:
Sasha scored the equalizer in the 29th minute as Hapoel Tel Aviv gained a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Pandurii Targu Jiu.  Dan Nistor scored for the hosts in the fourth minute.

At Novi Sad, Serbia:
Pablo Batalla (PK-36') and Taye Taiwo (90') delivered the goals as Bursaspor gained a series-opening 2-2 road draw with FK Vojvodina.  Miroslav Vulicevic (71') and Aboubakar Oumarou (81') provided the scoring for the home-standing Tulips.

At Liberec, Czech Republic:
Michael Rabusic scored twice (66', 81') as Slovan Liberec came from behind to upend visiting FC Zurich 2-1 in the opening match of the clubs' two-game series.  Davide Chiumiento converted a penalty kick in the fifth minute for the visiting Swiss club.

At Saint-Etienne, France:
Brandao scored twice (3', 82') as Saint-Etienne dominated visiting FC Milsami Orhei 3-0 in game one.

At Tripoli, Greece:
Terrence Boyd's penalty kick in the 32nd minute enabled Rapid Vienna to gain a series-opening 1-1 road draw with Asteras Tripolis.  Giorgos Zisopoulos scored in the 27th minute for the host Galacticos.

At Xanthi, Greece:
Frederic Bulot scored the winning goal in the 74th minute as Standard Liege opened up their two-game series with a 2-1 road win in game one over Skoda Xanthi FC.

At Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Luis Muriel scored twice (31', 39') as Udinese defeated Siroki Brijeg 3-1 in game one of their two-match series.

At Wroclaw, Poland:
Sebino Plaku scored the only goal of the match in the 64th minute as Slask Wroclaw defeated visiting Club Brugge 1-0 in the opening contest of their two-game series.

At Swansea, Wales:
Wilfried Bony scored twice (55', 59') Swansea City demolished visiting Malmo FF 4-0 in their series opener.

At Motherwell, Scotland:
Ivelin Popov scored twice (52', 78') as Kuban Krasnodar blanked Motherwell 2-0 on the road in match one.

At Split, Croatia:
Giorgi Iluridze scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute as FC Dila Gori gained a series-opening 1-0 road win over Hajduk Split.

At Estoril, Portugal:
The opening match between GD Estoril Praia and visiting Hapoel Ramat Gan ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Seville, Spain:
Carlos Bacca (18'), Diego Perotti (PK-82'), and Daniel Carrico (90'+1) delivered the goalpower as Sevilla dominated visiting Mladost Podgorica 3-0 in the opening match of their two-game series.