Dynamo Kyiv enter this third qualifying round tie on the back of a worrying pre-season run, failing to score in three of their last four outings and averaging just 0.5 goals per game. Qarabag, by contrast, have been defensively immaculate across their own warm-up matches…
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Sign inDynamo Kyiv welcome Azerbaijani champions Qarabag to their Stadion Dynamo im. Valeriy Lobanovskyi home on Wednesday, August 6, for the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round tie. The match, kicking off at 20:00 local time, is the first of two encounters over the next seven days that will decide who moves one step closer to the competition's group stages.
Qarabag head into this fixture needing to bounce back from a dramatic European exit. The Horsemen were eliminated from the UEFA Europa League qualifying path by CSKA after two goalless draws, eventually losing a penalty shootout 5-4. That aggregate draw demonstrated their defensive organisation, but also left them without a goal across their last 210 minutes of continental football.
Specific injury and squad-availability details have not been publicly confirmed for either side ahead of the first leg. The UEFA appointment of a Danish officiating team – with Morten Krogh as head referee and Jakob Kehlet in the VAR booth – was confirmed by the Azerbaijan-based Operative Information Center, ensuring the tie will have full video-review oversight. Qarabag forward Renaldo Cephas, who found the net during a 3-0 qualifying victory earlier in this summer's campaign, offers a spark in attack for the visitors.
Dynamo enter this tie with the benefit of their well-established European pedigree. As perennial competitors in UEFA qualifying rounds and group stages, the Ukrainian side will lean on home advantage at the compact, atmospheric Lobanovskyi Stadium. While specific domestic results from the early weeks of the 2026-27 season are unavailable, their experience in managing two-legged European ties against technically proficient, counter-attacking sides makes them narrow favourites to carry a lead to Baku.
Qarabag arrive in this fixture battle-hardened. Their Europa League qualifiers showed they can hold shape against dangerous opponents, registering clean sheets in both legs before succumbing on penalties. Gurban Gurbanov's side has been a regular presence in UEFA competition over the past decade, and the recent run – including a 3-0 away win and a 3-0 home win in the previous qualifying round – confirms their ability to score in bursts. The return leg on August 13 at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku, officiated by an English team led by Stuart Attwell, gives them the incentive of taking any kind of positive result back to their own crowd.
A game effectively goalless for Qarabag across two legs of their last tie will encourage Dynamo to push high early on. Renaldo Cephas, who has already registered a goal in European qualifying this term, will be tasked with exploiting any spaces behind the Kyiv defence on the counter. If Dynamo can keep the Jamaican winger quiet, they will cut off Qarabag's most direct route to the away goal that could prove decisive over 180 minutes.
All to play for in the first leg, with the prize for the aggregate winners a place in the Conference League play-off round and a shot at October's group-stage draw.
Dynamo Kyiv
Coach: Igor Kostyuk
Qarabag
Coach: Qurban Qurbanov
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