Pafos FC will welcome Djurgardens IF to Cyprus on Thursday for the first leg of their Conference League round-of-16 tie.
The visitors booked their place in the knockout stage with a fifth-placed league-phase finish, while their hosts got through a playoff round to reach this point.
Match preview
© Imago
Pafos return to Conference League action on Thursday aiming to stake their claim for a quarter-final spot, having impressed thus far in their first-ever continental campaign.
They won their first piece of silverware last season in the Cypriot Cup to enter European qualifying for the first time, and after dropping out of the running for a Europa League place, Juan Carlos Carcedo entered the league phase of the continent's tertiary competition with three aggregate wins, before finishing the league phase late last year in 12th spot.
In their six outings, the Cypriot outfit picked up 10 points to earn a seeded playoff spot, only falling short of the top eight and an automatic round-of-16 spot by a single point following a final-round draw against Lugano.
That set up a playoff tie with compatriots Omonia, and Carcedo's men progressed with a 3-2 aggregate triumph, having drawn 1-1 away from home and won 2-1 in Limassol thanks to goals from Bruno and Jonathan Silva.
Now on the back of a 2-0 away win over APOEL and a 2-1 home defeat to Omonia and still sitting three points clear at the summit of Cyprus' top flight, Pafos will aim to continue their historic European campaign and take a lead in Thursday's home leg of their final-16 tie.
Their visitors, meanwhile, return to continental action for the first time in 2025, having booked an automatic round-of-16 spot thanks to their strong league-phase campaign.
Djurgardens IF booked a place in Conference League qualifying with a fourth-placed finish in the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2023, before advancing to the league phase with aggregate wins over Progres Niederkorn, Ilves and Maribor.
After progressing to the round of 16 of the same competition in their last European campaign in the 2022-23 term, the Jarnkaminerna again booked an automatic knockout-phase spot by earning 13 points from their six games, finishing with four straight wins over Panathinaikos, The New Saints, Vikingur Reykjavik and Legia Warsaw.
With their 2025 Allsvenskan campaign not kicking off until late March after a fourth-placed finish again last time around, Jani Honkavaara's side's only competitive action since those last continental games in December has come in an unsuccessful Svenska Cupen campaign.
They failed to get out of their group following a win over Sandvike, a draw with Oddevold and a defeat to Goteborg on Sunday, and Djurgardens IF now face a trip to Cyprus aiming to make a strong start to their round-of-16 tie before hosting the second leg in Sweden next week.
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Team News
Pafos should field a similar starting XI from their triumphant playoff second leg against Omonia in late February in their 4-2-3-1 setup.
Despite boasting a team-high tally of 15 goals this season, striker Anderson Silva is often preferred off the bench, while Jairo, who has netted 12 of his own this term, should again get the nod to lead the line.
Ken Sema will hope to earn a full European debut for the club following his January arrival from Watford, but Jairo may instead have support from Mislav Orsic, Vlad Dragomir and Joao Correia, while Ivan Sunjic and Pepe could again partner up in the engine room.
Djurgardens IF will travel to Cyprus without Piotr Johansson and Mikael Marques, who remain sidelined by injuries.
They are also set to be unable to call on key forward Deniz Hummet, who has netted six goals in this continental campaign after notching up 14 in the Allsvenskan last time around, after he missed their last two Svenska Cupen outings, leaving Tokmac Chol Nguen to lead the line.
Nino Zugelj and Oskar Fallenius will lend support to the front man having scored in the final Svenska Cupen outing last weekend, while Daniel Stensson will hope to return the midfield but will be unable to join former partner Besard Sabovic, who departed for Austin FC in January after starting in all six league-phase games.
Pafos FC possible starting lineup:
Ivusic; Bruno, Luckassen, Goldar, Silva; Sunjic, Pepe; Orsic, Dragomir, Correia; Jairo
Djurgardens IF possible starting lineup:
Rinne; Stahl, Larsson, Tenho, Kosugi; Schuller, Stensson; Zugelj, Aslund, Fallenius; Nguen
We say: Pafos FC 1-0 Djurgardens IF
In their debut European campaign, Pafos FC have certainly shown their resilience and ability to compete, particularly on home turf.
We see them gaining an edge in Thursday's home leg against a Djurgardens IF side who are hit by several injuries and have played limited competitive football since the turn of the year.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
