UEFA Conference League Play-Offs: Rangers Crash Out as Brighton, Ajax and Atalanta Advance

Twenty-three UEFA Conference League second legs produced 84 goals, seven ties that went beyond 90 minutes and one of the most dramatic qualification nights of the European summer.

Rangers travelled to Czechia protecting a 1-0 advantage and still went out on penalties. Twente arrived in Azerbaijan one goal behind and left with a 4-2 aggregate victory after extra time. Lincoln Red Imps overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit against Larne, while Brighton, Ajax, Freiburg and Monaco removed almost all doubt with emphatic home performances.

Atalanta needed only one goal across 180 minutes against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Getafe survived despite losing the second leg in Belgrade. KuPS edged Shamrock Rovers in Finland, and Inter Club d’Escaldes reached the league phase after a penalty shootout against Drita.

The outcomes completed the final Thursday block of Conference League qualifying and settled 23 more places in Friday’s league-phase draw.

UEFA’s official Conference League qualifying record confirms every result and aggregate score from Thursday night.

The Sports Encounter had already examined how the Conference League fits into UEFA’s wider 108-club structure in our complete UEFA draw-week guide. The qualifying phase has now delivered the teams that will actually enter that six-match league phase.

UEFA Conference League Play-Off Second-Leg Results

Second Leg	Result	Aggregate	Qualified
KuPS vs Shamrock Rovers	1-0	2-1	KuPS
Jablonec vs Rangers	1-0 AET	1-1, Jablonec won 4-3 on penalties	Jablonec
Qarabağ vs Twente	1-4 AET	2-4	Twente
Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Lugano	1-1	2-3	Lugano
Freiburg vs Motherwell	4-1	7-2	Freiburg
Monaco vs Górnik Zabrze	4-1	7-3	Monaco
Copenhagen vs Inter Turku	4-1	4-1	Copenhagen
Riga vs KÍ Klaksvík	2-1	2-1	Riga
Inter Club d’Escaldes vs Drita	0-0 AET	2-2, Inter Escaldes won 4-2 on penalties	Inter Club d’Escaldes
Raków vs Hajduk Split	2-3 AET	4-5	Hajduk Split
Hradec Králové vs Panathinaikos	1-2 AET	3-4	Panathinaikos
Brann vs PAOK	3-2	4-3	Brann
Pafos vs Dinamo City	4-2 AET	5-3	Pafos
Hapoel Tel Aviv vs Atalanta	0-1	0-1	Atalanta
St. Gallen vs Nordsjælland	2-3	2-4	Nordsjælland
Ajax vs Sion	5-3	9-5	Ajax
Borac vs Víkingur Reykjavík	3-1	6-2	Borac
Brighton vs Tromsø	4-0	4-0	Brighton
Austria Wien vs Braga	0-0	0-2	Braga
Rijeka vs Midtjylland	1-4	1-6	Midtjylland
Larne vs Lincoln Red Imps	0-3 AET	2-3	Lincoln Red Imps
Hibernian vs Gent	2-3	2-3	Gent
Partizan vs Getafe	2-1	3-4	Getafe

Rangers Lose a Tie They Had Controlled for 180 Minutes

Rangers travelled to Jablonec with something every away team wants in a European second leg: a lead.

The Scottish side had won 1-0 at home.

That advantage survived the regulation 90 minutes in Czechia only in the sense that the aggregate score remained level. Jablonec’s 1-0 victory forced extra time, and neither side found the decisive goal during the additional half-hour.

The penalty shootout finally separated them.

Jablonec won 4-3.

Rangers therefore exited despite conceding only once across 210 minutes of open play.

That is the detail that makes the result particularly painful.

This was not a tie in which Rangers were repeatedly exposed or overwhelmed. Their entire European campaign effectively came down to one goal conceded and one shootout.

The margin between league-phase football and elimination could hardly have been thinner.

The result also continues a qualification week in which established names have repeatedly discovered how little protection reputation offers, a theme already visible in The Sports Encounter’s Champions League play-off wrap.

Twente Produce One of the Night’s Biggest Reversals

Qarabağ appeared to hold an ideal position entering the return in Baku.

They had won 1-0 in the Netherlands.

Home advantage and an aggregate lead should have allowed the Azerbaijani side to control the emotional rhythm of the second leg.

Instead, Twente scored four times.

The Dutch club won 4-1 after extra time and advanced 4-2 on aggregate.

That means a tie Qarabağ led after the entire first leg ultimately finished with Twente two goals ahead.

Extra time became the dividing line.

Once the contest moved beyond 90 minutes, Twente were able to convert a recovery into complete control.

Among Thursday’s qualifiers, only Lincoln Red Imps produced a comparable reversal from such a difficult starting position.

Lincoln Red Imps Turn 0-2 Into 3-2

Larne had done almost everything required in the first leg.

A 2-0 away victory gave the Northern Irish club one of the strongest positions in the champions path.

Then the return happened.

Lincoln Red Imps won 3-0 after extra time.

The Gibraltar club therefore advanced 3-2 on aggregate after beginning the evening two goals behind.

The turnaround carried an additional layer because Larne were playing at home.

Lincoln needed to erase a two-goal deficit away from their own stadium, force extra time and then finish the job.

They did all three.

For a club operating from one of UEFA’s smallest football associations, reaching the Conference League league phase carries significance far beyond a single result.

Brighton Turn a Goalless Tie Into a Statement

Brighton returned from Norway with no away goal, no aggregate advantage and no room for complacency.

Their first leg against Tromsø had finished 0-0.

The second leg looked completely different.

Brighton won 4-0.

The result gave Fabian Hürzeler’s side one of the cleanest qualifications of the night and underlined how quickly Brighton have adapted to the additional demands of European football.

The Sports Encounter had already seen the domestic version of that confidence when Brighton opened their Premier League campaign by thrashing Aston Villa 4-0.

They have now produced another four-goal home performance within days.

That matters because European participation can expose the depth of clubs that are accustomed to preparing for one game per week.

Brighton entered this season as one of nine English clubs playing UEFA football, something we highlighted in The Sports Encounter’s Premier League season preview.

So far, the additional workload has not reduced their intensity.

Ajax Score Nine Across the Tie but Still Show a Defensive Warning

Ajax arrived home with a 4-2 advantage over Sion.

The qualification was never particularly comfortable defensively.

It became even more entertaining in Amsterdam.

Ajax won 5-3, completing a remarkable 9-5 aggregate score.

Fourteen goals across two legs tells us two things.

Ajax clearly possessed far too much attacking quality for Sion to contain.

They also conceded five times across the tie.

That defensive figure is the more useful detail looking ahead.

The league phase will include opponents capable of punishing that openness without conceding five themselves.

Ajax advanced emphatically.

The manner of qualification still leaves something to correct.

Atalanta Need Only One Goal Across 180 Minutes

Atalanta’s tie could hardly have been more different.

The first leg against Hapoel Tel Aviv ended 0-0.

The return produced only one goal.

Atalanta won 1-0 and advanced by the same aggregate score.

For a club adapting to a major tactical transition under Maurizio Sarri, that type of controlled European qualification may prove useful.

The Sports Encounter’s Serie A season preview examined the challenge Atalanta face in moving away from years of Gian Piero Gasperini’s man-oriented football into Sarri’s more structured positional system.

The early domestic signs have also been encouraging. Atalanta opened the league season with a victory, covered in our Serie A opening-weekend wrap.

Thursday’s qualification adds a European result without requiring the kind of chaotic attacking performance seen elsewhere in the round.

Getafe Lose in Belgrade but Protect the Work Done in Spain

Getafe entered the Partizan Stadium with a 3-1 advantage.

Partizan won the return 2-1.

That still left the Spanish club 4-3 ahead on aggregate.

It is another useful reminder that second-leg results cannot be read in isolation.

Partizan won the match.

Getafe won the tie.

The visitors did not need to chase another victory once their first-leg advantage had created enough protection.

Beşiktaş had experienced almost the same situation earlier in the Europa League, losing their second leg while still qualifying comfortably.

European two-legged football rewards the complete 180-minute performance.

KuPS Finish the Job Against Shamrock Rovers

KuPS and Shamrock Rovers began their return in Finland level after a 1-1 draw in Dublin.

One goal decided everything.

KuPS won 1-0 and progressed 2-1 on aggregate.

There was no five-goal comeback, shootout or wild second half.

The significance comes from the consequence.

KuPS are now in the Conference League league phase after navigating a tie in which neither side ever had more than a one-goal aggregate advantage.

For clubs operating outside Europe’s biggest commercial leagues, the financial and competitive value of reaching the league phase can change the scale of an entire season.

Freiburg and Monaco Remove All Remaining Doubt

Freiburg and Monaco arrived home holding advantages.

Both made them larger.

Freiburg beat Motherwell 4-1 and completed a 7-2 aggregate victory.

Monaco produced exactly the same second-leg score against Górnik Zabrze, progressing 7-3 overall.

Neither club approached the return as an exercise in simply protecting what had already been built.

That aggressive mentality may become important once the league phase begins.

The Conference League has only six league-phase matches rather than eight, meaning there is less time to recover from conservative or poor performances.

Copenhagen Turn 0-0 Into 4-1

Copenhagen had been held goalless by Inter Turku in Finland.

The return gave a much clearer picture of the difference between the teams.

The Danish club won 4-1.

Like Brighton, Copenhagen moved from a completely level first leg into a comfortable qualification at home.

That kind of second-leg shift often reveals how much venue, territorial control and pressure change once the supposedly stronger side gets the return match on familiar ground.

Hajduk, Panathinaikos and Pafos All Need Extra Time

Three more main-path ties stretched beyond 90 minutes.

Hajduk Split beat Raków 3-2 after extra time to progress 5-4 overall.

Panathinaikos defeated Hradec Králové 2-1 after extra time, giving the Greek side a 4-3 aggregate victory.

Pafos overcame Dinamo City 4-2 after extra time and advanced 5-3.

All three ties demonstrate why aggregate scores around 2-2 or 3-3 entering the closing stages create a completely different competitive environment.

One goal no longer merely changes the match.

It changes the competition a club will be playing in for the next several months.

Brann Edge PAOK in Another One-Goal Aggregate Tie

Brann and PAOK had drawn 1-1 in Greece.

The return in Norway produced five goals.

Brann won 3-2 and progressed 4-3 overall.

The tie therefore remained separated by only one goal after 180 minutes despite six goals being scored across the two matches.

Brann join a growing Norwegian presence across UEFA competition this season, following Viking and Bodø/Glimt’s Champions League qualification.

The Sports Encounter examined that broader European shift in our Champions League qualification coverage.

Midtjylland Produce One of the Round’s Strongest Aggregate Wins

Midtjylland travelled to Rijeka already leading 2-0.

They won the return 4-1.

The final aggregate score was 6-1.

That makes the Danish club one of Thursday’s most convincing qualifiers alongside Freiburg, Monaco, Ajax and Brighton.

Unlike those teams, Midtjylland completed the decisive performance away from home.

That distinction matters.

Gent End Hibernian’s European Run

Hibernian returned to Edinburgh after a 0-0 first leg against Gent.

The Scottish club therefore began the match with exactly the same opportunity as their Belgian opponents.

Gent won 3-2.

There was no aggregate cushion involved.

Five goals in Scotland alone decided which club would enter the league phase.

With Rangers also eliminated, Thursday became a difficult night for Scottish clubs despite Motherwell already facing a daunting deficit against Freiburg.

Braga Use Their First-Leg Work to Control Austria Wien

Braga had won the first leg 2-0.

The second ended 0-0.

No comeback developed.

The Portuguese side progressed 2-0 on aggregate after producing one of the least dramatic but most professionally managed qualifications of the evening.

That contrast is useful.

A European play-off does not require chaos if the first leg has already created the right conditions.

The Conference League Field Is Now Complete

Thursday’s 23 winners join Hearts, who qualified on Wednesday after defeating SK Rapid on penalties.

Those 24 Conference League play-off winners combine with the 12 teams eliminated from the Europa League play-offs to create the full 36-team league phase.

UEFA confirms that all 36 Conference League teams reach the league phase through qualifying, with no club receiving direct league-phase entry.

That creates a competition shaped differently from the Champions League and Europa League.

Every Conference League participant has already had to survive a European qualification pathway before the league phase begins.

Why the 84-Goal Night Matters

The 23 Thursday second legs produced 84 goals.

That is more than 3.6 goals per match.

Seven ties went beyond regulation time:

• Jablonec vs Rangers
• Qarabağ vs Twente
• Inter Club d’Escaldes vs Drita
• Raków vs Hajduk Split
• Hradec Králové vs Panathinaikos
• Pafos vs Dinamo City
• Larne vs Lincoln Red Imps

Two required penalty shootouts.

That is the part of the night worth remembering.

The Conference League is often treated as the quieter member of UEFA’s three-club competition structure.

Thursday produced more simultaneous jeopardy than either of the other play-off rounds.

Twenty-three different European seasons were effectively being decided at once.

Friday’s Draw Changes Everything Again

UEFA’s Conference League league-phase draw takes place on Friday, August 28, from 13:00 CET in Monaco.

Each club will receive six different opponents.

Three matches will be played at home and three away.

The league phase begins on October 15.

The top eight teams will qualify directly for the round of 16.

Teams finishing ninth through 24th enter the knockout-phase play-offs.

Positions 25 through 36 mean elimination.

Unlike qualifying, there is no competition beneath the Conference League waiting to catch anyone.

The Sports Encounter’s UEFA Super Cup coverage opened the European season at the very top of the continental pyramid.

Thursday night showed what the other end looks like.

Some clubs arrived with global recognition and major budgets.

Others came from associations rarely represented in the biggest European conversations.

By Friday, all 36 will be looking at the same table.

The Detail That Defines the Night

Brighton scored four.

Ajax scored five.

Freiburg and Monaco produced seven-goal aggregate wins.

Those are the easy headlines.

The deeper story came from the clubs who had to keep playing after 90 minutes.

Rangers had a first-leg advantage and still disappeared in a shootout.

Twente were behind after the first leg and eventually won by two.

Lincoln Red Imps began two goals down and finished one ahead.

Inter Club d’Escaldes could not separate themselves from Drita in 210 minutes, then did it from the penalty spot.

That is what UEFA qualifying compresses into one night.

Months of planning, transfer spending, preseason work and European ambition can eventually depend on one extra-time attack or one penalty.

Thursday’s 23 matches were supposed to complete the Conference League field.

They also produced one of the most volatile European nights of the season so far.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which teams qualified for the 2026-27 Conference League on August 27?

KuPS, Jablonec, Twente, Lugano, Freiburg, Monaco, Copenhagen, Riga, Inter Club d’Escaldes, Hajduk Split, Panathinaikos, Brann, Pafos, Atalanta, Nordsjælland, Ajax, Borac, Brighton, Braga, Midtjylland, Lincoln Red Imps, Gent and Getafe qualified on Thursday.

Did Rangers qualify for the Conference League?

No. Rangers lost 1-0 to Jablonec after extra time, leaving the aggregate score at 1-1. Jablonec then won the penalty shootout 4-3.

Did Brighton qualify for the Conference League?

Yes. Brighton beat Tromsø 4-0 after the first leg had finished 0-0, giving the Premier League club a 4-0 aggregate victory.

Did Ajax qualify for the Conference League?

Yes. Ajax beat Sion 5-3 in Amsterdam and advanced 9-5 on aggregate.

Did Atalanta qualify for the Conference League?

Yes. Atalanta defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 after a goalless first leg and advanced 1-0 on aggregate.

Did Getafe qualify despite losing to Partizan?

Yes. Partizan won the second leg 2-1, but Getafe’s 3-1 first-leg victory gave the Spanish club a 4-3 aggregate win.

What was the biggest comeback of the night?

Lincoln Red Imps overturned a 2-0 first-leg defeat against Larne by winning the return 3-0 after extra time. Twente also produced a major turnaround after losing the first leg 1-0 to Qarabağ before advancing 4-2 on aggregate.

How many Conference League play-off second legs went beyond 90 minutes?

Seven of Thursday’s 23 ties required extra time, and two of those were ultimately decided by penalty shootouts.

How many goals were scored in Thursday’s Conference League second legs?

The 23 matches produced 84 goals.

When is the 2026-27 Conference League league-phase draw?

The draw takes place in Monaco on Friday, August 28, 2026, beginning at 13:00 CET.