Conference League, Qualification, 2nd Round, First Leg, Thursday, 24.07.2025 at 20:45
Second round of Conference League qualification? That sounds like fighting spirit, passion, and also a little bit like geographical question marks! We are still a long way from the group stage, so the teams are currently being weeded out.
In my Dinamo Minsk Egnatia tip, I now come up against two teams that are obviously not among the international elite. Accordingly, I expect a game in which a lot will happen in midfield and I’m betting on 2.5 goals!
I’ll start with KF Egnatia, because I have to admit that I don’t know much about this club. Let’s take a look at Albania, where the club is based in the small town of Rrogozhina.
Rrogozhina has a population of 5,000, and they will probably all be keeping their fingers crossed on Thursday. In the 2023/24 season, their club knocked on the door of international qualification for the very first time.
Egnatia actually tried to get through the first round of Champions League qualifying a few days ago, but failed miserably. In their home game against Breidablik, the team proudly celebrated a 1-0 win.
It was a good starting position for the second leg, but the individual quality of the opponents prevailed mercilessly in a 0-5 defeat. The total value of the Egnatia squad is less than six million euros, and there are no superstars to be found here.
Egnatia conceded four of the five goals before half-time, so they never really got into the game. A real thrashing, then. Will the club recover quickly?
Last season, the club also failed in the first round of Champions League qualifying and was automatically relegated two divisions. Vikingur was waiting in the wings to make it to the third qualifying round of the Conference League.
And here, too, as in the “preliminary round” this time, the first leg was won 1-0, while the away game (0-2) meant the end of the road. Now Egnatia has to start away from home, so is it all over after the first duel with Dinamo Minsk?
In any case, Egnatia is not yet in rhythm, with the new round in Albania not starting until the end of August. The bookmakers, I can tell you, do not necessarily see a clear favorite here.
Those who want to bet on a win on Thursday can look forward to average odds of 1.70 to 4.40. Of course, the visitors are the underdogs, but for so little international experience, the odds aren’t bad at all.
At Oddset, the +2 handicap bet with odds of 1.35 shows that a landslide victory for Dinamo is not necessarily to be expected. It’s not a high value, but if you register as a new customer with Oddset, you still have the chance to get the bonus and a sum of up to $100.
Dinamo Minsk from Belarus has one thing in common with Egnatia: they would have liked to stay in the Champions League qualifiers longer. The players lost to Ludogorets Razgrad after an incredibly tough fight.
0:1 and 2:2 after extra time, they were not far off qualifying. Not too bad actually, because the club from Razgrad has regularly made a positive impression in recent years.
Does Dinamo have an advantage? The team, which has been active in the league since mid-March, is definitely well-rehearsed. Four points behind the leaders, it’s clear that not everything is running smoothly.
But: Seven of their eight home games ended in victory, and the Conference League qualifiers now begin with a match in their own stadium. Five home wins, also interesting, were by exactly one goal.
As you probably remember, Minsk played in the group stage of the Conference League in 2024/25. With five defeats in six games and a goal difference of 4:13, they were eliminated in the preliminary round.
If we add up the total value of the Dinamo Minsk and Egnatia squads, we are well below 20 million – that alone tells us that we are unlikely to be in for a treat in terms of quality of play.
Both sides had to cope with failure in the Champions League qualifiers a few days ago. At least I noticed that the home team has a strong home record in the national league.
All in all, however, I don’t expect to see a goal fest on the pitch, but rather a passionate battle in midfield. My prediction is therefore:
Under 2.5 goals!
