The most high-profile opponent for the Espen is undoubtedly AC Fiorentina from Florence. The Italians reached the finals of the Conference League in the last two seasons but lost both. In the semifinals of the 2022/23 season, “La Viola” also defeated FC Basel in a dramatic encounter.
Also from a top-5 league is 1. FC Heidenheim. The Badener play just over two hours by car from St. Gallen and were the surprise team of the last Bundesliga season. As a promoted team, they secured 8th place on the final matchday, which qualified them for the Conference League.
A FCZ Nightmare and a Rookie
From Portugal comes Vitória SC from Guimarães to St. Gallen. Vitória eliminated FC Zürich in the qualification for this year’s Conference League, so the FCSG has been warned. The Portuguese are already participating for the fifth time in a group or league phase of a European competition.
Club Brugge is a well-known football club from Belgium. Slightly less famous is their city rival Cercle Brugge. Cercle has been Belgian champion three times, the last time being in 1930. This is the first time for the Belgians to participate in a group or league phase at all. But beware: with the only 18-year-old German Paris Brunner, they possess one of the greatest young talents in football.
Rising Stars and History Makers
Another guest at the Kybunpark will be FK TSC from the Serbian Bačka Topola. Long wandering in sporting insignificance, TSC achieved promotion to the highest Serbian league for the first time in 2019. Since then, the club has blossomed into a top team, finishing as Serbian runners-up in 2023 and competing in the group phase of the Europa League the following year.
Lastly, there is Larne FC. The champions of Northern Ireland made history by qualifying for the league phase. They are the first Northern Irish club ever to qualify for a European group or league phase. The players of Larne are all more or less unknown, except for one: Mark Randall once played two matches for Arsenal and has been under contract in Northern Ireland since 2019.