Preview: Alashkert FC vs CFR Cluj - prediction, team news, lineups

Alashkert FC and CFR Cluj square off in the first leg of the Conference League second qualifying round on Thursday.

While Armenian side Alashkert came through a hard-fought tie earlier this month, their Romanian opponents join the competition at this stage.

Match preview

Having finished down in fourth place in last season's Armenian top flight, Alashkert face an uphill battle to qualify for the main stage of a European competition for just the second time.

Their only other appearance came back in 2021-22, when they collected just one point from a Conference League group that featured LASK Linz, Maccabi Tel Aviv and HJK.

Head coach Vahe Gevorgyan will be hoping to take this team to new ground, yet they needed penalties to progress through to this stage of the competition.

Their first qualifying round tie with Kazakh side FC Yelimay finished 3-3 on aggregate before Alashkert prevailed 8-7 in a shootout.

With that game time and experience in their legs, Gevorgyan will anticipate an improving showing across the two legs with Cluj.

The Romanian side have been eliminated in the Conference League playoff round during the last two seasons, losing to Pafos and BK Hacken respectively.

Nevertheless, this is a team who showed their pedigree in 2022-23 when reaching the last 32 of this competition before losing 1-0 on aggregate to Lazio.

CFR Cluj, who finished in third place in the 2025-26 Romanian top flight, got their league campaign underway on Saturday with a 2-1 reverse at Otelul, opponents who were down in ninth last season.

Former Porto 'B' boss Antonio Folha, who was appointed last month, will hope that his players will have learned plenty from their first competitive game under his guidance.

Alashkert FC Conference League form:

D D

CFR Cluj form (all competitions):

Team News

Although Alashkert only remained in the competition through a 120th-minute own goal, Gevorgyan may opt against making many changes to his starting lineup.

Domi Jaures Massoumou is most likely to come into the first XI having replaced Joseph Sabobo at half time in the previous fixture.

Momo Toure scored in the second leg, and has contributed 12 goals and five assists from his 29 games in an Alashkert shirt.

Despite defeat to Otelul, Folha may name the same Cluj side, a consequence of the competitive minutes that they now have in their legs.

Adrian Paum, who was introduced in the 63rd minute of the previous game, is an alternative to Ovidiu Perianu in midfield.

Five-cap Romania international Andrei Cordea is one of the danger men, a result of netting in the previous game and contributing 14 goals and five assists last season.

Alashkert FC possible starting lineup:

Beglaryan; Terteryan, Matyukhin, Cezar, Hakobyan; Piloyan, Jesus; Farayola, Nalbandyan, Massoumou; Toure

CFR Cluj possible starting lineup:

Valceanu; Braun, Djokovic, Abeid, Camora; Muhar, Perianu, Fica; Cordea, Sfait, Korenica

We say: Alashkert FC 1-1 CFR Cluj

With both teams having competitive football in their legs, this should prove to be a hard-fought encounter. While Cluj are marginal favourites to progress from the tie, we feel that Alashkert will have enough quality and backing on home turf to earn a share of the spoils.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.