Preview: Caernarfon Town vs Levadia Tallinn - prediction, team news, lineups

Caernarfon Town welcome FCI Levadia Tallinn to the Oval on Thursday evening for the first leg of their UEFA Conference League qualifying round tie.

In their previous outing, the Canaries claimed fourth spot in the Cymru Premier by beating Penybont 2-0, while the Green-Whites posted an impressive 3-1 win away to Narva Trans in the Meistriliiga.

Match preview

Following their Welsh Cup success last season, beating Flint Town United 3-0 in the final at Rodney Parade, Caernarfon booked their place in the 2026-27 Europa Conference League qualifying stages.

Having missed out on a top-two spot in the Cymru Premier, finishing 13 points behind second place Connah’s Quay at the season’s end, Richard Davies’s men scored three goals within the first 20 minutes of April’s match against the Silkmen to win a first piece of silverware since their second tier title success in the 2017-18 campaign.

As a result of their triumph, the Canaries will play in Europe for only the second time in their history, the first occasion coming in the 2024-25 season when they claimed a historic win on penalties against Irish team Crusaders before bowing out against Polish giants Legia Warsaw 11-0 on aggregate in the next round of Conference League qualification.

Facing Levadia in the first round, Caernarfon will lineup against an Estonian side for the first time ever on Thursday evening and if they were to prevail after the two legs, will meet Swedish team Goteburg for the chance to feature in the main tournament campaign.

© Imago / Scanpix

After winning the title by an astonishing 15-point margin in 2024, Levadia narrowly missed out on retaining the title last campaign as they were pipped in the final few matches by FC Flora.

As a result of their runners-up finish, Vjatseslav Zahovaiko's men enter this season’s UEFA Conference League qualification phase as opposed to the Champions League, which they departed in the first round in 2025-26, losing 2-0 on aggregate to Latvian side RFS.

Finishing in the top two of the Meistriliiga in every year since 2020, this will be the sixth consecutive season that the Green-Whites have entered the competition’s qualifying, reaching a best of the third round last campaign before being eliminated by Luxembourgian side Differdange.

Despite never facing Caernarfon before, this will not be the first time Levadia have played Welsh opposition, beating The New Saints 6-2 after two legs in the 2000-01 Champions League qualifiers and claiming victory over Bala Town 3-2 on aggregate to enter the Europa League pre tournament second round in 2013.

Caernarfon Town form (all competitions):

Levadia Tallinn form (all competitions):

Team News

Caernarfon are likely to lineup in a 4-4-2 formation on Thursday evening with captain Danny Gosset partnering 39-year-old Darren Thomas in the centre of midfield.

The Canaries dangerman this season looks like it could be 19-year-old Rio Owen, who netted against Penybont in the club's previous fixture after limited minutes throughout the 2025-26 campaign.

As for the visitors, Levadia look set to maintain their 4-3-3 formation, pushing men further up the pitch in hope of superior attacking threat.

Scoring 14 times in only 18 league games last season, Bubacarr Tambedou is the Green-White's most potent weapon and will be looking to continue his fine form after netting two and assisting one against Narva on Saturday.

Caernarfon Town possible starting lineup:

Roberts; Jones, Mooney, Harrison, Sears; Thomas, Bradley, Mendes, Gosset; Cieslewicz, Owen

Levadia Tallinn possible starting lineup:

Vallner; Liivak, Nwankwo, Tammik, Saliste; Alexandre; Roosnupp, Ainsalu, Joao Pedro; Tambedou, Skvortsov

We say: Caernarfon Town 1-1 Levadia Tallinn

With a difficult second leg trip to Tallinn next week, Caernarfon will be looking to make the most of their home advantage and take something that they can hold onto to Estonia.

However, we think Levadia will end up frustrating the home side, earning themselves a draw and boosting their confidence ahead of the return fixture.

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