Preview: Connah's Quay Nomads vs KF Ballkani - prediction, team news, lineups

Connah's Quay play host to KF Ballkani on Wednesday evening in the first leg of their Conference League first qualifying round tie.

The Welsh outfit head into this contest having failed to progress from their last seven European ties.

Match preview

Having earned second place in the Cymru Premier Division in 2025-26, Connah's Quay recorded their best league position for five years.

That subsequently earned John Disney, in his first season in charge, the manager of the year award, despite finishing 22 points adrift of The New Saints.

Disney and his squad now have the task of trying to push Connah's Quay to new ground, with the club having never progressed past the second qualifying round of European competition.

Furthermore, you have to go back to 2019-20, when they upset Scottish side Kilmarnock in the first round of Europa League qualifying, for the last time that they won a continental tie.

Connah's Quay are no strangers to facing Kosovan opposition having played Prishtina in the second qualifying round of the Conference League in 2021-22. They lost 6-5 on aggregate on that occasion.

As far as Ballkani are concerned, they have twice reached the group stages of the Conference League since 2022-23, their most notable victory being a 2-0 triumph over Dinamo Zagreb.

However, Connah's Quay will take encouragement from Northern Irish club Larne and Irish outfit Shamrock Rovers eliminating Ballkani from Conference League qualifying across the last two seasons.

In the 2025-26 Football Superleague of Kosovo, Ballkani finished in third position, eight points adrift of champions Drita.

Manager Mislav Karoglan may have concerns ahead of this game, a consequence of successive friendly defeats to Botev Plovdiv (2-0) and Sileks (4-0).

Meanwhile, Connah's Quay followed a 1-0 defeat to Larne with a 1-0 victory over Scottish side Queen of the South.

Connah's Quay Nomads form (friendlies):

KF Ballkani form (friendlies):

Team News

Barring any injury issues, Disney may select the Connah's Quay XI from the win over Queen of the South, with Abdi Sharif netting the winner in that game.

Harry Franklin, who contributed an incredible 13 goals and 11 assists in 27 league games last season, is expected to lead the line.

Meanwhile, Valentin Serebe is one to watch in the Ballkani side having scored 15 times in the Kosovan top flight in 2025-26.

Club legend Edvin Kuc has also returned to the club and will feature in central midfield. During his first stint, the Montenegro international contributed 22 goals and 10 assists from 198 appearances.

Connah's Quay Nomads possible starting lineup:

Renshaw; Simatupang-Ferguson, Hughes, Jones, Flynn, Deane, Sharif, West, Stone, Stephenson, Franklin

KF Ballkani possible starting lineup:

Golubovic; Dosso, Halili, Batarelo, Vokrri; Kuç, Giovanni, Diene; Tolaj, Serebe, Hamidi

We say: Connah's Quay Nomads 0-2 KF Ballkani

After last season's second-placed finish, Connah's Quay are a team on the up. However, the visitors to Wales have generally performed well at this level of European qualifying, leading us to predict a hard-earned victory over the Kosovan side.

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