Preview: Celje vs Omonia - prediction, team news, lineups

Celje and Omonia will continue their respective Europa League league stage campaigns with a clash at Stadion Celje on Thursday evening.

The hosts opened their 2026-27 league stage with a 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, while Omonia started their challenge with a 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo.

Match preview

Celje lost in the playoff round of the 2026-27 Champions League, which saw them drop into the league stage of the Europa League, and they are actually competing in this round of the Europa League for the first time in their history.

The Slovenian champions opened their Europa League league stage campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, so there is a degree of pressure on them to bounce back here.

Zoran Zeljkovic's side will enter the match off the back of a 1-0 win over Aluminij in the league, which has left them fifth in Slovenia's top flight, picking up 15 points from 10 matches.

Celje have won the Slovenian First League on three occasions, including last term, but this is a big step up in quality, and it will be fascinating to see how they compete.

The Yellow and Blues have five games before the end of the month, including their third match in the Europa League, which will come at home to Red Bull Salzburg on October 22.

Omonia, meanwhile, opened their 2026-27 Europa League league stage with an impressive 1-0 victory over La Liga outfit Celta Vigo.

The Shamrock fell in the second qualifying round of this season's Champions League, before beating Lincoln Red Imps and Sint-Truiden in the latter stages of Europa League qualification to secure their position in the league phase of the tournament.

Omonia last featured in the group stage of the Europa League in 2022-23, and they are set to take on Benfica, Juventus, Celtic, Rennes, Besiktas and NEC in this season's league stage.

Henning Berg's team will enter this match off the back of a 3-0 victory over Karmiotissa in the Cyprian top flight, which has left them third in the division after five games.

Omonia have won four of their last five matches in all competitions and will therefore enter Thursday's match full of confidence.

Celje Europa League form:

Celje form (all competitions):

Omonia Europa League form:

Omonia form (all competitions):

Team News

Celje will be without the services of Jost Pisek through injury, but the home side are otherwise in strong shape for their clash with Omonia in the Europa League.

Svit Seslar has been in strong form this season, scoring five times in 14 appearances, and the 24-year-old will once again feature in an attacking spot.

Meanwhile, there should be a spot down the middle for Armandas Kucys.

As for Omonia, Ioannis Kousoulos, Carel Eiting and Fotis Kitsos are out of the match through injury.

Lois Diony has scored six times in 12 appearances during the current season, and the 33-year-old will once again feature in the final third of the field.

Muamer Tankovic and Jaden Montnor are also expected to retain their spots in a forward area.

Celje possible starting lineup:

Leban; Sirvys, Bejger, Tutyskinas, Avdyli; Ticic, Zabukovnik; Dukuly, Seslar, Verbic; Kucys

Omonia possible starting lineup:

Fabiano; Duverne, Coulibaly, Satka, Balkovec; Andreou, Maric; Costa, Tankovic, Montnor; Diony

We say: Celje 1-1 Omonia

This is a difficult match to predict; both teams will believe that they can hurt the other in the final third of the field, but we have had to settle on a low-scoring draw between Celje and Omonia.

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