Sporting Braga opens League Europe Conference in Copenhagen

O Sporting Braga will start on Thursday his participation in the league phase of the League Football Conference, with a visit to the Copenhagen Danes, in play of the first day of the competition.

The Bracarense formation, the only Portuguese representative in the third UEFA competition, surpassed two pre-eliminations and a play-off to reach the league stage, in which it debuts and will play six matches.

In addition to Copenhagen, the Sporting of Braga, guided by the Spanish Carlos Vicens, will still play out with the Danish of the Aarhus and the Norwegians of Brann, fighting at home the Belgians of the Gent, the Finns of the KuPS and the Albanians of Egnatia.

The Portuguese team will start in the race against an opponent who was last season in the Champions League and who is the current leader of the championship, while Sporting Braga follows in eighth in the I League, with 11 points, but one less game, and comes from a defeat in the Sporting reception (3-1).

The 2026/27 edition of the League Conference has as its major emblems the Italians of Atalanta, the French of Monaco, the Germans of Fribourg, the Spanish of Getafe and the English of Brighton.

In addition to these formations of the major European championships, also the Dutch of Ajax are in the race, with the possibility of becoming the second team to win the three men's UEFA club competitions, something Chelsea has already achieved.

Ajax will debut on the field of the Croats of the Hadjuk Split, while Monaco will visit the Bulgarians of CSKA Sofia, in a place where it has never won, adding two defeats in the contested matches.

Brighton will receive the Lithuanians from Kauno Zalgiris, with a special responsibility, since the English formations won three of the five previous editions of the race, including the last two.

The Liga Conference will also feature two Portuguese coaches in action, with Ricardo Sá Pinto in the Cypriots of Pafos, who will debut with a difficult trip to Atalanta, and Filipe Coelho in the Romanians of Universitatea Craiova, who face at home the Spanish of Getafe.

Edition 2026/27 of the Conference League will also have in action the Inter d’Escaldes, Andorra’s first ever team to arrive at a main phase of a UEFA race.

The teams in the race will compete six games in the league phase, with the first eight settling directly for the eighths of the final, while the teams ranked between the ninth and the 24th rank will play a play-off of access to the next round. The remaining teams, from 25th onwards, are eliminated from European competitions.