Celtic vs Ferencváros – News and Probable Lineups

Celtic will be hosting Ferencvaros at Celtic Park on Thursday evening, marking the beginning of the Europa League league phase.

The home team found themselves in this competition after a setback in the Champions League qualifying playoff round, while their opponents secured their spot by defeating Trabzonspor.

Match overview

Celtic returns to the Europa League for the 2026-27 season following a failure to progress to the Champions League for a second consecutive year.

After experiencing a tough penalty shootout defeat against Kairat Almaty last year in the Champions League playoff, Celtic faced another heartbreaking exit in this season’s playoff round.

Martin O’Neill’s squad had previously secured a solid 3-0 victory in the first leg against LASK Linz, even taking a 4-0 aggregate lead by scoring in the second leg.

However, they experienced a disastrous turn of events, allowing LASK to net five goals without a response, leading to a 5-4 aggregate defeat, relegating them to the Europa League in one of Celtic’s most disappointing outcomes in recent history.

Though they initially responded with four consecutive wins in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic endured another frustrating defeat in their last match, succumbing to a 3-0 loss to their Old Firm rivals, Rangers, in the Scottish League Cup quarter-finals.

O’Neill will be hoping that playing at Celtic Park will allow his team to start positively in the Europa League, especially with the Bhoys recently unbeaten in their last ten home matches.

However, Celtic struggled at home in last season’s Europa League, losing two out of their four league phase matches and eventually succumbing to a lackluster 4-1 loss to Stuttgart in the knockout playoff round, which ended in a 4-2 aggregate defeat.

On the other hand, Ferencvaros arrives at this fixture after a fantastic start to the new season, having lost only once in their first 15 matches across all competitions, with 10 victories and four draws.

The Greens achieved their Europa League entry for the third consecutive season during this impressive run in the 2026-27 campaign, triumphing over Vojvodina (5-1), Twente (3-2), Gornik (2-1) and Trabzonspor (5-0) in the qualifying rounds.

Heading into Thursday’s meeting with Celtic, Balazs Borbely’s team is also on an unbeaten streak of eight matches and will be eager to maintain this form while seeking to avenge their two losses to the Bhoys during the 2021-22 Europa League Group G.

Recently, Ferencvaros has shown themselves as formidable competitors in the Europa League, reaching the knockout stages in the last two years, although they have faced challenges while playing away from home during that time.

They have recorded seven defeats in their last 11 away Europa League matches, yet they can draw confidence from being unbeaten in their away qualifying matches this season.

Team News

Celtic is expected to be without Callum Osmand, Alistair Johnston, and Jota due to injuries, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be unavailable owing to a suspension incurred while at Besiktas.

O’Neill is likely to implement a few changes to the lineup that lost to Rangers at the weekend, possibly including the likes of Auston Trusty, Haissem Hassan, and Jordânia Lotomba in the starting XI.

In contrast, Ferencvaros heads into this opening match of the Europa League without any injury concerns, providing Borbely with a fully fit squad to select from.

Lenny Joseph scored four times in the qualifiers but has not found the net in the past seven matches, and Borbely will hope to see an improved performance from his forward on Thursday.

Celtic probable starting XI:

Johnstone; Lotomba, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Tierney; McGregor, Baur; Hassan, Nygren, Tounekti; Hogh

Ferencvaros probable starting XI:

Dibus; O Nagy, Raemaekers, Gomez, Cadu; The Great, Corbu; Bamidele, Zachariassen, O’Dowda; Joseph

Despite suffering a disappointing defeat against Rangers, and with Ferencvaros arriving in excellent form for Thursday’s fixture, the Bhoys have proven to be a challenging opponent at Celtic Park and should possess the quality to secure a victory.