Sports Preview

Universitatea Cluj are up for a tough match against Dinamo Kyiv in the Europa League football competition.

Florin Orban, 08.07.2026, 13:45

Universitatea Cluj will begin its new European campaign on Thursday. Romanian side will compete in the Europa League first qualifying round, facing the Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv. The first leg will take place in Lublin, Poland, with the return leg scheduled for a week later in Cluj-Napoca.

The Cluj club qualified for the European competition after finishing second in the Romanian Superliga ranking, behind Universitatea Craiova. They were also defeated by the Craiova club in the Romanian Cup, losing the final on penalties. Universitatea Cluj now aim to make their mark on the continental stage. They competed in the new format of the European football competitions last year, as well, when they played in the Conference League. They went straight into the second qualifying round, where they faced Ararat from Armenia. The away match ended in a goalless draw. They played their return match in Sibiu, as their home stadium was booked for music concertsand lost 2–1 in extra time.

Dynamo Kyiv went into the Europa League qualifiers as Ukrainian Cup winners, having defeated second-tier side FC Chernihiv 3–1 in the final. However, their European track record is far more impressive. They won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1975, beating the Hungarian side Ferencváros 1–nil in the Basel final and again in 1986, when they defeated Atlético Madrid 3-nil in Lyon. In 1975, they won the UEFA Super Cup after defeating defending European Cup winners Bayern Munich  in both legs: 1-nil in Germany and 2-nil in Kyiv.

Before playing to the Ukrainian side, Universitatea Cluj trained in Austria, but the results were not very promising. They drew nil-all with Újpest Budapest and lost their next three matches: 1-2 to Croatia’s U21 national team, and nil-3 against both Vojvodina Novi Sad and Nyíregyháza. Dynamo Kyiv also trained in Austria, and out of five matches, they won three: 5-1 against Slovakia’s Žilina, 4-2 against Poland’s Wieczysta Kraków, and 2-nil against the Austrian side LASK Linz. They drew 1-all with Slavia Prague and lost 1-3 to Rapid Bucharest.