Both commencing their unlikely mission for places in the revamped league phase, Paksi SE and Corvinul Hunedoara will meet at Paksi Stadion on Thursday night for the first leg of their first-round Europa League qualifier. The Nuclear Team are back on the continental stage following a 13-year absence, whilst the Ravens will be playing European football for the first time since the early 1980s. Reaching the top flight of Hungarian football in 2006, Paksi quickly established themselves as a major player at that level, and during the 2010-11 term they finished second overall, earning a spot in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, representing the club's first taste of continental action.
The Nuclear Team did considerably well on their maiden European adventure, beating both FC Santa Coloma of Andorra and Tromso of Norway over two legs before falling at the third round of qualifying to Hearts, with the Scottish giants recording a comfortable 5-2 aggregate success. There is a sense of history repeating itself for Paksi 13 years on, with the Hungarians finishing second in their domestic league to win a spot in the Europa League, although Thursday's hosts were nowhere near competing with Ferencvaros for the title, ending up 16 points behind the eventual champions. Gyorgy Bognar 's troops signed off the 2023-24 campaign in sensational fashion, enjoying a six-game unbeaten run across all competitions, a spell which included a 2-0 success over the aforementioned Ferencvaros in the.
