Celtic vs Ferencvaros - prediction, team news, lineups

Celtic will welcome Ferencvaros to Celtic Park on Thursday night in the opening round of the Europa League league phase. 

The hosts were demoted to this competition after losing in the Champions League playoff qualifying round, while the visitors defeated Trabzonspor to ensure their league phase place.

Celtic are back in the Europa League in 2026-27 after failing to qualify for the Champions League for the second straight season. 

After falling to a devastating penalty loss to Kairat Almaty in last year's Champions League playoff round, the Bhoys once again suffered a heartbreaking playoff round defeat this term. 

Martin O'Neill's side actually recorded a 3-0 first-leg win against LASK Linz in the playoff qualifying round, followed by going 1-0 up in the second leg to take a 4-0 aggregate lead. 

However, a catastrophic 100 minutes followed, with LASK scoring five goals without reply from the Bhoys, resulting in a 5-4 aggregate loss, their demotion to the Europa League and one of Celtic's worst results in modern memory. 

Although they initially bounced back from that disappointment with four consecutive Scottish Premiership wins, Celtic suffered another humiliating loss last time out, losing 3-0 to Old Firm rivals Rangers in the Scottish League Cup quarter-finals. 

O'Neill will be hopeful that a return to Celtic Park will help his side get off to a positive start in the Europa League, especially with the Bhoys unbeaten at their home ground in the last 10 matches. 

Celtic did, however, struggle at home in the Europa League last season, losing two of their four league phase fixtures before suffering a lacklustre 4-1 first leg loss to Stuttgart in the playoff knockout round, which they eventually lost 4-2 on aggregate.

Ferencvaros, meanwhile, head into Thursday's fixture having enjoyed a superb start to the new campaign, with the away team losing only one of their opening 15 games across all competitions, alongside 10 wins and four draws.

The Greens managed to secure their spot in the Europa League for the third straight season during that impressive start to the 2026-27 campaign, beating Vojvodina (5-1), Twente (3-2), Gornik (2-1) and Trabzonspor (5-0) in the qualifying rounds.

Balazs Borbely's side are also unbeaten in their last eight matches heading into Thursday's clash with Celtic, and Ferencvaros will be hoping to extend that run as they seek revenge for their back-to-back defeats against the Bhoys in Group G of the 2021-22 Europa League.

Ferencvaros have proved themselves as a strong contender in the Europa League in recent seasons, making the knockout stages in each of the last two years, although they have faced difficulties on the road during that time. 

The Greens have lost seven of their 11 away fixtures in the Europa League proper across the last two years, although they will draw confidence from remaining unbeaten on their travels during the qualifying stages this term. 

Celtic are set to be without Callum Osmand, Alistair Johnston and Jota due to injury issues, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is unavailable due to a suspension he picked up while at Besiktas.

O'Neill is likely to make several changes from the side that lost to Rangers at the weekend, with the likes of Auston Trusty, Haissem Hassan and Jordan Lotomba potentially in line to start.

Meanwhile, Ferencvaros are without any injury worries heading into this Europa League matchday one clash, giving Borbely a fully available squad to choose from. 

Lenny Joseph scored four goals during the qualifiers but has failed to find the net in the last seven matches, and Borbely will be hoping to see more from his striker on Thursday.

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

Dibusz; O Nagy, Raemaekers, Gomez, Cadu; A Nagy, Corbu; Bamidele, Zachariassen, O'Dowda; Joseph

Celtic may have suffered a disappointing defeat to Rangers, while Ferencvaros are in superb form coming into Thursday's game, but the Bhoys are formidable at Celtic Park and should have the quality to claim the win.

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

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