Football Bet of the Day: Cup winners collide in Europa League

After the return of the Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Europa League swings into action on Thursday night. The first qualification round has generated some intriguing ties, and one of them has caught my eye for Thursday’s Football Bet of the Day. 

Read on as we look to secure another winner. 

Unlike the Champions League, the Europa League features some weird and wonderful qualifiers in the opening round of fixtures. The fixture that has caught my eyes sees Slovakia’s Spartak Trnava host Sweden’s BK Hacken at the Anton Malatinsky Stadium (19:15 BST).

Hacken are ranked 180th in Uefa’s club coefficient while Spartak Trnava are ranked 154th, although Sweden is ranked as the 20th-best league in Europe, compared to Slovakia in 27th. Despite that however, I am siding with Spartak Trnava to secure a win in this first leg.

Spartak Trnava vs BK Hacken Odds

Interestingly, Sweden are currently midway through their league due to their harsh winters, but Hacken have been unable to push on. After 14 games, they sit ninth, having picked up just 18 points in the Allsvenskan this term. That is not the form of a side that is going to go deep in this the Europa League this season, and let’s not forget, they are only in this competition because they won the Swedish Cup last term - having finished eighth in the league. 

Today's Football Fixtures

They last won the Allsvenskan in 2022, but since then have severely dropped off, with the cup win providing a glimmer of hope in an otherwise miserable campaign. They drew 0-0 with Malmo in that final before beating them on penalties, but they’ve won just two of their last seven in the league.

Hacken will have to do something special to secure a win in this first leg, against a side that are far more consistent. Slovakia follows a more traditional football calendar, but Spartak Trnava finished third in the league after the play-off round and won the Slovak Cup. 

They found life tough towards the end of the last campaign and have lost three friendly matches, so I can’t rely on current form to get them through here, but I do think they will be able to turn it on at home. 

This clash pits together two teams that are slightly out of form, but given Hacken have proven themselves to be a mid-table Swedish outfit for two years now - while Spartak Trnava have been competing at the top of the Slovakian division - I’m going to back Spartak Trnava to beat BK Hacken as my Football Bet of the Day for Thursday, July 10. 

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