Why Borac Are Favourites for the Match
The gap in the prices is moderate — from 1.73 for a home win to 4.50 for an away win, while the closeness of the qualification odds (1.75 against 1.95) points to a highly competitive tie.
Borac are showing productive attacking form in UEFA Conference League qualifying: a big win over Petrocub (3:0) and a high-scoring 3:3 draw in the return match of the same round.
ML Vitebsk also come into the match with confidence — the team beat Sutjeska (3:0) in qualifying and thrashed Universitatea Craiova (4:1) in another match in the same cycle.
At the same time, Borac lost to Levski (5:1 on aggregate) in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, which points to uneven results at European level against higher-profile opponents.
ML Vitebsk, for their part, suffered defeats against Universitatea Craiova (1:5 on aggregate). Sokolinsky's team earned their first European win only in Conference League qualifying.
Form and Line-up Borac
Marinovic's players have not impressed in the current European campaign. Borac held Levski in the opening match of the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round (1:1), but then conceded four unanswered goals in Bulgaria (0:4). Against Petrocub, too, only the home meeting went well (3:0), while away from home it came down to a nervy finish — the opponents twice led by two goals. Interestingly, the Banja Luka team conceded from all three shots on target — there are questions for goalkeeper Jurkas.
Borac's key numbers:
Marinovic's team have played only four matches in the new season, winning just one of them.
Including friendlies, Borac have conceded 12 goals in total across their last six matches.
Since the start of spring, Borac have conceded in four of their eight official home matches. Only two of them were in European competition.
Probable Borac line-up (4-3-3): Mladen Jurkas — Sebastian Herrera, Jurich Carolina, Nemanja Jaksic, Viktor Rogan — Milos Jojic, Amer Hiros, Sandi Ogrinec — Stefan Savic, Luka Juricic, Damir Hrelja.
Form and Line-up ML Vitebsk
After going out of Champions League qualifying, the Geese made amends in the match against Sutjeska. The Belarusian champions thrashed the Montenegrin champions on neutral ground in Hungary (3:0), then came out on top away from home (2:1). Kontsevoy (5+2 in the last nine matches) and Gromyko (2+1 in four European matches) have hit excellent form, while Diabate has become a fine option from the bench. The Malian scored against Sutjeska in both meetings after coming on as a substitute.
ML Vitebsk's key numbers:
The Geese have scored in three of their four European matches this season.
ML have lost only one of their last eight away matches since the start of May.
ML's squad is much more expensive than Borac's — EUR15.5 million compared with EUR9 million.
Probable ML Vitebsk line-up (4-3-3): Pavel Pavlyuchenko — Sergey Balanovich, Kirill Gomanov, Zakhar Volkov, Yan Skibskiy — Aleksandar Mesarovic, Valeri Bocherov, Valeri Gromyko — Radivoj Bosic, Artem Kontsevoy, Denilho Cleonise.
Who will referee the match
Joey Kooij (Netherlands)
Matches – 12 (International matches, 2025–2026);
Average fouls per match – 33;
Average yellow cards per match (including second yellow cards) – 5.7;
Matches with a red card – 3 of 12;
Matches with a penalty – 4 of 12.
