Lincoln Red Imps to play Monaco and Twente among its six opponents in Europe

Just 48 hours earlier, few would have forecast that Lincoln Red Imps would be watching the Conference League draw to discover who they would be facing in the competition's league phase.

A 2-0 defeat at home against Larne in the first leg of the play-off had left many doubting the Imps' chances of qualifying for a second consecutive season in the league phase.

The Imps were, however, to prove everyone who had doubted them wrong.

Seemingly stirred from their momentary slumber by their victory in the Pepe Reyes Cup, Lincoln Red Imps took the confidence gained from that success into Thursday's second-leg play-off against Larne.

Two late goals levelled the tie before an extra-time penalty clinched qualification.

Lincoln Red Imps would be heading into the league phase for a third time, more than some of Europe's traditionally bigger clubs could claim themselves.

Among the group stage or league phase debutants in European competition, Iberia Tbilisi are the second Georgian club to reach this stage, alongside Dinamo Tbilisi, while Egnatia are the second Albanian side to achieve the feat, following Skenderbeu. Inter Escaldes also made history for Andorra by becoming the first club from their country to reach a group or league stage.

Since the Conference League was introduced in the 2021/22 season, Andorra has become the 13th country to use the competition as a pathway to group or league-phase representation, following Armenia, Estonia and Gibraltar in 2021/22; Liechtenstein, Kosovo and Lithuania in 2022/23; the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2023/24; Wales and Northern Ireland in 2024/25; and Malta last season.

There are seven clubs making their debuts in the group stage or league phase of European competition in this season's Conference League, including Belgian club Sint-Truidense, Danish side Aarhus, Lithuanian entrants Kauno Žalgiris and Swedish side Mjällby.

The latter would be the one team Lincoln would certainly wish to avoid after their Champions League defeat against the Swedish side earlier in the campaign.

Last season's winners, Crystal Palace, are also among the teams making their first-ever journey into European competition.

With the draw ensuring that teams from the same pot could not be drawn against each other, and each side facing teams from the other pots, the fact that Getafe and Lincoln Red Imps were both in Pot 3 ensured they would not meet.

With Brighton in Pot 2 and Hearts in Pot 4, however, the possibility of an all-British tie remained wide open.

Lincoln Red Imps had been 2-0 behind on aggregate against Larne on Thursday before Kike Gómez scored for the Gibraltar side in the 82nd minute. Manu Toledano levelled the tie two minutes later before converting a 121st-minute penalty during extra time to send the visitors through.

"I have no words to describe what happened," said defender Bernardo Lopes. "It's crazy. It's unbelievable. We deserved it. It was an amazing game."

Bernardo Lopes, Lincoln Red Imps defender, added: "Right now, we have to celebrate. We've entered the league phase two times in a row. It's time to celebrate, be happy and just live the dream for some of [the players], because it's the first time they're achieving this. It doesn't matter which teams we're going to play against; our focus has to be the same and we need to work hard to keep winning and doing great things."

In its five seasons so far, 122 clubs from 48 nations have participated in the UEFA Conference League.

For many football and Lincoln Red Imps fans, it did not really matter who Lincoln would be playing against. The mere fact that European league-phase football was returning to the Rock was achievement enough.

Few were expecting anything further, although, following last season's feat, when they missed out on the knockout phase by a mere point, Lincoln Red Imps could never be written off until the final whistle had blown, as Larne learned on Thursday.

Where they had initially thought they would be having an easier season than last year, Lincoln's passage into the league phase now means they will face six weeks between October and December during which they will play twice a week. Weekend domestic fixtures will be combined with Thursday Conference League matches, either at home or away, depending on the week and opponent.

A hectic schedule lies ahead and, with positive results such as their away victory against Larne, Lincoln Red Imps were already looking towards another potentially lucrative season.

The club is now opening a growing financial gap between itself and the rest of the domestic league clubs, with their latest success ensuring that gap widens even further.

Lincoln's success will also help Gibraltar football's UEFA coefficient ranking rise, helping protect the allocation of four Gibraltar clubs in European competition.

On Thursday, UEFA held its competition draws, with both the Europa League and Conference League draws taking place during the early afternoon. Notably, Lincoln's success in Europe saw them ranked among the top 18 teams through their coefficient.

Lincoln, in the same Pot 3 as Getafe, were drawn away against Pot 1 side Monaco. From Pot 2, Lincoln were drawn at home against Midtjylland.

They will also play Twente at home, Brann away, Hajduk Split at home and Egnatia away.

The order of the fixtures is still to be confirmed, with the schedule expected by Sunday.

Teams participating in the 2026/27 Conference League league phase

Albania: Egnatia
Andorra: Inter Escaldes
Belgium: Gent, Sint-Truidense
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Borac
Bulgaria: CSKA Sofia
Croatia: Hajduk Split
Cyprus: Pafos
Czechia: Jablonec
Denmark: Aarhus, Copenhagen, Midtjylland, Nordsjælland
England: Brighton
Finland: KuPS Kuopio
France: Monaco
Georgia: Iberia Tbilisi
Germany: Freiburg
Gibraltar: Lincoln Red Imps
Greece: Panathinaikos
Italy: Atalanta
Kazakhstan: Kairat Almaty
Latvia: Riga
Lithuania: Kauno Žalgiris
Netherlands: Ajax, Twente
Norway: Brann
Portugal: Braga
Romania: U. Craiova
Scotland: Hearts
Serbia: Crvena Zvezda
Spain: Getafe
Sweden: Mjällby
Switzerland: Lugano, Thun
Türkiye: Trabzonspor

When are the league-phase matches in the 2026/27 Conference League?

Matchday 1: 15 October 2026
Matchday 2: 22 October 2026
Matchday 3: 5 November 2026
Matchday 4: 26 November 2026
Matchday 5: 10 December 2026
Matchday 6: 17 December 2026