Başakşehir will take part in its 58th exam in Europe.

Istanbul Basaksehir will face Slovenian team NK Celje in an away match tomorrow, marking their 58th appearance in European cups during the second week of the UEFA Conference League.

In the second week of the UEFA Conference League, Basaksehir will visit Slovenia’s NK Celje tomorrow at 19:45 (UTC). With this match, Basaksehir will play its 58th match in European cups. The orange-blues have recorded 22 victories, 13 draws, and 22 losses in their previous encounters. The Istanbul team has scored 82 goals while conceding 78 in these matches.

Eighth match under Çağdaş Atan

Istanbul Basaksehir will play its eighth match in European cups under the management of coach Çağdaş Atan. Under Atan’s guidance, the orange-blues have achieved 5 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss in 7 European matches, scoring 16 goals while conceding 3. The 44-year-old coach will play his second match in the new format of the UEFA Conference League, having previously competed with 3 teams in the preliminary rounds twice each. The orange-blues defeated La Fiorita 6-1 and 4-0 in the second round, Iberia 1999 Tbilisi 1-0 and 2-0 in the third round, and won 2-0 against St Patrick’s Athletic at home, while they drew goalless away.

Tenth encounter in the Conference League

The orange-blues participated in the UEFA Conference League, which started four years ago, and in the 2022-2023 season, they earned 4 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw in the group format, accumulating 13 points to qualify directly for the Round of 16. In the Round of 16, which is their best achievement in European cups, Basaksehir had 1 draw and 1 loss, leading to their exit from the tournament. This season, in the newly organized league format, they lost 2-1 at home to Rapid Wien. In total, in the 9 matches they have played in the Conference League, the Istanbul representative has 4 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws, and with the NK Celje match, they will play their 10th encounter.

17 goals contributed by Piatek and Figueiredo

Krzysztof Piatek and Joao Figueiredo have been key players carrying Basaksehir’s scoring load this season. The Polish striker has scored 10 goals in 15 matches across all competitions, while Brazilian player Figueiredo has contributed with 7 goals in 15 matches. Following them on the list are Deniz Türüç, Davidson, Olivier Kemen, and Ömer Ali Şahiner, each with 2 goals, while Serdar Güler, Berkay Özcan, Hamza Güreler, Dimitrios Pelkas, and Leo Duarte have each scored once.

First encounter against Slovenian teams

Basaksehir will face Slovenian teams for the first time. The Istanbul team has previously played most frequently against Belgian and German representatives. In those matches, they faced 3 different teams, competing a total of 6 times both home and away. Basaksehir has played against German teams Hoffenheim, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Leipzig, and Belgian teams Club Brugge, Royal Antwerp, and Gent.

Third place in Slovenian league

NK Celje started this season’s European cup journey from the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The yellow-blues advanced past Estonian team FC Flora in this round but were eliminated in the second round by Slovan Bratislava, continuing their journey in the Europa League third round. They were eliminated in this round by Shamrock Rovers and secured their right to compete in the Conference League by overcoming Armenian representative FC Pyunik Yerevan in the play-off round. In their first match of the new format of the UEFA Conference League, the Slovenian representative faced Vitoria Guimaraes and lost 3-1. In the Slovenian League, after 12 weeks, Celje is currently in third place with 7 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws, accumulating 23 points. Most recently, Celje hosted NS Mura last Saturday and won 4-3. The technical director of the Slovenian team is Spanish Albert Riera, who previously played for Galatasaray.

Oleksiy Derevinskyi will officiate

The match between NK Celje and Istanbul Basaksehir will be officiated by Oleksiy Derevinskyi from the Ukrainian Football Federation. Derevinskyi will be assisted by Viktor Matyash and Viktor Nyzhnyk. The fourth official for the match will be Denys Shurman, and Mykola Balakin will be in the VAR seat, accompanied by AVAR Viktor Kopiievskyi.