Preview of the Noah vs. Rijeka match in the Conference League

This evening, Noah kicks off the new UEFA Conference League season with a match against Croatian side Rijeka. Both clubs were crowned champions of their domestic leagues but failed to get through the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League. Now, they will try to prove themselves in Europe’s third-tier competition.

Looking at the UEFA club ranking, Rijeka’s position is much stronger — 106th compared to Noah’s 222nd. Their squad is also more expensive: €33.88m versus Noah’s €13.8m (Transfermarkt). Yet numbers can be misleading; they don’t decide the outcome of a single match. Far more important are the current circumstances, motivation, and form of both sides.

For Rijeka, participation in the Conference League is already a historic milestone — it’s the club’s first-ever appearance in the main stage of a European competition. A bigger breakthrough was unlikely as Ludogorets and PAOK proved to be immovable obstacles.
For Noah, things could have gone even better. Sandro Perkovic’s men fought hard in every qualifier. In the Champions League they lost both games against Ferencváros (1–2 at home and 3–4 away), while in the Europa League they only fell short on penalties to Lincoln.
Croatian forward Marin Jakoliš’s words at the pre-match press conference (“we must prove that we deserve to be here”) sounded overly modest.

Noah is already an experienced European campaigner: this is the Armenian champion’s second season in the main phase of a continental tournament. This time, expectations are higher — fans want a battle for a playoff spot.

In the Armenian league, after 8 rounds, Noah sits second. That can be explained by the congested August schedule due to European qualifiers. Still, they are only two points behind leaders Alashkert with a game in hand, so things can change quickly.
Rijeka, on the other hand, started their domestic season in a way unbecoming of champions: after 8 rounds they sit 9th, second from bottom. On September 1, the club changed managers. Despite Montenegrin coach Radomir Djalovic leading Rijeka to two domestic trophies and securing Conference League qualification, he was dismissed after a poor start to the league campaign (1 win, 2 draws, 2 defeats). The fact that the team was also busy with European qualifiers hardly saved him.

He was replaced by Spaniard Víctor Sánchez, but after three games things haven’t improved much: one win in the domestic cup, two draws and a loss in the league. If the coaching change didn’t alter the picture, either the new coach has not yet taken control, or the problem ran deeper.