Ferencvaros welcome Viktoria Plzen to the Groupama Arena in Budapest for the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday evening

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Ferencvaros are competing in the knockout rounds of a major European competition for the third consecutive campaign and are now bidding to reach the Europa League last 16 for the second season in a row after accumulating enough points in the newly-formed League Phase to avoid elimination.

The 35-time Hungarian champions ended the League Phase in 17th place with 12 points after winning four and losing four of their eight matches, scoring and conceding 15 goals each. A thrilling 4-3 home win over AZ Alkmaar on matchday eight a fortnight ago secured their place in the playoffs.

That victory represents the first and only victory across five matches for new Ferencvaros head coach Robbie Keane since replacing Pascal Jansen last month, with the Greens failing to win any of their last three Nemzeti Bajnoksag I fixtures.

Ferencvaros were forced to play out back-to-back draws before being knocked off their perch at the summit of the Hungarian top flight by new table-toppers Puskas Akademia, who have moved two points clear after winning 1-0 on Sunday.

Keane will be keen to prove himself to the Ferencvaros faithful after a tricky start to life in Hungary, and he will hope that his players can rediscover their scoring form in the Europa League; the Greens have netted four goals in three of their last five Europa League matches in wins over AZ, Malmo (4-1) and Dinamo Kiev (4-0).

After reaching the quarter-finals of last season's Conference League, Viktoria Plzen put in a respectable showing during the League Phase of this year's Europa League and are now on course to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time since 2017-18.

Like Ferencvaros, the six-time Czech champions collected 12 points (W3 D3 L2) across their eight League Phase fixtures, although a 3-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on matchday eight saw them miss out on an automatic last-16 qualification spot and forced them to settle for a 16th-placed finish.

A 2-1 loss against Sigma in the Czech First League just four days later condemned them to a second defeat in a row in all competitions for the first time since May 2023, but they have since returned to winning ways after beating Liberec 3-2 on home soil last weekend.

Sitting second in the top-flight standings and 10 points behind leaders Slavia Prague with nine games of their regular season remaining, Plzen's title hopes are hanging by a thread, so perhaps some Ferencvaros supporters would not be too surprised to see Miroslav Koubek's side go all out to progress further in this season's Europa League.

Plzen may have lost three of their last six away games in all tournaments, including both of their last two, but they will back themselves to at least find the net on Thursday as they have scored in each of their last six Europa League fixtures on the road, scoring two or more goals on four of those occasions.

Probable Lineups