On Thursday, July 23, Kyiv's Dynamo will continue their fight for a spot in the 2026/27 Europa League group stage. Their opponent is a serious one — Greek club PAOK, which has undergone significant changes this season and is essentially a new team.
Where and when to watch the match
The match kicks off at 20:00 Kyiv time. The Kyivians, as nominal hosts, will welcome the Greeks at Motor Arena in Lublin, Poland. The live broadcast will be aired on the 2+2 TV channel. The match will also be available for viewing on the online platforms of the Kyivstar TV and MEGOGO media services.
For those who prefer video services, the broadcast is available on YouTube — both on Dynamo's official club channel and on the Footballhub channel.
Refereeing and pre-match preparations
The main referee for the match is 38-year-old Dane Sándi Putros. For Ukrainian football, he is considered "lucky": he officiated the winning matches of the Ukraine U-21 national team against Luxembourg and Shakhtar U-19 against RB Leipzig.
Dynamo has already started the new season — in two matches against Universitatea Cluj, the Kyivians failed to score from open play but still advanced. Now, Igor Kostyuk's team must prove that the goal drought is a thing of the past.
The Kyivians have five friendly matches in Austria to their credit (3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss) and one friendly match in Poland between the games against the Romanians — a 4:2 victory over Radomiak.
PAOK: A new team under a new coach
The Greek club is just starting its new season. The bronze medalist of the Greek championship has played four friendly matches: three wins and one loss.
It is useless to analyze PAOK based on last season. In the summer, the club underwent significant changes: the new head coach is Italian Alessio Lichi, replacing Razvan Lucescu, and the squad has been virtually renewed.
In particular, defender Tomasz Kędziora has returned to Dynamo. Some players have remained — including Brazilian Tyson, who is familiar with Ukrainian football.
It is worth noting that the owner of the club from Thessaloniki is the controversial businessman of Russian origin Ivan Savvidis.
What's next?
The winner of this tie awaits another opponent before entering the Europa League group stage. Dynamo (or PAOK) must beat the winner of the Hammarby (Sweden) / Anderlecht (Belgium) tie.
The loser of this confrontation will enter the third qualifying round of the Conference League. There, the opponent will be the winner of the Qarabag (Azerbaijan) / CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) tie.
