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Ararat-Armenia and Craiova will square off in the second leg of their Europa League playoff tie on Thursday.
Last week's first leg ended level at a goal apiece, meaning the winning team no Thursday will book their place in the league phase.
Read our prediction, preview and betting tips for the game below, and make sure to check out our today's betting tips page for more of our expert predictions.
Ararat-Armenia vs Craiova key stats
- Ararat-Armenia have won all three of their home legs in European qualifying this season, while only conceding once.
- Ararat-Armenia's draw at the weekend made it three wins and one draw to start their Armenian Premier League title defence.
- Craiova have scored 13 goals in the first six games of their Romanian Superliga title defence.
- Craiova have only lost one leg in European qualifying so far this season.
- Craiova have not failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six games.
Ararat-Armenia vs Craiova preview: Winner of Armenian and Romanian champions takes a league-phase spot
Ararat-Armenia vs Craiova — Tale of the Tape
| Ararat-Armenia | vs | Craiova |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd (Armenian Premier League) | Position | 4th (Romanian Superliga) |
| 10 | Points | 10 |
| 9 | Goals For | 13 |
| 5 | Goals Against | 8 |
| 1 | Clean Sheets | 1 |
| 2nd | Home / Away Rank | 11th |
Ararat-Armenia return to action on Thursday aiming to cap off a long and testing European qualifying campaign with a place in the Europa League league phase.
After winning the Armenian Premier League for the third time in their history and first time in six years in 2025-26, they earned entry into the first round of Champions League qualifying and have already played seven continental matches this season, scoring nine goals and conceding nine in those.
Tulipa's side firstly navigated through two rounds of Champions League qualifying against Riga FC and Shamrock Rovers, losing away and winning the home legs on both occasions, before dropping out at the hands of Celje having again come out on top in Armenia before a decisive 2-0 away defeat.
That saw the Armenian champions drop into the final stage of Europa League qualifying, one tie away from a first-ever league phase appearance, and they came out of a tough away leg level last week, leading through Alexandros Malis inside 20 minutes and standing strong after the hosts levelled in the first half.
Now on the back of a 1-1 home draw with Sardarapat thanks to Zhirayr Shaghoyan's opener, ending their perfect start to the Armenian top-flight title defence but making it four league games unbeaten with 10 points on on the board, Ararat-Armenia come into their second leg aiming to make it four wins from four in Europe on home soil to win the tie and advance to the league phase.
Their visitors, meanwhile, arrive in Armenia looking to hand their hosts a first home continental defeat of the season to cap off their own tough qualifying run.
Craiova won the Romanian Superliga in 2025-26, ending their 25-year title drought, to also join Champions League qualifying in the first round, but they failed to make it as far as the hosts, comfortable seeing off ML Vitebsk before Levski Sofia dumped them out with a 3-2 aggregate win.
That left the Alb-albastrii two ties away from the Europa League league phase, in a bid to return to the European stage after featuring in the Conference League league phase in 2025-26, falling just short of the knockout rounds having ended on seven points from their six matches.
KuPS stood between Filipe Coelho's side and the playoff round, and they advanced with a 3-2 aggregate victory, drawing away from home and winning 2-1 in Romania, before they kicked off the final stage of qualifying against Ararat-Armenia last weekend and failed to make the most of home advantage, instead coming away on level terms thanks to Nicusor Bancu's equaliser at the Stadionul Ion Oblemenco.
Craiova were quickly able to bounce back to winning ways at the weekend, beating FC Voluntari 3-1 to go fourth in the Superliga on 10 points from six games, albeit with just one of those points coming from their opening two away matches, and they will now bid to win on the road for just the second time across all competitions this season to progress to the league phase of Europe's secondary competiton, a noticeable leap from last year.
Ararat-Armenia vs Craiova form guide & betting tips
| Ararat-Armenia | vs | Craiova |
|---|---|---|
WLWDD |
Form | LWDDW |
| 6 | Goals For | 7 |
| 5 | Goals Against | 5 |
D |
Europa League Qualifying | DWD |
Whispers predicts: Ararat-Armenia 1-2 Craiova
Craiova have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last six games, scoring in five of those, while BTTS has hit in six of Ararat-Armenia's last eight matches including last week. After a first-leg 1-1 draw, we fancy both sides to get on the scoresheet again in the decisive second leg with Both Teams to Score priced at 10/11 (1.91).
Ararat-Armenia do not tend to see slow starts to their games, with both teams scoring in the first half of five of their last seven matches. To avoid doubling up on both teams to score if one of the sides grows into the game later on, we fancy over 1.5 first half goals at 2/1 (3.00).
Last week's first leg produced 12 corners – eight for Craiva and four for Ararat-Armenia – with the Armenian champions only likely to increase their foothold in the game with home advantage, we envisage another high corner count with over 9.5 corners priced at 10/11 (1.91).
> Both Teams to Score at 10/11 (1.91) | Likelihood: Probable
> Over 1.5 first-half goals at 2/1 (3.00) | Likelihood: Possible
> Over 9.5 corners at 10/11 (1.91) | Likelihood: Probable