LONDON (AP) — The sixth round of the first phase of the conference league ends on Thursday, with Strasbourg the only team to have advanced directly to the last 16.
The French team tops the table with four wins and a draw and faces Iceland’s Breda Bilik at home.
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The 36 clubs competing in Europe’s third tier will play six different opponents and will be ranked in a single table. Clubs participating in the Champions League and Europa League play eight games each.
The top eight teams in the league will advance directly to the top 16 in March. Teams ranked 9th to 24th advance to the two-leg elimination round in February. The bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.
Crystal Palace, making their European debut after winning the FA Cup last season, are ninth in the table – one point behind AEK Athens, Samsunspor, Sparta Prague, Rayo Vallecano and Mainz.
The Eagles can advance directly to the last 16 if they defeat another newly promoted team, Kups from Finland, at home at Selhurst Park.
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Two-time runners-up Fiorentina play at Lausanne Sport. Dutch team AZ Alkmaar, Slovenia’s Celje and Cyprus’ Larnaca AEK also need to win their last game to have a chance to advance directly.
AZ Alkmaar faced Jagiellonia of Poland, Celje faced Shelbourne, and AEK Larnaca faced Sckendija of Macedonia.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer