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GENEVA: Ferencváros ended a 25-year wait to return to the group stage of the Champions League on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), giving Hungary a rare place on the biggest stage in European club football.
A 0-0 draw at home to Molde in the second leg of the qualifying playoffs put Ferencváros in the away goals rule after a 3-3 draw in Norway last week.
Coach Serhiy Rebrov’s team will be Hungary’s first in the 32-team group stage since Debrecen 11 years ago.
Ferencváros, who last played in the group stage in 1995, will be the lowest-ranked team in Thursday’s draw in Geneva.
He started the season at 135th place in Europe by UEFA and had to advance through four qualifying rounds, beating champions Sweden, Scotland, Croatia and Norway.
Rebrov’s former team, Dynamo Kyiv, also advanced on Tuesday by beating away Gent 3-0 to complete a 5-1 aggregate score.
The Dynamo scored from the penalty spot each half to seal their first place in the group stage in four years with new manager Mircea Lucescu. The veteran coach was a Champions League regular for a long period at Dynamo’s main rival, Shakhtar Donetsk.
At 75, Lucescu will become the oldest coach in a Champions League match when the group stage begins. Jupp Heynckes was 72 years old as coach of Bayern Munich in the competition from 2017 to 2018.
Olympiakos sealed their 20th entry into the Champions League by drawing 0-0 in Cyprus against Omonia for a 2-0 aggregate victory.
The last three playoff games are played on Wednesday. All UEFA club competition qualifying matches are played without fans in stadiums during the coronavirus pandemic.
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