Albion host Lithuanian cup winners Kauno Zalgiris at the Amex on Thursday

Brighton & Hove Albion^1,2,3,4,5 play FK Kauno Žalgiris at the American Express Stadium on Thursday 15 October, kick-off 8pm. It is the first of Albion’s six games in the league phase of the UEFA⁶ Conference League.

Albion got here through a play-off with Tromso. The first leg in northern Norway finished goalless, with Albion taking 25 shots. At the Amex they won 4-0, with Babis Kostoulas, Maxim De Cuyper and Mats Wieffer scoring before half-time and Olivier Boscagli adding the fourth.

Kauno Žalgiris are the Lithuanian champions, and this is their first league-phase campaign. They had never reached the Lithuanian Cup final before this season. On Sunday 11 October they won it, beating Minija 3-0 at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, the Lithuanian Football Federation⁷ reported. Leon Krekovic scored the first goal and was named player of the final.

English clubs have won three of the first five Conference Leagues, UEFA said in its matchday preview, and Brighton are hoping to make it four.

General sale for Thursday’s game opened at 9am on 10 September. Buy all three home league-phase games in one go and you get £6 off. The other two are Universitatea Craiova on 26 November and AS Monaco on 10 December. Visiting fans sit in blocks S1A to S1D.

A match ticket also covers subsidised bus and train travel within the club’s travel zone, from three and a half hours before kick-off until three and a half hours after the final whistle.

After Thursday, Albion go to FK Jablonec on 22 October and Getafe on 5 November.