The upcoming opposition

Serbia’s second oldest football team were stuck in the third and fourth divisions for decades and even played in the leagues of other countries due to the volatile history of the region. It was only in 2013 that FK TSC, located near the Hungarian border, began its steady sporting ascent thanks to extensive financial support coming from Hungary. 

The club made it into the Serbian top-flight for the first time in 2019 and the following summer, they did enough to get into the qualification stages for the Europa League thanks to their fourth-place finish in the SuperLiga. However, the side from Backa Topola didn’t make it past the second qualifying round. 

Three years later under coach Žarko Lazetić, FK TSC had their most successful season in the history of the club, finishing second in the top-flight standings, which put the club in contention for a place in the Champions League group stages. However, Žarko Lazetić’s team suffered two heavy defeats against Portuguese side SC Braga in the third round of qualification, which meant that the Serbians would be playing Europa League football this season.  

So far in the group stages, FK TSC suffered a 3-1 defeat to West Ham, despite scoring first, and got their first point in Europe thanks to a 2-2 home draw against Olympiacos. After a good start to their league campaign, FK TSC are currently going through a bit of a tricky patch; while they sit in third position in the table, they haven’t won in their last three games (D2, L1) and went out on penalties in the first round of the cup against third-tier side FK Smederevo last week. 

The thoughts ahead of the game 

Christian Streich on the opposition: “Topola are a quality side and can play in two or three systems. We’re preparing for the match as if it were a Bundesliga fixture.” 

Philipp Lienhart on the upcoming games: “We obviously know what we could achieve in the next couple of games. We’re prepared for two difficult tests that we’ll have to give everything in to pick up points.”