The first of two encounters in the Europa League Play-offs, as the hometeam Ludogorets will try to edge Ajax in their own ballpark.
These teams have little in common geographically as Ajax have to travel 2300 kilometers to reach their opponents. The trip home will be especially long if the match ends in defeat.
These are full days for the team playing at home, as they had a game only four days ago in the Parva Liga. That game was an away game at Cherno More, so at least Ludogorets are thankful to return home in this one. Game on!
Ludogorets form and stats
Action has already taken place for Ludogorets in Europa League as they have defeated Astana to reach the Play-offs. Ludogorets participated in Europa League the last season, where they reached the group stage.As mentioned below, Ludogorets are feasting on a winning streak here so far with maximum points from their first 2 Parva Liga games.
Ludogorets are hoping to put things right at home after a defeat in their previous match, the score 0-1 away versus Cherno More.
Preceding that game, a home victory hosting Astana in the Europa League.
The match schedule is unforgiving for Ludogorets as they have a new game in only three days, a Parva Liga match thankfully also at home. Beroe are visiting.
At Huvepharma Arena, Ludogorets has the goal stats of 8-0 (for/against) from 2 league fixtures.
Ajax form and stats
Ajax was sent out of Europa League in the knockout round play-offs last season, when Union Berlin turned out to be too strong.The story so far for the visiting team on their Eredivisie travels is 0 wins, 1 draw and 0 defeats.
It's another away game for the visitors, as they travelled to Excelsior in their previous outing. The match ended in a draw 2-2. The draw against Excelsior came from a losing position. The Ajax manager Steijn brought on Klaassen as a substitute and the player scored to make the scores level. Midfield player Kudus was the top player of the team with a match rating of 8.1/10. Kudus served one assist, hit three key passes, dribled past the opponent 7 of 8 times and had 29 successful passes (of 34 total).
It was a Eredivisie defeat before that one as the away game against FC Twente wasn't a success with a 1-3 loss.Ajax have the goal stats of 2-2 (for/against) from 1 business trip in the league at this early stage of the season.
Head 2 Head
Top Goalscorers
  B. Tekpetey 2 goals |  A. Fonn Witry 2 goals | D. Yankov 2 goals |
Ludogorets missing players
Ajax missing players
| Ludogorets | Ajax | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 16 | 9 | Won | W | 5 | 12 | ||
| 3 | 2 | Drew | D | 2 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Lost | L | 6 | 8 | ||
| 52 | 30 | Scored | S | 20 | 48 | ||
| 23 | 9 | Conceded | C | 26 | 39 | ||
| 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 92% | 92% | ||
| 80% | 83% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 92% | 84% | ||
| 64% | 67% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 92% | 80% | ||
| 36% | 42% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 54% | 56% | ||
| 16% | 25% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 15% | 20% | ||
| 48% | 50% | BTTS | BTTS | 69% | 64% | ||
| 44% | 50% | Clean Sheets | C S | 15% | 24% | ||
| 8% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 23% | 20% | ||
| 5.2 | 6 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6.8 | 7.6 | ||
| 2.8 | 2.7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.8 | 3.4 | ||
| 2.2 | 1.8 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.2 | 1.7 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 2 | ||
| 13.6 | 14.4 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 13.4 | 16 | ||
| 5.9 | 6.3 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.2 | 5.8 | ||
| 35% | 39% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 29% | 33% | ||
| 6.6 | 4.8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.7 | 9.5 | ||
| 2.7 | 2.1 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.3 | 3.7 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Cherno More | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 16 |
| 2 | Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 16 |
| 3 | Beroe | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 4 | Hebar 1918 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 11 |
| 5 | Ludogorets | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 9 |
| 6 | Levski Sofia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 9 |
| 7 | Levski Krumovgrad | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 9 |
| 8 | CSKA Sofia | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 9 | CSKA 1948 Sofia | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 10 | Arda | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | Lokomotiv Sofia 1929 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | -7 | 6 |
| 12 | Slavia Sofia | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -8 | 4 |
| 13 | Botev Vratsa | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -11 | 3 |
| 14 | Botev Plovdiv | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 2 |
| 15 | Etar | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -7 | 1 |
| 16 | OFK Pirin | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -7 | 1 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | AZ | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | FC Twente | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 3 | PSV | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 4 | SC Heerenveen | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | Ajax | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | Excelsior | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Sparta Rotterdam | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Fortuna Sittard | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Go Ahead Eagles | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | -1 | 3 |
| 10 | Vitesse | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -1 | 3 |
| 11 | Heracles | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -2 | 3 |
| 12 | Feyenoord | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | NEC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
| 14 | PEC Zwolle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -3 | 0 |
| 15 | FC Volendam | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 0 |
| 16 | RKC Waalwijk | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -4 | 0 |
| 17 | Almere City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -4 | 0 |
| 18 | FC Utrecht | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 0 |
