A Result Nobody Saw Coming
Rough night for Hibernian. A club that’s only existed for a decade, playing in front of their own fans at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Pristina, beat the Scottish Premiership side 2-0 in the first leg of their Conference League second qualifying round tie. David Gray didn’t hold back afterward either, calling the performance “unacceptable.”
Hibs actually started the brighter of the two. Owen Elding had a looping header cleared off the line in the seventh minute after a Felix Passlack cross, with keeper Ilir Avdyli well beaten — that should’ve been 1-0 to the visitors, honestly. Malisheva grew into it from there, though. Arlind Veliu had an effort deflected over for a corner around the quarter-hour mark, and they kept coming. Then in the 21st minute, Veliu cut the ball back from the left, Dzemal Ibishi missed the first touch, but Kreshnik Uka was on hand to stab it low past Raphael Sallinger. 1-0, and the home crowd had something to properly celebrate.
Hibs Push, But Can’t Find a Way Back
Hibernian’s response to going behind was fairly flat. A Grant Hanley header got comfortably saved not long after, and that summed up the rest of the half. Adam Mayor came on for Jack Iredale at the break, and Hibs did have more of the ball after that, pushing forward with new signing Nathan Lowe missing a couple of decent chances along the way. None of it led anywhere, though, and Malisheva made them pay for it right at the death — substitute Valjmir Nafiu added a second in the 90th minute on the break to make it 2-0 and leave Hibs with a serious job on their hands.
What It Means Next
Malisheva, under new boss Thomas Brdaric since June, are having their best-ever Conference League qualifying run, having already knocked out Vllaznia 6-2 on aggregate to get here. For Hibernian, this is now looking like a genuine crisis — they’ll need something close to a miracle at Easter Road next week just to save the tie, and it’s another bruising European night for a Scottish side that’s failed to reach any competition proper since 2005-06.
Match Summary
Malisheva 2-0 Hibernian UEFA Conference League, Second Qualifying Round, 1st Leg — Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina, Kosovo Thursday, 23 July 2026
Goals: 21′ Kreshnik Uka (Malisheva) 1-0 90′ Valjmir Nafiu (Malisheva) 2-0
Result: Malisheva shock Hibernian 2-0 in the first leg. Hibernian face a rescue mission in the second leg at Easter Road.
For live Conference League qualifying scores and coverage, visit fawanews. Full results and bracket at the official UEFA Conference League website.
