By Matthew Elder
Copyright scotsman
Aberdeen begin their Conference League campaign at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday. The Dons are in desperate need of a positive result on the back of their worst start to a season this century which has left them rooted to the bottom of the Scottish Premiership and led some fans to call for the removal of head coach Jimmy Thelin. Aberdeen have not scored in their opening six league games, managing to collect just one point, and also drew a blank in a home defeat by Motherwell in the Premier Sports Cup. They will be underdogs at Pittodrie against a side who sit top of the Ukrainian league without a defeat in seven matches. Shakhtar are also unbeaten in normal time over eight European qualifiers – their only setback came in a Europa League penalty shoot-out against Panathinaikos. The Reds dropped into the Conference League after losing 5-2 on aggregate to Romanian side FCSB in the Europa League play-offs last month. They will play six matches in a single 36-team league format with the top eight sides qualifying for the last 16 and teams finishing ninth to 24th entering the knockout phase play-offs. The Conference League match takes place at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen on Thursday, October 2, 2025. Kick-off is 8pm. The match will be shown live on TNT Sports 4 with coverage starting at 7.45pm. Subscribers can live stream the match via the discovery+ website and app. Aberdeen defender Kristers Tobers is set to miss “a significant part of the season” after sustaining a knee injury in last weekend’s match against Motherwell. His place in the Conference League squad has been taken by on-loan Tottenham Hotspur defender Alfie Dorrington. Croatian referee Duje Strukan will be the man in the middle. He will be assisted by countrymen Alen Jakšić and Marjan Tomas. The fourth official is Ante Terzić. Fran Jović is in charge of VAR, assisted by Ante Culjak. Aberdeen 5/1, Draw 18/5, Shakhtar Donetsk 8/15 – via oddschecker.com.
