Will the Bulls remain undefeated in their 13th competitive match?
Levski Sofia is back in a European group stage—or league phase—for the first time since the 2010–11 season and will thus take the field on the big international stage. They even came close to qualifying for the Champions League, but after surviving three qualifying rounds—including matches against Kairat Almaty and Borac Banja Luka—their run ended in the playoffs against AEK Athens with a 0–4 aggregate loss over two legs.
Nevertheless, anticipation for the Europa League is driving the Levski Sofia vs. Red Bull Salzburg matchup on Thursday evening. The game will not be played at their home stadium, the Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, but at the Vasil Levski National Stadium, as their own arena does not meet UEFA requirements.
The visitors from Salzburg naturally bring significantly more experience on the international stage, even though their 2025–26 Europa League campaign ended in the group stage with just two wins and six losses.
Looking ahead to the Levski Sofia vs. Red Bull Salzburg matchup, however, what’s even more concerning is that the Austrians have lost all of their past nine away games in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. Danny Röhl, who has served as head coach since the summer, also doesn’t have a particularly strong record in European competition, having lost four of six matches with Glasgow Rangers last season and also being eliminated in the group stage.
In terms of quality and given their significantly higher squad market value, the Bulls nevertheless travel to Bulgaria as favorites, a fact also reflected in the pre-match odds for Levski Sofia vs. RB Salzburg on the 1X2 market. This is especially true given that RB Salzburg remains undefeated across all competitions this season and has recorded nine wins and three draws in twelve matches.
To get a complete picture, the focus thus turns to Levski Sofia, which has already played 18 competitive matches this season and lost only two of them (12-4-2). Just qualifying for the Europa League group stage is already a major success for the Bulgarians, even though their two warm-up matches—a 0–0 draw at Botev Vratsa and a 2–4 loss in the Super Cup final against archrival CSKA Sofia—didn’t go as planned.
With Julio Velázquez, there’s also an interesting Spanish coach on the sidelines who, despite being only 44 years old, has already gained experience at clubs like Betis Sevilla and Udinese.
Levski Sofia – Red Bull Salzburg Head-to-Head Record
So far, there have been two head-to-head matches—both took place in the 2009–10 Europa League group stage and both ended in 1–0 victories for Salzburg. It’s also interesting to look at more recent matches between Austrian and Bulgarian clubs: Most recently, LASK faced Ludogorets twice in the 2020–21 Europa League group stage and won both matches, 4–3 and 3–1, respectively. Salzburg now has the chance to continue this winning streak on Thursday night against Levski.
Levski Sofia – Red Bull Salzburg Prediction
Overall, despite their weak away record in the Europa League, I see Salzburg as the better team. The Bulls are still undefeated across all competitions this season, have a significantly higher squad value, and boast a strong record with nine wins out of twelve matches so far. While Levski has earned its spot in the group stage and is also a tough team to beat with just two losses in 18 competitive matches, their recent performances against Botev Vratsa and CSKA Sofia show that the Bulgarians aren’t without their question marks.
That’s why I’m going with a X2 bet and Over 1.5 goals for Levski Sofia vs. Red Bull Salzburg. Salzburg should take home at least one point, and at the same time, based on both teams’ performances so far this season and their offensive quality, I believe they’ll score at least two goals combined.
