Eternal qualification thriller: Football dwarfs set Champions League record

The Hamrun Spartans are making history.
(Photo: IMAGO/Domenic Aquilina)
Hamrun Spartans and Zalgiris Vilnius will never play for international titles, but both football dwarfs have secured their place in the Champions League history books in an exciting way.
Maltese champions Hamrun Spartans wrote a curious chapter in football history in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. The club only prevailed against Lithuanian representatives Zalgiris Vilnius after a record-breaking penalty shootout with 28 attempts. The final score was 11-10, with Montenegrin Jovan Cadjenovic converting Hamrun's final penalty. The scoreline after extra time was 2-0, thus avenging the Spartans' 2-0 first-leg defeat.
One of the first five penalty shooters on each team missed, and then it could have been all over after the sixth attempt – but both Luka Dumancic for Zalgiris and Hamrun's Saliou Thiune missed. The twelfth penalty shooters also missed their penalties in unison, making the record possible.
More penalties have never been needed to determine the winner in a Champions League qualifying match. In the second round of the 2010/11 season, there were 22 attempts in Lech Poznan's 9-8 win over FK Keshla, and in the first round of the 1993/94 season, between NK Olimpija and Skonto Riga (10-11), there were 24. The record in UEFA competitions is 34 penalties, which were needed to determine a winner in the third qualifying round of the Europa League in August 2024, between Ajax Amsterdam and Panathinaikos (13-12).
The Hamrun Spartans, whose goalkeeper also scored from the penalty spot, like Vilnius, are repeat offenders: Last season, they also prevailed in the first round shootout, but this time against the Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar after just ten attempts (5:4). An even greater challenge awaits the Hamrun Spartans in the next round: The eleven-time Maltese champions will face the Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kyiv.
Source: ntv.de, ter/sid
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