Ararat-Armenia vs Universitatea Cluj Prediction and Betting Tips | July 24th 2025

Ararat-Armenia will host Universitatea Cluj at the Yerevan Football Academy on Thursday in the first leg of their 2025-26 second-round UEFA Conference League qualifying campaign. The home side enjoyed a positive campaign in the Armenian top-flight last season, finishing runners-up to champions Noah. They have now returned to the Conference League qualifiers for a third consecutive campaign.

They locked horns with Zimbru Chișinău at this stage of the qualifiers last season beating the Moldovan side 6-1 on aggregate before crashing out in the third round following a 4-3 aggregate defeat to Puskas Akademia.

Universitatea Cluj enjoyed a brilliant season in the Romanian Superliga last season, finishing fourth in the league table just three seasons after returning to the top-flight. Their last appearance in European competition came in 1995 when they participated in the now-defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Șepcile Roșii have begun their domestic campaign, picking up a win and a draw in their two outings so far and will now be looking to carry that momentum onto the continental stage this week.

Ararat-Armenia vs Universitatea Cluj Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

• Thursday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.
• The visitors are without a clean sheet in their last 11 games.
• Ararat-Armenia had the second-best offensive and defensive records in the Armenian top-flight last season with 75 goals scored and 28 conceded in 30 matches.
• U. Cluj had the fourth-best offensive and defensive records in the Romanian Superliga last season with 55 goals scored and 42 conceded.
• The hosts have advanced past the second round of the Conference League qualifiers just once in the last three seasons.

Ararat-Armenia vs Universitatea Cluj Prediction

Ararat-Armenia ended the previous campaign with two wins from three and will be looking to pick up where they left off this week. They are undefeated in their last eight home matches and will fancy their chances of a positive result on Thursday.

The Red Caps are on a run of back-to-back unbeaten outings after closing their pre-season campaign with three consecutive defeats. They are the slightly stronger side ahead of the midweek clash and should avoid defeat here.

Prediction: Ararat-Armenia 2-2 Universitatea Cluj

Ararat-Armenia vs Universitatea Cluj Betting Tips

Tip 1 - Result: Draw

Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Over 2.5 goals (Five of the hosts' last seven matches have produced more than 2.5 goals)

Tip 3 - Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in each of the visitors' last eight matches)

Edited by Ashwin