Skënderbeu v Beşiktaş background

KF Skënderbeu will make Albanian history as they kick off their Group H campaign against Beşiktaş JK, and could become the first local club to avoid defeat against Turkish opponents.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition. It is Skënderbeu's first encounter with Turkish opponents.

• Beşiktaş met FK Dinamo Tirana in the 1986/87 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round, winning both legs without conceding.

• Clubs from Albania and Turkey have met in 12 UEFA games, with all 12 being won by the Turkish side, by an aggregate score of 33-3.

Form guide
• Skenderbëu were unbeaten in seven European home games (W6 D1) before losing 2-1 to GNK Dinamo Zagreb in this season's UEFA Champions League play-offs.

• Beşiktaş made it through last season's UEFA Europa League group stage unbeaten, then eliminated Liverpool FC on penalties before bowing out to Club Brugge KV in the round of 16.

• Skenderbëu are the first Albanian side to feature in the group stage of a major UEFA competition.

• The competition's new identity has played well with Beşiktaş: they failed to make it through all three of their UEFA Cup group stage campaigns, but have been successful in all three of their UEFA Europa League ones.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Istanbul to Elbasan – where this game will be played – is just shy of 750km.

• Skenderbëu are one of ten domestic champions in this season's group stage, along with Qarabağ FK (Azerbaijan), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), FK Partizan (Serbia), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).

• Beşiktaş's Argentinian midfielder José Sosa can make his 50th UEFA club competition appearance on matchday one.

• Skënderbeu forward Hamdi Salihi and Beşiktaş midfielder Veli Kavlak (who has not been named in their UEFA Europa League squad) were team-mates at SK Rapid Wien.

The coaches
• In charge at Skënderbeu since 2012, Mirel Josa was capped 27 times as a midfielder by Albania, spending the bulk of his career at KF Tirana before finishing up in Greece. He won a title as a coach with Tirana too, and has led his current side to glory in the last three Albanian league campaigns.

• Former Trabzonspor AŞ and Turkey goalkeeper Şenol Günes took charge at Beşiktaş in June this year. He famously coached Turkey to a bronze-medal finish at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He has also won two Turkish Cups in the course of four separate spells as Trabzonspor coach.