PARIS: Brighton and Hove Albion were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw away to Norwegian side Tromso in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off on Thursday played 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.
Tromso goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard produced two sharp first-half saves to deny Georginio Rutter and Ibrahim Osman as Brighton controlled much of the contest but failed to find a breakthrough.
The hosts threatened on the counter-attack as Heine Larsen was foiled by Bart Verbruggen, before Isak Vadebu wasted a golden opportunity in the closing minutes for Tromso.
Brighton are appearing in Europe for only the second time after reaching the Europa League last 16 in 2024. They will host Tromso next Thursday in the return leg.
Seagulls manager Fabian Hurzeler handed defender Luka Vuskovic his debut following his club-record move from Tottenham Hotspur, but Brighton were without Carlos Baleba and Yankuba Minteh.
Both players are sidelined through injury but have been linked with moves to Manchester United and Liverpool, respectively.
Brighton open their Premier League campaign at home to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Rangers scraped a 1-0 victory over Czech side Jablonec in Glasgow.
Ryan Naderi scored the only goal early in the second half as Rangers finished with 10 men after Cammy Devlin was sent off.
Derek McInnes’ side were the only one of three Scottish teams in the competition to win on Thursday.
Hearts drew 2-2 at home to Rapid Vienna, while Motherwell lost 3-1 to last season’s Europa League runners-up Freiburg.
Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026
