Away from the World Cup spotlight, the Champions League has restarted with Shamrock Rovers defender Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes unable to play due to his memorable tournament series with Cape Verde.
In ten games played on Tuesday in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, the first goal of the season was scored in Gibraltar by a player even older than Cristiano Ronaldo: 41-year-old Nano, the left back of Lincoln Red Imps.
Lopes returned to Dublin on Monday, three days after Cape Verde thrilled the World Cup by pushing defending champions Argentina and Lionel Messi to the limit in a 3-2 defeat in the round of 32 at Miami Gardens.
Shamrock, where 34-year-old Lopes has played since 2016, lost 2-0 to Floriana in the first leg in Malta.
“I will unfortunately miss the match in Malta,” Lopes had told reporters at Dublin airport, “but I am looking forward to getting back to training and doing what I love again.”
Rovers will host the second leg next Tuesday.
Champions League action took place on Tuesday in a slew of footballing nations that never qualified for a World Cup – Gibraltar, San Marino, the Faroe Islands – and one that did, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Bosnian champions Borac Banja Luka drew the first leg at home, 1-1 against Levski Sofia, but without the only player who went to the World Cup, 18-year-old goalkeeper Mladen Jurkas.
In Gibraltar, Lincoln opened the competition’s scoring with a 16th-minute penalty from Nano in a 3–1 win over Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra.
Four more matches will be played on Wednesday, including in Estonia, Moldova and Kazakhstan, where Kairat Almaty will start the first qualifying round again.
Kairat reached the lucrative main stage last edition, playing against Real Madrid, Arsenal and Inter Milan.
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The Belarusian champion Vitebsk is organizing its ‘home match’ in neutral Hungary, without fans in the stadium.
UEFA has banned Belarusian teams from hosting matches since the full military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian teams remain suspended from all European competitions, including the Champions League.
The matches also started on Tuesday in the first qualifying round of the third-tier Conference League, in Albania and Luxembourg.
The second division Europa League starts on Thursday with teams that often play in the main phase of the Champions League. Qarabaq, Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros are all in action.
Published on July 8, 2026
