/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F07%2Faaa-fc-flora-6a4c040786b5b059919012.jpg "Preview: Flora vs Saburtalo Tbilisi – prediction, team news, schedule")
Estonian side Flora face Georgian side Saburtalo Tbilisi at Lillekula Stadium in the first leg of the Champions League first round qualifiers on Wednesday evening.
The winners of the two-legged tie will advance to the unbeaten Group 2 on the Champions Path in the second qualifying round.
Game preview
Flora is the most successful team in Estonian top flight football and lifted their record 16th Meistriliiga in the 2025 campaign under head coach Konstantin Vassiljev.
However, they face an uphill battle to retain their title as they currently sit second in the table, 10 points behind leaders and Tallinn-based rivals FCI Levadia after 18 league games in the 2026 season (W12 D0 L6).
The Green-Whites suffered two home defeats in three games at the start of June, but have since responded with back-to-back wins over FCI Levadia (2-1) and FC Kuressaare (3-0), scoring in the final last Thursday.
Flora have never qualified for the Champions League before and have progressed to the second qualifying round three times, most recently in 2021-22 when they reached the Conference League group stage.
As for Saburtalo Tbilisi, now known as FC Iberia 1999, they are preparing for their third ever Champions League qualification campaign, having previously suffered a first round exit at the hands of Malmo last year and a second round exit to Dinamo Zagreb in 2019-2020.
The Red Eagles have raised their profile in Georgian football in recent years, winning their first top-flight title in 2018 before celebrating back-to-back victories in 2024 and 2025 under two different coaches.
Andriy Demchenko replaced Guga Nergadze last month and since then has had a mixed start for the Iberia hotseat, winning two and losing two of his first four games in charge of the Erovnuli Liga and Georgian Cup.
After losing their first league match against rivals Rustavi (2-1), the Red Eagles won again with the same result against Meshakhte Tkibuli to keep them two points clear at the top.
Iberia 1999 then ended the month of June with a 1-0 semi-final win over Dinamo Tiblisi in the Georgian Cup, but lost 6-5 on penalties to Torpedo Kutaisi in the final last Wednesday following a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes.
Flora form (all competitions):
Saburtalo Tbilisi form (all competitions):
Team News
Flora manager Vassiljev will decide whether to stick with 4-4-2 following their recent win over Kuressaare or go back to a back three with wingers.
Oscar Pihela and Airon Kollo could be recalled to play at center back in a three-man defence, while Sander Alamaa and Nikita Kalmokov could provide width from the outside.
Rauno Sappinen has scored 11 goals for the club in 2026, with a total of 181 goals for Flora in 317 games. The 30-year-old striker is expected to lead the way and may be supported in attack by Tony Varjund and Sergey Zenjov.
As for Iberia 1999, defender Iuri Tabatadze and defender Derek Agyakwa are both unavailable for selection as they continue to recover from unspecified injuries.
Bakar Kardava will continue to captain the midfield alongside Nikoloz Dadiani, who has scored two goals in his last three games for the Red Eagles.
17-year-old Andria Bartishvili will be looking to start up front behind striker Amiran Dzagania, who is hoping to end his three-game goal drought.
Flora may start the program:
Grunwald; Pihela, Kollo, Kolobov; Alamaa, Kreida, Antonov, Kalmykov; Varjund, Sappinen, Zenjov
Saburtalo Tbilisi may start the series:
Megrelishvili; Amisulashvili, Selimovich, Zouri, Dzhindzholava; Kardava, Dadiani; Gudushauri, Bartshvili, Bedoshvili; Dzagania
We say: Flora 2-1 Saburtalo Tbilisi
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Staying tied for the second leg in Tbilisi next week will be high on the agenda for both teams, so a tight first leg battle will not be ruled out on Wednesday. However, we expect the hosts to go on to win the event.
For data analysis of the most likely results, score lines and more for this game please click here.
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