Amid a sensational streak of domestic form, Faroe Islands champions KI Klaksvik host Hungarian giants Ferencvaros in the first leg of their Champions League first-round qualifying clash on Tuesday.

Both sides are bidding to set up a second-round affair with either BK Hacken or The New Saints, while the losers will be demoted to the Europa Conference League Champions Path second qualifying round.

Match preview

Unlike many of their fellow Champions League minnows returning to action after their summer holidays, KI are already in the thick of their domestic season, and after 15 games in the 2023 Faroe Islands Premier League, the holders have defined perfection.

This week's hosts went through the entire 2022 league campaign undefeated, gleaning an outstanding 77 points from 81 on offer to win the Faroe Islands Premier League for the 20th time, and not a single team has been able to lay a glove on Magne Hoseth's charges in the 2023 top flight either.

Indeed, with 15 games gone in the 2023 season, KI have a maximum tally of 45 points to their name, most recently overcoming their closest challengers - 35-point Havnar Boltfelag - 2-0 last weekend thanks to Arni Frederiksberg's penalty and Sivert Gussias's strike on the stroke of half time.

However, one minor blot on KI's notebook from the 2023 season so far was a quarter-final exit in the Faroe Islands Cup, but the hosts have bigger European fish to fry this week, and they have enjoyed the luxury of a weekend break from domestic duties in preparation for the visit of Ferencvaros.

KI are no strangers to European qualifying phases and beat Norwegian giants Bodo/Glimt 3-1 at home in the first Champions League round last year - although they were ultimately knocked out 4-3 on aggregate - before their bid to reach the Europa Conference League group phase ended at the penultimate hurdle to FC Ballkani.

The less said about Ferencvaros' end-of-season struggles the better, as Stanislav Cherchesov's side only managed to claim four victories from their final 12 games in the Hungarian top flight, losing each of their last three in a dampening end to the campaign.

However, that undesirable sequence paled into insignificance thanks to the visitors' early dominance in the Nemzeti Bajnoksag I, and they would eventually be crowned Hungarian champions for the fifth year running and 34th time in their history, finishing six points clear of runners-up Kecskemet.

Ferencvaros' recent inconsistency continued in a quintet of summer friendlies, during which they only won twice and were defeated 2-1 by Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg, but their most recent exhibition fixture ended in a convincing 3-0 success over Botosani.

After falling in the third round of Champions League qualifying to Qarabag FK last year, Ferencvaros impressively pipped Monaco to first place in Europa League Group H to reach the last 16 - ending a 46-year exile from the European knockout stages - but Bayer Leverkusen subsequently subjected them to a 4-0 aggregate beating.

The hangover from last year's historic European exertions could be used as an excuse for the visitors' dip in form during the spring months, and Cherchesov's refreshed troops now seek to stamp their authority on Faroe Islands soil during their inaugural clash with KI.