Balzan were eliminated from the UEFA Europa League after suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to FK Željezničar at the Olimpijski Stadion Koševo on Thursday.

Željezničar move to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League with a 3-0 aggregate score and will be meeting Ferencvárosi TC of Hungary.

Balzan coach Oliver Spiteri handed Italian goalkeeper Valerio Senatore and Malta international midfielder Ryan Fenech their debut but Bojan Kaljevic was left out of the squad as he failed to recover in time.

Following a goalless first half, substitute Damir Sadiković scored the all-important goal on the 68th minute, just four minutes after replacing Dženis Beganović.

ZELJEZNICAR Marijan Antolović, Aleksandar Kosorić, Kerim Memija, Jasmin Bogdanović, Josip Kvesić, Rijad Bajić, Jovan Blagojević (69′ Enis Sadiković), Amir Hadžiahmetović, Ognjen Djelmić, Dženis Beganović (64′ Damir Sadiković), Zoran Kokot (84′ Amer Hiroš).

BALZAN Valerio Senatore, Justin Grioli, Samir Arab, Steve Bezzina, Elkin Orlando Serrano Valero, Ryan Fenech, Edison Bilbao Zarate, Dylan Grima (79′ Ryan Darmanin), Clive Brincat, Terence Agius (73′ Lydon Micallef), Osa Guobadia (90′ Michael Borg).

Referee: Vasilis Dimitriou (CYP)
Assistant referees: Aristides Christou (CYP), Charalambos Charalambous (CYP)
Fourth official: Avraam Tsoukas (CYP)