Celje fell to a 2–3 defeat against Sabah FA in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, 17 July 2025. The match at Arena Celje kicked off at 18:00 UTC with Bulgarian official Dragomir Draganov in charge. The home side went into the break level at 1–1 but could not prevent Sabah FA from taking a narrow first-leg advantage.

For Celje, this loss meant they entered the second leg needing to overturn a one-goal deficit just to progress past the opening stage of Europ...