Basel vs Copenhagen: UEFA Champions League Prediction (20.08.2025)

On the evening of Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 19:00 UTC, at St. Jakob-Park Stadium in Basel, local club FC Basel will host Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Fourth Qualifying Round.

The hosts reached this stage as the champions of Switzerland, while the visitors had already battled through qualifiers, eliminating Drita (Kosovo) and Malmö (Sweden).

Bookmakers see Copenhagen as having the greater chance over the two legs, but for the first match, a slight preference is given to the home side. Odds: Basel win – 2.31, basel to qualify – 2.10. For the Lions: away win – 3.02, to qualify – 1.73. The match is expected to be low-scoring: Over 2.5 goals – 2.09, both teams to score – 1.85.

Basel

Although Fabio Celestini led Basel to the Swiss championship in the 2024/25 season, the coach left for CSKA Moscow. His replacement, Ludovic Magnin, has started inconsistently in the Swiss Super League – two wins and two losses in the first four matches. One notable highlight was a 4–1 home victory over Young Boys.

On the field, captain Xherdan Shaqiri takes the leader’s role. In attack, the most active has been the Nigerian left winger Philip Otele. Overall, the Red-and-Blues look well-coordinated when their defense avoids major mistakes.

Copenhagen

Jacob Neestrup guided his team to reclaim the Danish championship last season. This year’s Superliga campaign has also started strongly, with four wins out of five.

In the previous round against Malmö, the Lions drew 0–0 away, but at home demolished their opponents 5–0. In that match, 20-year-old Brazilian forward Robert scored a brace, while Mohamed Elyounoussi was named man of the match, excelling in the attacking midfield role.

Head-to-Head Statistics

The teams have never met before in European competitions.

Prediction

Both clubs have shown strong attacking play in the opening stages of their domestic campaigns. Taking advantage of bookmakers’ expectation of a low-scoring match, the prediction is: Total Over 2 goals at odds of 1.57.