The biggest shock of the day came in Tampere, where Finland's Ilves pulled off a 4-3 win against an AZ side who reached the semi-finals of the Conference League back in 2022/23.
The hosts never trailed in this one, as they scored twice in six minutes midway through the second 45 to grab a first leg advantage. It was just the second time that AZ lost a UECL qualifier, having fell 1-0 at Dundee United three years ago.
That was not the only significant shock result. Sparta Praha were also on the wrong side of a 2-1 result in Kazakhstan against Aktobe. Oralkhan Omirtaev's 83rd minute proved to be key for the hosts, who had taken the lead just before the half hour mark.
Both Norwegian clubs prevailed in convincing fashion. Rosenborg's Dino Islamovic bagged a hat-trick in his side's 5-0 defeat of Lithuania's Banga. Viking had the largest margin of victory this week, hitting Koper for seven. Remarkably, it was not the first time they scored seven in a European clash. They last did so 26 years ago versus Principat in the UEFA Cup.
Austria Wien were made to work in their clash versus second tier Spaeri of Georgia. In the end, they prevailed 2-0, with their second coming in the final moments via a penalty.
Elsewhere, FC Santa Coloma, who had never won an away match in Europe before this season, came from a goal down to stun Polissia Zhytomyr 2-1. Equalizing six minutes after going down, David Crespo scored the winner on the stroke of half-time. The Andorrans are 90 minutes away from making the third qualifying round for the second time in three years.
Kosice, who replaced DAC Dunajska Streda at the 11th hour, surrendered a two-goal cushion to lose 3-2 at home to Neman Grodno. Maxim Kravstov's penalty 11 minutes from time helped his team complete the comeback.
While the majority of the games were on Thursday, several occurred on Wednesday, plus one Tuesday clash. Ballkani had braces from Sunday Adetunji and Bleart Tolaj as they came from a goal down twice in their 4-2 win over Floriana. The Kosovan outfit have reached the Conference League proper twice in the past.
Next week Tuesday and Thursday will have the deciders, as 50 teams will see their European campaign conclude. Joining the 50 winners in the third qualifying round are the eight losing teams from the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, as well as Vikingur Gota and Virtus, who both received byes to that stage.