Feyenoord vs Sturm Graz Prediction & Betting Tips (22 January)

Feyenoord is clearly not in its right mood in this Europa League, or even this season at all. To stay with the C3, the Dutch club is not yet even guaranteed to play the 1/16th finals being only 30th in the ranking with only 3 small points after 6 days. Only one victory to report for Feyenoord, against Panathinaikos at home 3-1. For the rest of the results, quite logically, there were five defeats. Against Braga 1-0, Aston Villa 0-2, Stuttgart 2-0, Celtic 1-3 and FCSB 4-3. To start 2026, Robin van Persie's men settled for a draw at Heerenveen 2-2, a fifth successive match without a win in all competitions. Last weekend, the Batavians hosted Sparta Rotterdam, with the aim of rediscovering the pleasure of winning a football match with the result to come. Qualified to participate in the league phase of the Champions League last season, Sturm Graz is now participating in the little sister of the queen of European competitions, the Europa League.

In a similar situation to Feyenoord but with 1 point more, Sturm is virtually eliminated from the competition by being installed in 29th place. Hosting Red Star Belgrade on the previous day, the Sturm lost with the narrowest of scores 0-1 after losing to Panathinaikos 2-1. To list the other results, the Austrian team was held to a draw at home by Nottingham Forest 0-0, lost at Celtic Park against Celtic 2-1 and in Denmark against Midtjylland 2-0. The only victory was written for the reception of Rangers 2-1. In the league, Sturm Graz ended 2025 with a defeat against Austria Vienna 3-1. At the start of the year, in order to maintain the rhythm, the current 3rd in the Austrian championship is participating in friendlies. Two were played but no victory against Club Brugge 2-2 and Copenhagen 4-4, two Champions League-sized adversities.

Feyenoord will have to cope without a bunch of players who are still injured. We think in particular of T.Beelen (no appearance this season), M.Jeng (20 years old, ex-Reims), Jakub Moder (3 goals, 2 assists in the Eredivisie last season, no appearance this season), Bart Nieuwkoop (1 goal in the Eredivisie this season), the experienced G.Trauner (33 years old), Watanabe (Japanese international) and Zand (no appearance in the league this season). On the other hand, some injured elements and withdrawals against FCSB have returned to competition, like Hwang (1 assist in the Eredivisie this season), defender G.Read (3 assists in the Eredivisie) and the impressive Sem Steijn (7 goals, 2 assists in the Eredivisie). Returns which will do good for the head of Robin van Persie who will also be able to rely on the championship's top scorer Ayase Ueda (Japanese international), author of 18 goals without forgetting to mention the Algerian returned from the CAN, Anis Hadj Moussa (5 goals, 3 assists) who has a high rating on the transfer market.

 At Sturm Graz, defender Alexandar Borkovic, injured for a long time in the first half of the season, was logically not included on the UEFA list. Although he is on his way back, he will not be eligible to play today. Croatian international hopeful Leon Grgic (3 league goals) was injured before Christmas and has not played again since. Same story for Dimitri Lavalee. The young 19-year-old talent Filip Rozga. Note, however, the presence of Tomi Horvat (Slovenian international), author of 2 goals in C3 and in the championship and the Georgian international Otar Kiteishvili (8 goals, 2 assists in the championship.