One team looking to make a return to the competition's main rounds are Partizan Belgrade, who ran away with a 3-0 victory against Kazakhstan's Tobol.
Demba Seck gave the home side the lead just past the half hour mark in a match where Partizan had 17 shots to Tobol's five. A second was scored midway through the second half, before the Serbs netted a third in stoppage time to take a deserved lead for the decider.
Crno-beli have competed in the Conference League proper twice, but have not done so since 2022/23. In their last three seasons, they were eliminated twice in the playoff round before falling in the third qualifying round last summer.
Also among the winners on Thursday were Tromso, who hit five in Romania versus CFR Cluj to win 5-0. Heine Larson's brace in the first 20 minutes set the tone for the visitors, who are on course to qualify for the playoff round. They have not gotten that far in Europe since 2013/14.
The defeat was CFR's heaviest in a European home match, having twice been beaten by five goals on the road.
It was an excellent week for the Danish clubs, where all three of them came out on top. FC Kobenhavn roared to life with a 3-0 success away to Hungary's Debrecen. That was followed by Midtjylland getting past Bohemians 2-0, while FC Nordsjaelland prevailed by the same score at Valur Reykjavik.
Austria's two teams were also winners on Thursday, with Rapid Wien hitting three late goals to get past Paide 4-1 on their travels.
Substitute Moulaye Haidara bagged a brace as Rapid, who made the quarter-finals in 2024/25, have one foot in the next round.
Their local rivals Austria Wien also came out on top, overturning an early deficit to beat Israeli side Beitar Jerusalem 2-1. Sanel Saljic scored the winner for Die Veilchen, awaiting their return to group phase play after three straight eliminations in qualifying.
Panathinaikos draw at home once again
Two of the UECL matches began earlier on in the week. Wednesday saw Panathinaikos fail to win at home for the second week in a row. This time, it was CSKA 1948 Sofia who held them to a 1-1 draw in the Greek capital.
Despite taking the lead through Adriano Jagusic, the hosts conceded 10 minutes later to Georgi Rusev to make their return leg next week a bit more complicated.
In 10 previous games with Bulgarian opponents, Prassinoi had never been involved in a stalemate.
Also on Wednesday, Apollon Limassol edged Brann 1-0 on their travels to claim an important lead in the tie. The Cypriot side are looking to become the second team from their nation to make the UECL group phase on multiple occasions.
Tuesday's sole match ended in a 1-0 victory for Auda against Dinamo Tirana.
Several European regulars were also in action on Thursday. Ajax made it three wins from three in UECL qualifying with a 3-1 success against Shelbourne. The Dutch club amassed 32 attempts in the match, leaving the chance for their Irish opponents to turn things around next week.
Sporting Braga, Gent, and Dynamo Kyiv all won by 1-0 scorelines. The Portuguese giants topped Dinamo Minsk, the Belgians prevailed at IFK Goteborg, and the Ukrainains defeated Qarabag.
Riga with advantage over Gyor
In the domestic champions path, Riga FC claimed a vital 1-0 result at home to Gyor. Balint Selyem turned the ball into his own net just three minutes in as the Hungarian outfit were outshot 18-4.
Riga are now 90 minutes away from eliminating a Hungarian club for the second time in their history. They also did so two summers ago, also winning the home leg on that occasion.
Borac Banja Luka also secured a 1-0 home success at the expense of ML Vitebsk. Although the Belarusian side played down a man from the 33rd minute, they were able to hold off their Bosnian opponents.
Just one team in the champions path managed to win on the road. Drita got past Tre Fiori 4-1, completing an impressive comeback in the final half an hour to put themselves in a good spot to move through.
Andorra's Inter Club d'Escaldes came out on top against Flora Tallinn, beating the defending Estonian champions 2-0.
Should they reach the league phase, Inter would become the first team from their tiny nation to make the group phase of any UEFA club competition.
The second legs are next week as the 30 winners will qualify for the playoff round, joining five direct entrants plus the 13 losing teams from the Europa League third qualifying round.
Follow the UEFA Conference League qualifiers on Flashscore.