Dunk and Hurzeler: All of last season’s work was for these two games against Tromso

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Head coach and skipper spoke at Tromso's stadium ahead of Thursday's Conference League play-off game.

Charlie Hanson

2026-08-19T20:25+01:00

Fabian Hurzeler led Albion to an eighth place finish last season. 📸 by James Boardman.

Lewis Dunk and Fabian Hurzeler want to ensure that last season’s hard work doesn’t go to waste when they play Tromso over two legs in the UEFA Conference League play-off.

Our eighth-place finish in the Premier League last season has put us within touching distance of the group stages of the European competition, but our Norwegian opponents have already seen off Czech Republic side Hradec Kralove and Romanian outfit Cluj.

“There’s a big opportunity for us. The boys worked hard through the whole of last season and we went through a lot of highs and lows together, but we always showed resilience,” Hurzeler said. “This is the reward and now it’s up to us that we will finish this work by being successful in these two games.

The players and staff arrived in Tromso on Wednesday evening. 📸 by James Boardman.

Dunk added, “We’ve got these two games for all of last season’s work and we want to make sure we qualify for this competition. We have to back ourselves and be at our best. Hopefully we can take a win back to Brighton.”

The first tie will be played on Tromso’s artificial turf, but neither the head coach or the captain will hear any complaints from the squad.

Dunk said, “The ball bounces and moves differently to playing on grass, but 80% of the squad probably grew up playing on that. Hopefully, with a bit of water on it, the ball will move quickly.”

Fabian Hurzeler and Lewis Dunk took questions from the local media at Tromso's stadium. 📸 by James Boardman.

And while the welcome for both fans and players has been excellent, the team are focussed on the job at hand.

“We would like to thank everyone for the hospitality and the warm welcome, we don’t take it for granted,” Hurzeler added. “It’s a big game and a big opportunity for us, but we face a strong opponent.

“We have watched a lot of their games to understand their style of play, how they like to play out from the back and how intensely they press, which is very impressive. So we shall be ready. The main message is that we need to focus on us, we need to bring our quality to the pitch and hopefully we can be successful.”