Brighton & Hove Albion must be careful that the chill of winter does not arrive much earlier than normal for them this season in the Conference League.They face Norwegian side Tromso — based inside the Arctic Circle — in the play-off round of the competition over two legs later this month.They have known for a week who the opponents would almost certainly be, following Tromso’s 5-0 third qualifying round first-leg win over Cluj in Romania which turned Thursday night’s home leg into a formality. They won that second leg 2-1, cruising through 7-1 on aggregate.Tromso’s substantial first-leg cushion did at least provide Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler and his staff with a bit more time to prepare for the tests that await them. They visit the outpost in northern Norway on August 20. The second leg is at the Amex on August 27, the two legs sandwiching their opening Premier League fixture at home to Aston Villa on August 23.Brighton have made strong starts in each of Hurzeler’s campaigns to date — 15 and 12 points in 2024 and 2025 respectively in the first eight league games, coupled with progress through the early rounds of the Carabao Cup. Coming out of the blocks quickly again is crucial, because an immediate exit from Europe could have damaging repercussions for the rest of the season.The squad building this summer is based on the assumption of requiring a bigger group of players to cope with the extra strain of playing in Europe and the accompanying need for Hurzeler to have scope to rotate his line-ups for Thursday ties in the Conference League, with a quick turnaround for Sunday matches in the Premier League.This will happen on six occasions from October through to December, but only if the tie against Tromso is safely negotiated to set up three home matches and three away in the league phase. Reaching the knockout stages in the New Year could lead to up to 17 extra games in total this season for Hurzeler’s squad if they made it all the way through to the final at the Besiktas Stadium in Istanbul on June 2.