50 Fun Facts About UEFA Europa League

Which Spanish club has won the UEFA Europa League a record seven times, including three in a row?

Sevilla lifted the trophy in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020 and 2023, and that 2014–2016 run is the only hat-trick of titles in the competition's history.

On which night are most UEFA Europa League matches played, though the final is held on a Wednesday?

Thursday is the competition's regular night, though qualifying and knockout games can move to a Tuesday when fixtures clash.

Silvio Gazzaniga, sculptor of the UEFA Europa League trophy, also designed which far more famous football prize?

The FIFA World Cup trophy and the UEFA Cup were both made by Gazzaniga for the Bertoni company in the early 1970s; the UEFA Cup weighs 15 kg and stands on yellow marble.

Which English club won the 2013 UEFA Europa League while still reigning as Champions League holders?

Chelsea, the first holders ever knocked out in the Champions League group stage, dropped into the Europa League and won the final with a header in the last minute of stoppage time.

Which capital city hosted the all-London 2019 UEFA Europa League final, with thousands of tickets left unsold?

Baku is so far from London that the two finalists planned to return 6,000 unsold tickets, and one of them called the choice of venue unacceptable.

Which manager won the UEFA Cup with Porto and the Europa League with Manchester United, then lost the 2023 final?

José Mourinho reached his sixth European final with Roma in 2023 and lost it 4–1 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, his first defeat in a European final.

Which Spanish club won the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League after dropping out of the Champions League group stage?

Atlético Madrid entered the knockout stage as a third-placed Champions League side and went on to a third title in nine seasons, after 2010 and 2012.

Which English club won the first UEFA Cup in 1972 and lifted the Europa League in Bilbao 53 years later?

Tottenham Hotspur beat Wolverhampton Wanderers over two legs in 1972 and Manchester United 1–0 in 2025, their first European trophy since 1984.

Which Italian club, led by Diego Maradona, beat VfB Stuttgart over two legs to win the 1989 UEFA Cup?

Napoli won the final 5–4 on aggregate with Maradona as captain, the club's first major European honour.

Which Italian club ended Bayer Leverkusen's 51-match unbeaten run by winning the 2024 UEFA Europa League final 3–0?

Atalanta had never won a European trophy before that night in Dublin, and had gone 61 years without a trophy of any kind.

Which French club lost the 2018 UEFA Europa League final 3–0, a quarter-century after winning the Champions League?

Marseille had also lost the finals of 1999 and 2004, and no French club had ever won the competition.

Which French forward scored twice in the 2018 UEFA Europa League final and was named player of the season?

Antoine Griezmann struck in the 21st and 49th minutes, the first after a loose touch on the goalkeeper's pass out gifted his side the ball.

Which French city's stadium in the suburb of Décines-Charpieu hosted the 2018 UEFA Europa League final?

Lyon staged the final at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, with capacity set at 57,000 and former France defender Eric Abidal as the match ambassador.

Which manager announced his exit after 22 years, days before his club's 2017–18 UEFA Europa League semi-final?

Arsène Wenger made the announcement on 20 April 2018, and Arsenal's 2–1 aggregate defeat meant he left without a European trophy in 22 years at the club.

Which club knocked out Borussia Dortmund and Lazio on the way to the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League semi-finals?

Red Bull Salzburg, in Marco Rose's first season as coach, then lost the semi-final 3–2 on aggregate after extra time.

Which 37-year-old Athletic Bilbao striker was joint top scorer of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League with Ciro Immobile?

Aritz Aduriz scored eight goals even though his club went out in the last 16, a year after he hit all five in one group game against Genk.

Which English coach led Swedish club Östersund from the fourth tier to a 2018 Europa League win at Arsenal?

Graham Potter's side won 2–1 in London but went out 4–2 on aggregate, having become the first Swedish club to get past the Europa League group stage.

Which striker nicknamed El Niño came on in the 2018 UEFA Europa League final in his last week at his boyhood club?

Fernando Torres was sent on in the 90th minute of the final, then scored twice in his farewell league game days later.

Which captain and France playmaker had to leave the 2018 UEFA Europa League final injured after only 32 minutes?

Dimitri Payet's injury also cost him a place in the France squad that became world champions two months later.

Clubs from which country, admitted to UEFA in May 2016, made their debut in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League?

Kosovo was given a single place for 2017–18, the same season in which Gibraltar's allocation rose from one club to two.

Which one-off match do UEFA Europa League winners play against the Champions League winners the following August?

The Super Cup was contested by the Cup Winners' Cup holders until that competition was scrapped in 1999, when the UEFA Cup winners took over their place.

Which tie-breaker, still used in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League knockout stage, did UEFA abolish in 2021?

The away goals rule had settled level ties in European football since 1965; from 2021–22 they go to extra time and, if needed, penalties.

At which stage did eight Champions League drop-outs join the UEFA Europa League knockout phase in 2017–18?

The round of 32 paired 24 group-stage qualifiers with eight third-placed Champions League sides; it disappeared in 2021–22, when the group stage was cut from 48 clubs to 32.

Since 2024–25, what must clubs placed 9th to 24th in the UEFA Europa League table win to reach the last 16?

A two-legged play-off decides it: the top eight of the 36 clubs go straight through, while those placed 25th or lower are eliminated.

What advantage did seeded clubs receive in the first knockout draw of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League?

Second leg at home went to the twelve group winners and the four best Champions League drop-outs, who were also kept apart from clubs of their own country.

Which competition, first won by Barcelona and last won by Leeds United, did the UEFA Cup replace in 1971?

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup began for cities that hosted trade fairs; a 1971 play-off between its first and last winners gave Barcelona the original trophy for good.

Which summer competition, UEFA's third tier, was scrapped and merged into the renamed UEFA Europa League in 2009?

The Intertoto Cup, whose name blends the Latin for 'between' with the German for a betting pool, had sent its winners into the UEFA Cup since UEFA took it over in 1995.

Clubs from which country have won the most UEFA Cup and Europa League titles, ahead of England and Italy?

Spain's clubs had 14 titles by 2026, ahead of England's 11 and Italy's 10, and half of those Spanish wins belong to a single club.

Which Ukrainian club won the last final played under the UEFA Cup name, beating Werder Bremen in Istanbul in 2009?

Shakhtar Donetsk won 2–1 in extra time through Jádson, and all three goals in the game were scored by Brazilians.

Which London club, managed by Roy Hodgson, lost the first final played under the Europa League name in 2010?

Fulham lost 2–1 after extra time in Hamburg, having beaten the host city's own club in the semi-finals and the holders earlier in the run.

Which Spanish club lost a nine-goal UEFA Cup final to Liverpool in 2001 through a golden own goal?

Alavés, in their first European final, were heading for penalties when Delfí Geli headed a free kick into his own net to end the game at 5–4.

Which Scottish club took around 80,000 fans to the 2003 UEFA Cup final, the largest travelling support UEFA had seen?

Celtic lost 3–2 to Porto in extra time, but their supporters won the FIFA Fair Play Award for the way they behaved.

Which Turkish club beat Arsenal on penalties in Copenhagen in 2000 to win its country's first European trophy?

Galatasaray had begun that season in the Champions League, making them the first UEFA Cup winners to have dropped down from Europe's top competition.

Which Russian club won the 2005 UEFA Cup final in Lisbon, played in opponents Sporting CP's own stadium?

CSKA Moscow came from a goal down to win 3–1, the first European trophy won by any Russian club.

Which city hosted the first single-match UEFA Cup final in 1998, an all-Italian game won 3–0 by Inter?

Paris staged it at the Parc des Princes, where Inter beat Lazio; every earlier final had been played over two legs, home and away.

Which Dutch club won the 2002 UEFA Cup final in its own stadium, beating Borussia Dortmund 3–2?

Feyenoord won at the Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam, the first single-match final to be staged at one finalist's home ground.

Which English club won the 1981 UEFA Cup under Bobby Robson, with Dutchman Frans Thijssen scoring in both legs?

Ipswich Town beat AZ '67 5–4 on aggregate after losing the second leg 4–2 in Amsterdam, and it remains the club's only European trophy.

Which Swedish club won the UEFA Cup in 1982 under coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, the first of two titles in the decade?

IFK Göteborg beat Hamburg 4–0 on aggregate, winning 3–0 in Germany, for the first UEFA Cup won by a Swedish club.

Which Portuguese club lost the 2013 and 2014 Europa League finals, defeats fans link to Béla Guttmann's supposed curse?

Benfica's former coach allegedly declared on leaving that the club would not be European champions again for a hundred years, though no record of him saying so has been found.

Which German club beat Rangers on penalties in the 2022 UEFA Europa League final, unbeaten in the whole campaign?

Eintracht Frankfurt had waited 42 years since their 1980 UEFA Cup, then the longest gap between two titles for one club.

Which goalkeeper missed the decisive kick as the 2021 UEFA Europa League final ended 11–10 on penalties?

David de Gea took the 22nd kick of the shoot-out and was the only player to miss; the opposing goalkeeper had just scored his own before saving it.

Which Nigerian forward scored the first hat-trick in a UEFA Europa League final, in Dublin in 2024?

Ademola Lookman's treble was the first hat-trick in a major European final since Jupp Heynckes scored one in 1975.

Which Basque coach won three straight Europa League titles from 2014 to 2016, then more with Villarreal and Aston Villa?

Unai Emery's 2026 win was his fifth title, and the one final he lost in that run came in 2019.

Which Colombian striker scored 17 goals for Porto in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League, including the winner in the final?

Radamel Falcao's 17 goals in 14 games beat the 15 that Jürgen Klinsmann had scored in a single campaign.

Which 33-year-old became the youngest coach to win a European club competition when Porto took the 2011 Europa League?

André Villas-Boas was 33 years and 213 days old, and his side also went unbeaten through the Portuguese league season.

Which Spanish coach won the 2004 UEFA Cup with Valencia and the 2013 Europa League as an interim manager in England?

Rafael Benítez became only the second manager, after Giovanni Trapattoni, to win the competition with two different clubs.

Which German club beat Bordeaux in the 1996 UEFA Cup final to complete a set of all three major European trophies?

Bayern Munich won both legs for a 5–1 aggregate, in the only UEFA Cup final of the 1990s that did not feature an Italian club.

Which Italian club, spearheaded by Hernán Crespo, won the 1999 UEFA Cup, Italy's last win there for 25 years?

Parma won the final 3–0 in front of 61,000 people, Crespo opening the scoring with a lob after a careless back-header from a defender.

Which Welsh forward scored the only goal of the all-English 2025 UEFA Europa League final in Bilbao?

Brennan Johnson got the last touch on a cross from close range in the 42nd minute, ending his club's 17-year wait for a major trophy.

Which Italian club won its first European trophy in the 1977 UEFA Cup with a squad made up entirely of Italians?

Juventus edged Athletic Bilbao over two legs and remain the only Italian side to win a European trophy without a foreign player in the squad.