2026 UEFA Europa League final
Football match in Istanbul, Turkey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League, the 55th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 17th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. It was played at Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey,[5] on 20 May 2026 between German club SC Freiburg and English club Aston Villa.
Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2025–26 UEFA Europa League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 20 May 2026 | ||||||
| Venue | Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Emiliano Buendía (Aston Villa)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | François Letexier (France)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 37,324[3] | ||||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy night 17 °C (63 °F) 82% humidity[4] | ||||||
Aston Villa won the match 3–0 for their first UEFA Europa League title, their second European title after the 1982 European Cup final and their first overall title since the 1996 Football League Cup final.[6] As winners, they earned the right to play against the winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League in the 2026 UEFA Super Cup. Since Aston Villa had already qualified to enter the league phase of the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League through their league performance, the league phase spot reserved for the Europa League title holders was vacated and the access list was rebalanced.
Background
Freiburg reached their first ever European final. They were aiming for a first major title. Freiburg's previous best European run was reaching the Europa League round of 16 twice, in 2022–23 and 2023–24.
Aston Villa reached their first UEFA Cup/Europa League final and a third European final, having won the 1982 European Cup final and 1982 European Super Cup. They were seeking a first major trophy since winning the League Cup in 1996, thus discounting them being one of the three winners of the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup. This was their best European run across three successive seasons after a 13-year absence, having lost the semi-finals of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League to eventual winners Olympiacos before elimination in the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals to another eventual winner in Paris Saint-Germain. Their previous furthest run in the UEFA Cup/Europa League was the quarter-finals in 1977–78 and 1997–98. Villa head coach Unai Emery was looking for a record-extending fifth UEFA Cup/Europa League title and the first with a non-Spanish side, having won three with Sevilla (2014, 2015, 2016) and one with Villarreal (2021) sandwiching his defeat with Arsenal in 2019. Their striker Tammy Abraham was aiming to become the 11th player to have won all three major European trophies and the first to have achieved that with three different clubs, having won the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League with Chelsea and the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League with Roma.
Previous finals
In the following table, finals until 2009 were in the UEFA Cup era and since 2010 were in the UEFA Europa League era.
| Team | Previous final appearance (Bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|
 SC Freiburg |
none |
 Aston Villa |
none |
Venue
Host selection
On 17 May 2023, UEFA opened the bidding process for the final, which was held in parallel with that of the 2027 final. Interested bidders could bid for either one or both of the finals. Additionally, bidding associations could only be appointed one UEFA final in a given year. The proposed venues had to include natural grass and be ranked as a UEFA category four stadium, with a gross capacity of 40,000 to 60,000 preferred. The bidding timeline was as follows:[7]
- 17 May 2023: Applications formally invited
- 17 July 2023: Closing date for registering intention to bid
- 26 July 2023: Bid requirements made available to bidders
- 15 November 2023: Submission of preliminary bid dossier
- 21 February 2024: Submission of final bid dossier
- 22 May 2024: Appointment of host
UEFA announced on 18 July 2023 that four associations had expressed interest in hosting the 2026 and 2027 finals during the first bidding process.[8]
| Association | Stadium | City | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | Waldstadion | Frankfurt | 53,800 | Association also bid for 2026 or 2027 Conference League and 2026 or 2027 Women's Champions League finals (with different venues) Merkur Spiel-Arena in Düsseldorf, Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Red Bull Arena in Leipzig or MHPArena in Stuttgart were also included as possible venues prior to official bid submission Stadium appointed as host of 2027 Europa League final; association appointed as host of 2026 Conference League final |
 Romania | Arena Națională | Bucharest | 55,634 | |
 Scotland | Hampden Park | Glasgow | 51,866 | Stadium also bid for 2026 or 2027 Conference League and 2026 or 2027 Women's Champions League finals |
 Turkey | Beşiktaş Stadium | Istanbul | 42,684 | Stadium also bid for 2026 or 2027 Conference League finals Rams Park or Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium (both also in Istanbul) were also included as possible venues prior to official bid submission |
Beşiktaş Stadium was selected as the venue by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, on 22 May 2024.[9][5]
Route to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
| SC Freiburg |
Round | Aston Villa | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | League phase | Opponent | Result | ||||
 Basel |
2–1 (H) | Matchday 1 |  Bologna |
1–0 (H) | ||||
| Bologna |
1–1 (A) | Matchday 2 |  Feyenoord |
2–0 (A) | ||||
| Utrecht |
2–0 (H) | Matchday 3 | Go Ahead Eagles |
1–2 (A) | ||||
 Nice |
3–1 (A) | Matchday 4 |  Maccabi Tel Aviv |
2–0 (H) | ||||
 Viktoria Plzeň |
0–0 (A) | Matchday 5 | Young Boys |
2–1 (H) | ||||
 Red Bull Salzburg |
1–0 (H) | Matchday 6 | Basel |
2–1 (A) | ||||
| Maccabi Tel Aviv |
1–0 (H) | Matchday 7 | Fenerbahçe |
1–0 (A) | ||||
| Lille |
0–1 (A) | Matchday 8 | Red Bull Salzburg |
3–2 (H) | ||||
| 7th place Advanced to round of 16 |
Final position | 2nd place Advanced to round of 16 | ||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
 Genk |
5–2 | 0–1 (A) | 5–1 (H) | Round of 16 | Lille |
3–0 | 1–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) |
 Celta Vigo |
6–1 | 3–0 (H) | 3–1 (A) | Quarter-finals | Bologna |
7–1 | 3–1 (A) | 4–0 (H) |
 Braga |
4–3 | 1–2 (A) | 3–1 (H) | Semi-finals | Nottingham Forest |
4–1 | 0–1 (A) | 4–0 (H) |
Match
Summary
In the 41st minute, Aston Villa went in front when Youri Tielemans scored with a right foot volley low to the left corner of the net after a short corner routine from the left ended with the ball being crossed into him. It was 2–0, three minutes into added on time in the first half when Emiliano Buendía curled a shot into the top left corner of the net from 18 yards out on the right.[10] Morgan Rogers got a third goal for Aston Villa in the 58th minute when he diverted a low cross from Emiliano Buendía on the left in at the near post past Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu. Aston Villa went on to win the game 3–0 and win their first trophy in 30 years.[11]
Details
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was predetermined as the winners of semi-final 1 (SC Freiburg).
| SC Freiburg | 0–3 | Aston Villa |
|---|---|---|
| Report[12] |
        SC Freiburg[4]
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     Aston Villa[4]
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[2]
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Match rules[13]
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Statistics
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