Football tickets - UEFA Europa League 2025/2026

A competition that by April had reached its most tense bend

The 2025/2026 season brought the 55th edition of this competition and the 17th season under the name UEFA Europa League. It began as early as 10 July 2025 in the qualifiers, and the final frame is scheduled for 20 May 2026 in Istanbul. This is the season in which Europe was not arranged in the old groups of four, but under a new model with one large league table, eight rounds, and 36 clubs who lived in parallel through the autumn, each with their own schedule and their own rises and falls. As of 7 April 2026, the story has reached the quarter-finals and the road to the finish leads through four pairings: Braga - Real Betis, Bologna - Aston Villa, Porto - Nottingham Forest and Freiburg - Celta. The first match Braga - Betis is played on 8 April, while the remaining three first legs are on 9 April. The return legs are on 16 April. This is no longer the part of the season in which squad depth is counted only on paper; now what is remembered is who is calmer in the 88th minute, who survives an away trip and who turns two shots into a goal and a semi-final.

How the format is built and why it is different from before

The new system looks simple only when stripped down to the bone. Thirteen clubs secured direct qualification for the league phase, twelve came through qualification, and the field of 36 teams was completed by eleven clubs that came over from the Champions League qualifiers and play-offs. In the league, not everyone plays everyone else, but instead a total of eight matches, and after that one common table cuts the season into two parts. The top eight go directly to the round of 16. Clubs from ninth to 24th place play an additional knockout round for a place among the final 16. Whoever remains below that line is eliminated with no second chance. That is why the autumn in this competition is at the same time both a marathon and a sprint: one slip does not destroy everything, but two or three quickly turn December into calculation and January into nerves. The season schedule was very clear:

• Qualifiers: 10 and 17 July, 24 and 31 July, 7 and 14 August, and the play-off round on 21 and 28 August 2025.
• League phase: 24/25 September, 2 October, 23 October, 6 November, 27 November, 11 December 2025, then 22 and 29 January 2026.
• Knockout phase: play-off round 19 and 26 February, round of 16 on 12 and 19 March, quarter-finals on 9 and 16 April, semi-finals on 30 April and 7 May, final on 20 May 2026.

Participants in the league phase, name by name

To understand the breadth of the season, one should start with the full list. The league phase included:

• Austria: Salzburg, Sturm Graz
• Belgium: Genk
• Bulgaria: Ludogorets
• Croatia: GNK Dinamo
• Czech Republic: Viktoria Plzeň
• Denmark: Midtjylland
• England: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest
• France: Lille, Lyon, Nice
• Germany: Freiburg, Stuttgart
• Greece: Panathinaikos, PAOK
• Hungary: Ferencváros
• Israel: Maccabi Tel-Aviv
• Italy: Bologna, Roma
• Netherlands: Feyenoord, Go Ahead Eagles, Utrecht
• Norway: Brann
• Portugal: Braga, Porto
• Romania: FCSB
• Scotland: Celtic, Rangers
• Serbia: Crvena Zvezda
• Spain: Celta, Real Betis
• Sweden: Malmö
• Switzerland: Basel, Young Boys
• Turkey: Fenerbahçe

That list nicely shows what often makes the Europa League more unpredictable than the more elite competition: here, in the same autumn, old European heavyweights, clubs with a rich continental past and teams only just opening a new chapter can meet. Aston Villa, Bologna, Brann, Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest played the league phase or group stage of this competition for the first time in the Europa League era. For some it was an excursion, for some a breakthrough, and for Forest and Bologna the beginning of a serious story.

Who survived the autumn best, and who had to take the harder road

After eight rounds, Aston Villa, Braga, Freiburg, Lyon, Midtjylland, Porto, Real Betis and Roma advanced directly to the round of 16. That was the reward for the most consistent. All the others who finished between ninth and 24th place had to play an additional knockout play-off. In that zone were Bologna, Brann, Celta, Celtic, Crvena Zvezda, Fenerbahçe, Ferencváros, Genk, GNK Dinamo, Lille, Ludogorets, Nottingham Forest, Panathinaikos, PAOK, Stuttgart and Viktoria Plzeň. There the season suddenly sharpened. Nottingham Forest defeated Fenerbahçe by an aggregate score of 4:2, Bologna knocked out Brann, Lille only broke Crvena Zvezda after extra time, and Panathinaikos got past Viktoria Plzeň on penalties. Even then it could be seen that this tournament rewards not only richer and deeper squads, but also teams that in February know how to endure two completely different matches seven days apart.

The road to the quarter-finals: the round of 16 as a filter for the serious ones

The round of 16 produced the eight clubs still in the race for Istanbul. Braga overturned a defeat against Ferencváros and with a 4:0 home performance showed how dangerous it can be when a match settles into its rhythm. Freiburg lost the first meeting against Genk, and then replied at home with a 5:1 to turn German discipline into an avalanche. Celta eliminated Lyon with a 2:0 win in the second leg in France, while Nottingham Forest needed extra time and penalties against Midtjylland. On the other side of the draw, Aston Villa went past Lille with two wins, Porto calmly closed out the job against Stuttgart, Real Betis crushed Panathinaikos 4:0 in the second leg, and Bologna beat Roma 4:3 after extra time following a 1:1 in the first meeting. Bologna may be the juiciest story of the spring: an Italian club that in autumn was learning how to breathe in this format, and in March eliminated a club that has long since become a household fixture in this competition.

Quarter-finalists: eight different stories, eight different faces of Europe

• Braga - a Portuguese club that has lived the European rhythm for years and knows how to play knockout matches.
• Real Betis - a team that this season has both depth and players for a single decisive move, and enters the finish with Antony in excellent form.
• Freiburg - a hard-working, solid and systematic German story, always more dangerous than its glamour-less reputation suggests.
• Celta - a team that eliminated Lyon and in the spring began to play without fear.
• Porto - a club for which European nights are not an event, but a habit.
• Nottingham Forest - a returning European story with serious energy and currently the top scorer among the survivors.
• Bologna - an Italian rise that was only truly confirmed when Roma were brought down.
• Aston Villa - the team of Unai Emery, a coach who in this competition has almost institutional authority.

When the cards are laid out like that, it becomes clear how open this season is. There is no Sevilla as the constant ghost of the finish, no classic monopoly of one or two favourites, and the draw has created the impression that each half of the bracket has at least two legitimate candidates for the final.

Venues this season: from Istanbul to iconic home addresses

The final will be played at Beşiktaş Park in Istanbul, a stadium with a capacity of around 40,000 spectators. It is the home of Beşiktaş, on the northern side of the Bosporus, and a stadium that has already hosted a major UEFA final when the 2019 European Super Cup between Liverpool and Chelsea was played there. The closing stages, however, are not lived only at the final address. The quarter-final route also runs through stadiums with completely different temperaments:

• Beşiktaş Park, Istanbul - around 40,000 seats, host of the final
• Estádio Municipal de Braga, Braga - a stadium carved beside a rock, approximately 30,286 seats
• Benito Villamarín, Seville - more than 60,270 seats
• Europa-Park Stadion, Freiburg - 34,700 seats
• Estadio Abanca Balaídos, Vigo - around 31,800 seats
• Estádio do Dragão, Porto - a major Portuguese European address
• City Ground, Nottingham - more than 30,400 seats after the latest works
• Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna - around 38,279 seats
• Villa Park, Birmingham - one of the most famous English stadiums

It is interesting that the finish thus links completely different environments: the stone theatre in Braga, the huge Sevillian cauldron, the old English stadium by the River Trent, the Dall'Ara that still looks as if it preserves the memory of interwar football, and Villa Park, a stage on which European football always seems older, heavier and more important.

The numbers that marked the autumn

The league phase produced 144 matches and 386 goals, which gives an average of 2.69 goals per match. This was not a season of caution but a season of rhythm. As many as 18 simultaneous matches in the final round brought 51 goals, turning the closing January chaos into one of the liveliest European Thursdays of recent years. A few numbers stand out in particular:

• 23 national associations had a representative in the league phase
• 17 countries remained represented in the knockout phase
• Viktoria Plzeň were the only unbeaten team in the league phase
• Viktoria Plzeň also had the best defence with only three goals conceded
• Lyon and Midtjylland were the most efficient with 18 goals scored each
• Gabriel Veiga scored for Porto after just 19 seconds, the fastest in the league phase
• Go Ahead Eagles played the league phase or group stage of a European competition for the first time
• Olivier Giroud, at 39 years and 121 days, further strengthened his place among the oldest scorers in the competition
• Dante, at more than 42 years of age, became the oldest outfield player to appear in the Europa League

These are figures that explain the season well: openness, unusual heroes, veterans who still decide matches and clubs that stepped into this level of Europe for the first time.

Players who were being talked about even before the quarter-finals

While the league phase was choosing its tempo, individuals were giving it a face. On 7 April 2026, the top of the scorers' chart is shared by Igor Jesus of Nottingham Forest and Petar Stanić of Ludogorets with seven goals each. The difference is that Stanić's club has already been eliminated, while Igor Jesus still carries a living threat into the finish. Among the players still in the tournament, those especially resonating are:

• Igor Jesus - 7 goals, the strongest remaining scorer in the final stages
• Antony - 5 goals for Real Betis
• Federico Bernardeschi - 5 goals for Bologna
• Kerem Aktürkoğlu - 6 goals, but Fenerbahçe have already ended their run
• Denis Undav - 6 assists for Stuttgart, although the German club is no longer in the competition
• Ricardo Horta - 4 assists for Braga

In that group it is easy to read the rhythm of the competition. Forest have a goalscorer who survived both February and March. Betis have a player capable of breaking a match with one acceleration. Bologna have a name that is no longer only a star from the poster but a man of concrete European goals. And in the background stands Unai Emery, Aston Villa's coach, a man who by January had reached 100 Europa League matches as a coach.

The history that keeps looking over this season's shoulder

The current title holder is Tottenham, who in the 2024/2025 season final in Bilbao beat Manchester United 1:0. Before that, in 2024, Atalanta dismantled Bayer Leverkusen 3:0, and earlier still in 2023 the title was taken by Sevilla, a club that over time has almost privatised the feeling for this competition. The historical table still stands as a warning to everyone still in the race:

• Sevilla have a record 7 titles
• Tottenham now have 3 titles, from 1972, 1984 and 2025.
• Inter, Liverpool, Juventus and Atlético de Madrid have 3 titles each
• Unai Emery is the most decorated coach of the Europa League era with 4 won finals

Finals also preserve scenes larger than seasons. Liverpool - Alavés 5:4 from 2001 remains the highest-scoring final, Sevilla - Middlesbrough 4:0 the biggest final win, and Parma - Marseille from 1999 still holds the record for attendance at a final on neutral ground with 61,000 spectators. Looking at any match in the competition, the absolute crowd record is held by Barcelona - Manchester United 2:2 from February 2023, when there were 90,255 spectators at Camp Nou.

Interesting details that make this season different from a dry list of results

Some seasons are remembered for the champion, and some for their texture. This one, for now, already has several scenes worth keeping. Go Ahead Eagles entered as debutants and immediately won in Athens. Nottingham Forest entered Europe with a history larger than their recent everyday reality, and by April they had reached the quarter-finals and produced the best active scorer in the tournament. Bologna travelled through this format from curiosity to serious threat, and did so through a win over Roma, a club that in this competition learned long ago how the spring is played. There is also the Portuguese line of the season. Braga and Porto stand in the same quarter-final half as two different Portuguese handwritings: Braga are often tougher, more sharply a knockout team, while Porto still carry the old European assurance, that kind of self-confidence for which home ground in Porto is never just an address, but also an argument. On the other side, the English have a double ticket. Aston Villa enter with Emery's experience and tidier European logic, while Forest play with more raw energy and with a striker who has already left his mark throughout the tournament. Those are two different English schools within the same competition. And in the end, there is Istanbul. A final at Beşiktaş Park is not only a geographical point, but also the ideal backdrop for a season that all along has offered contrasts: old European houses and new breakthroughs, veterans such as Giroud and Dante, and clubs only now learning how to breathe in spring. That is why this Europa League 2025/2026, for now, does not look like a story with one master, but like a tournament in which every next evening can shift the entire hierarchy.