EUROPA League
ENGLAND COULD HAVE BOTH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AND EUROPA FINALISTS THIS SEASON
Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal could make it a clean sweep of this season’s European finalists for England.
England could achieve a clean sweep of this season’s major European finalists, with Chelsea and Manchester City on opposite sides of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and Manchester United and Arsenal still on course to meet in the UEFA Europa League decider.
Has this ever happened before? In short: yes. But it doesn’t happen very often.
Four finalists in one season*
2019 ENG – Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham, Chelsea 4-1 Arsenal
Italy did provide four finalists in 1990, back when there were three titles up for grabs including the Cup Winners’ Cup, which ran from 1960 to 1999. All three trophies ended up in Italy, too:
- European Cup: AC Milan 1-0 Benfica
- UEFA Cup: Juventus 3-1 agg Fiorentina
- Cup Winners’ Cup: Sampdoria 2-0 Anderlecht, aet
Three finalists in one season*
Before 2019, no country had ever supplied all the major European finalists in a single season. The closest we had come, discounting the Cup Winners’ Cup, was three out of four. That happened six times.
1980 GER – Nottingham Forest 1-0 Hamburg, Eintracht 3-3agg Mönchengladbach (Eintracht won on away goals)
1990 ITA – AC Milan 1-0 Benfica, Juventus 3-1agg Fiorentina
1995 ITA – Ajax 1-0 AC Milan, Parma 2-1agg Juventus
1998 ITA – Real Madrid 1-0 Juventus, Internazionale 3-0 Lazio
2014 ESP – Real Madrid 4-1 Atlético Madrid (aet), Sevilla 0-0 Benfica (4-2 on pens)
2016 ESP – Real Madrid 1-1 Atlético Madrid (Real Madrid won 5-3 on pens), Sevilla 3-1 Liverpool
One-nation European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals
There have been seven one-nation finals to date:
2000 ESP Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia
2003 ITA AC Milan 0-0 Juventus (3-2 on pen)
2008 ENG Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea (6-5 on pens)
2013 GER Bayern München 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
2014 ESP Real Madrid 4-1 Atlético Madrid (aet)
2016 ESP Real Madrid 1-1 Atlético Madrid (5-3 on pens)
2019 ENG Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham
One-nation UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League finals
There have been ten one-nation finals to date:
1972 ENG Tottenham 3-2agg Wolverhampton
1980 GER Eintracht 3-3agg Mönchengladbach (Eintracht won on away goals)
1990 ITA Juventus 3-1agg Fiorentina
1991 ITA Internazionale 2-1agg Roma
1995 ITA Parma 2-1agg Juventus
1998 ITA Internazionale 3-0 Lazio
2007 ESP Sevilla 2-2 Espanyol (3-1 on pens)
2011 POR Porto 1-0 Braga
2012 ESP Atlético Madrid 3-0 Athletic Club
2019 ENG Chelsea 4-1 Arsenal
Two winners in one season*
One country has won both competitions 12 times, including five of the past seven seasons.
1975 GER Bayern München, Mönchengladbach
1981 ENG Liverpool, Tottenham
1989 ITA AC Milan, Napoli
1990 ITA AC Milan, Juventus (Sampdoria won the Cup Winners’ Cup, too)
1994 ITA AC Milan, Internazionale
1997 GER Dortmund, Schalke
2006 ESP Barcelona, Sevilla
2014 ESP Real Madrid, Sevilla
2015 ESP Barcelona, Sevilla
2016 ESP Real Madrid, Sevilla
2018 ESP Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid
2019 ENG Liverpool, Chelsea
*European Cup/UEFA Champions League is listed before UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
-uefa
Four-times Europa League winner Unai Emery booked an astonishing sixth final in the competition as a manager on Thursday when his Aston Villa team swept aside Nottingham Forest in the second leg of their all-English semi-final.
The 54-year-old Spaniard has won three times with Sevilla (2014, 2015, 2016) and once with Villarreal (2021) – either side of a defeat with Arsenal (2019) – deservedly earning him the epithet “Mr Europa League” from some fans and media.
Now he goes to the 2026 final seeking a fifth title, this time with Aston Villa against Bundesliga side Freiburg.
“His track record speaks for itself,” said Villa striker Ollie Watkins, heaping praise on his boss as the man to guarantee Europa League success. “We need to go and win it now.”
Emery was delighted with how his team overturned a 1-0 deficit to Forest in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final to score four times at home and win 4-1 on aggregate.
“Now we have to look to the final,” he said, hoping that Villa will do “something fantastic” for their fans.
Though thrilled at Thursday’s win, Emery left the pitch quickly after the final whistle, pumping his fist a few times at the crowd before letting his players enjoy the moment with fans
He and his Villa side will be favourites at the Europa League final in Istanbul on May 20, but Emery was taking nothing for granted. “Of course German teams are so difficult, their coaches, their players are so good,” he added of the upcoming opponents.
-Reuters
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List of teams which have qualified for the next round of the Europa League after the league phase concluded on Thursday, ranked by table position:
Directly to the round of 16:
1. Olympique Lyonnais (France)
2. Aston Villa (England)
3. Midtjylland (Denmark)
4. Real Betis (Spain)
5. Porto (Portugal)
6. Braga (Portugal)
7. Freiburg (Germany)
8. AS Roma (Italy)
Knockout phase play-off places (seeded)
9. Genk (Belgium)
10. Bologna (Italy)
11. VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
12. Ferencvaros (Hungary)
13. Nottingham Forest (England)
14. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
15. Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
16. Celta Vigo (Spain)
Knockout phase play-off places (unseeded)
17. PAOK (Greece)
18. Lille (France)
19. Fenerbahce (Turkey)
20. Panathinaikos (Greece)
21. Celtic (Scotland)
22. Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
23. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
24. SK Brann (Norway)
-Reuters
UEFA Europa League – Aston Villa v RB Salzburg – Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain – January 29, 2026 Aston
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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept any away fan tickets for their Europa League match at Aston Villa next month, even if local authorities reverse the decision to ban their supporters, they said on Monday.
The ban followed safety concerns raised by British Police, who cited potential protests outside Villa Park, following demonstrations at Israel’s recent World Cup qualifiers in Oslo and Udine.
“From hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Aston Villa announced the decision last week, saying they were following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), who are responsible for issuing safety certificates for games at Villa Park.
West Midlands Police described the match as high risk, past incidents, including violent confrontations and hate crime offences involving Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters ahead of a November 2024 game in Amsterdam.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
Villa are third in the Europa League standings while Maccabi Tel Aviv are 30th after two rounds.
-Reuters
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