2026 UEFA Europa League final
 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] | ||||||
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.
Aston Villa won the match 3–0 for their first UEFA Europa League title, their second European title after winning the 1982 European Cup final and their first overall title since winning 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, Paris Saint-Germain, 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 | ||||
.svg.png){kind=small} 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 |
.svg.png){kind=small} 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) |
.svg.png){kind=small} 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]
|
     Aston Villa[4]
|
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[2]
|
Match rules[13]
|
Statistics
|
|
|
See also
References
- 1 2 "Emiliano Buendía named official 2026 UEFA Europa League final Player of the Match". UEFA. 20 May 2026. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Referee teams for 2026 UEFA club competition finals announced". UEFA. 11 May 2026. Retrieved 11 May 2026.
- 1 2 "Full Time Report Final – SC Freiburg v Aston Villa" (PDF). UEFA. 20 May 2026. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Tactical Lineups – Final – Wednesday 20 May 2026" (PDF). UEFA. 20 May 2026. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- 1 2 "Budapest to host UEFA Champions League Final 2026". Union of European Football Associations. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
- ↑ "Freiburg 0–3 Aston Villa: Rampant Villans win Europa League for the first time". UEFA. 20 May 2026. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
- ↑ "Invitation to bid to host the UEFA Champions League Finals 2026 & 2027, UEFA Europa League Finals 2026 & 2027, UEFA Europa Conference League Finals 2026 & 2027 and UEFA Women's Champions League Finals 2026 & 2027". UEFA Circular Letter. No. 24/2023. Union of European Football Associations. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
- ↑ "Nine national associations interested in hosting UEFA club competition finals in 2026 and 2027". UEFA. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2025.
- ↑ "UEFA Executive Committee to meet in Dublin". Union of European Football Associations. 17 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
- ↑ "Freiburg 0-3 Aston Villa: Unai Emery leads Villa to Europa League final glory in Istanbul". Sky Sports. 21 May 2026. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "Freiburg 0 Aston Villa 3". BBC Sport. 21 May 2026. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "SC Freiburg vs Aston Villa". UEFA. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
- ↑ "Regulations of the UEFA Europa League – 2025/26 Season". UEFA. 27 June 2025. Archived from the original on 11 September 2025. Retrieved 27 August 2025.
- 1 2 3 "Team statistics" (PDF). UEFA. 20 May 2026. Retrieved 20 May 2026.