The UEFA Europa League starts its 17th season under its current name on Wednesday with the first matchday of the league phase. It is the second year under the competition’s current format, where 36 teams will battle it out for glory. Only one former winner of the competition in its current guise is participating this term, with one other having won it back in the UEFA Cup days.
Ahead of the opening round of play, The Deck previews all 18 matches to occur this week.
UEFA Europa League: Matchday 1
Former Finalists Get the Ball Rolling
One of Wednesday’s two early kickoffs will see FC Midtjylland host Sturm Graz in a repeat of the 2022/23 group stage matches. Both sides won their respective home games on that occasion in a group that saw all four clubs finish on eight points. Midtjylland has reached the knockout round of this competition on three occasions, including their last two occasions. Sturm, meanwhile, has never managed to successfully negotiate a group phase. They finished 30th in the Champions League in the inaugural league phase last fall.
The other early kickoff sees PAOK Thessaloniki take on Maccabi Tel Aviv. No side in this season’s Europa League has more group stage/league phase appearances than the Greek outfit, with this being their 10th showing. They have gone beyond this stage five times, including last term. However, they have failed to go farther than the first knockout stage. Maccabi finished 29th in last season’s league phase, losing their first six matches. They may have reason to believe on Wednesday though, given their 9-0-5 record against Greek opposition.
Last season’s UEFA Conference League finalist Real Betis will welcome Nottingham Forest in one of the evening’s top matches. Los Rojiblancos had their best campaign in club history last time out. A sixth place domestically was coupled with a European final, a first for them. With that said, their record against teams from England is not great, winning just once across nine previous meetings (1-1-7). Forest is back in Europe after a three-decade wait. They defeated Spanish clubs in both of their UEFA Super Cup appearances.
Our tie of the round sees two of the competition’s biggest clubs, Sporting Braga and Feyenoord, will do battle in a crucial match from a coefficient perspective. Braga has become synonymous with the Europa League, with this being their ninth group phase showing. In fact, they have been involved with the UEL at some point in all but two of the competition’s season. Finalists in 2010/11, they will be desperate to get past this stage after finishing 25th last fall. Feyenoord won the UEFA Cup – the UEL’s predecessor – back in 2001/02. After making the round of 16 in last season’s Champions League, the Rotterdam-based club has played knockout round football in each of their the last four campaigns.
Another huge clash on Wednesday pits together domestic champions in Crvena zvezda and Celtic. It has been three years since Red Star last graced the UEL proper, finishing bottom of their section. They did reach the round of 16 in 2021/22, where they lost to their opponent’s biggest rival Rangers. Celtic did not make it past the group phase in any of their two most recent UEL forays. The Hoops have never gone farther than the round of 32 in the Europa League from nine attempts. With that said, they did win two of their three away games back in the 2021/22 group stage.
Dinamo Zagreb will commence their eighth appearance in the UEL proper versus Fenerbahçe. The Croats have gone as far as the quarterfinals back in 2020/21 where they lost to the eventual winner Villarreal. Dinamo also knocked won and drew their matches against their Turkish opponent seven years ago en route to making the last 16. They narrowly missed out on the UCL knockouts last term. Speaking of the round of 16, that was how far Fener got last spring before losing on penalties to Rangers. They lost both of their away games in the qualifying rounds over the summer as well, something they will want to improve on.
German club Freiburg faces off against Basel in what could be an intriguing matchup. For the third time in four years, the Bundesliga club has reached the UEL proper. They have gone as far as the round of 16 in each of their last two campaigns in the Europa League. They went 4-0-1 at home in the 2023/24 edition, losing to West Ham at this stage. After surprisingly missing out on Europe last season, Basel is back on the continental scene. It has been six years since the Swiss champion last graced this stage of the tournament, reaching the quarterfinals last time out.
Malmö will play in the UEL for the second year running as they start things off against Ludogorets at home. The Swedes, set to be dethroned domestically, lost six of their last seven home matches at this point in the UEL (0-1-6). They have not made the knockout stages since the 2019/20 season, losing to Wolfsburg. Ludogorets is three years removed from being knocked out of the Champions League by their Swedish opponent in the playoff round. Playing in the Europa League has been a regular feature for the Bulgarian side, this being their eighth appearance in the last nine years.
Wrapping up Wednesday’s play is OGC Nice taking on AS Roma. In four previous UEL group phase runs, Les Aiglons have only succeeded once, coming back in 2017/18. Since then, they are 1-3-10 in the competition, having finished second bottom in the league phase last autumn. Roma has had great joy in the UEL in recent times. Before losing at the round of 16 to Athletic Club last term, the Giallorossi made the semifinals or better in three straight appearances, including a defeat in the final on penalties to Sevilla in 2022/23. However, they are seven games without a win on the road (0-4-3).
Debutants Look to Make Their Mark
On Thursday, Go Ahead Eagles will play their maiden group phase match in a UEFA club competition as the KNVB Beker holder will host Romania’s FCSB. It is just the fourth time that the Dutch club will feature in Europe, failing to win any of their six matches beforehand (0-2-4). They are one of two sides in this season’s tournament to have never played in a European group phase. FCSB made the round of 16 in 2024/25 before bowing out to Lyon. They went 3-1-2 on the road in that run, keeping two clean sheets.
LOSC Lille is back in the Europa League, and will get things going versus Brann. This will be a first matchup against Norwegian opposition for Lille, who impressed in the Champions League last term. Les Dogues finished seventh in the league phase, scoring 11 times at home. Former Cup Winners Cup quarterfinalist Brann made the UEFA Cup group stage back in 2007/08, claiming third spot in their group before losing to Everton in the next round. The Norwegians drew 1-1 with Stade Rennes in that campaign as well. Across six European campaigns since, they have progressed from a tie just four times.
A repeat match from last season’s Champions League occurs in England as Aston Villa faces Bologna. Both teams are partaking in the UEL proper for the first time, though Villa did play in the UEFA Cup group stage back in 2008/09. In each of the last two campaigns, the Birmingham-based club was eliminated by the eventual champions of that competition. Bologna’s best-ever European campaign came 27 years ago, when they reached the UEFA Cup semifinals before falling to Marseille. They won just once in the UCL last fall, failing to score in five of the games.
Months on from their most recent meeting, Ferencváros plays host to Viktoria Plzeň. Fradi was unable to hold onto a first leg advantage in the knockout round playoffs against Plzeň, losing 3-1 on aggregate. The second leg reverse was the club’s fourth defeat versus Czech opposition. The Hungarian champion has successfully negotiated a group phase in each of the last three seasons. Plzeň is in the UEL proper for the sixth time, having progressed from this stage in their last two attempts, and three times in total. They have won just once in their last five away matches (1-1-3).
Rangers will battle a Belgian opponent to open up their Europa League campaign as they face Genk. The Gers lost 9-1 on aggregate to Club Brugge last month in the UCL playoff round. Still, the former UEFA Cup finalist has a strong record versus teams from Belgium, winning 10 of 15 previous games (10-1-4). For Genk, they are back in the UEL proper four years from their last appearance, where they finished bottom of their group. In fact, they have not enjoyed springtime football in Europe since 2018/19. Interestingly, they have won exactly one away game in each of their last five group phase showings.
One of Thursday’s standout fixtures pits together RB Salzburg and Porto. After six successive seasons in the UCL group phase, Salzburg makes a return to Europa League football. Semifinalists in 2017/18, they are one of a select few to win all of their group games. They are up against it though, facing a Porto team that has prevailed in all of their domestic matches so far. Moreover, the Portuguese giants are the only former champion of the present-day UEL, claiming victory in 2010/11. In fact, Dragões are one of three teams to win the competition in both its previous guise, as well as its current one.
In Germany, Stuttgart will make their return to the UEL against Celta Vigo. The German club, partaking in Europe for the second straight year, narrowly missed out on knockout football last term. Making just their third appearance in UEL proper, Die Roten have gotten past this stage in both previous attempts. Celta, meanwhile, is back in Europe nine years on from their last foray. On that occasion, they reached the semifinals before narrowly losing out to eventual winner Manchester United. They have always reached at least the round of 16 across their three group phase showings in Europe.
Utrecht will have it tough in their Europa League opener, with Olympique Lyonnais making the trip to the Netherlands. The Eredivisie side’s only previous matches versus Ligue 1 clubs saw them fall 4-0 on aggregate to Auxerre in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup. They drew five of their six group stage matches 15 years ago, losing the other. Lyon will look to continue their excellent history in the UEL, having always gotten past the group stages. Their best showing came in 2016/17, when they reached the semifinals.
We conclude with the match between Young Boys and PAOK Thessaloniki. Group phase football has not been easy for the Swiss club of late. The side from the capital has won just once in their last 19 matches (1-3-15), losing their last nine. PAOK kept three clean sheets in qualifying en route to their 10th group phase appearance in the UEL, the joint most of the 36 clubs involved in this year’s tournament. The Greeks made the knockout playoffs last term before losing to FCSB. They won just once on the road in 2024/25 – excluding qualifiers – while losing four times.