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, 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. 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. TeamPrevious 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:

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.

+ Association Stadium City Capacity Notes 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 submissionStadium appointed as host of 2027 Europa League final; association appointed as host of 2026 Conference League final Arena Națională Bucharest 55,634 Hampden Park Glasgow 51,866 Stadium also bid for 2026 or 2027 Conference League and 2026 or 2027 Women's Champions League finals Beşiktaş Stadium Istanbul 42,684 Stadium also bid for 2026 or 2027 Conference League finalsRams 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.

Route to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). SC FreiburgRound Aston VillaOpponentResultLeague phaseOpponentResult Basel2–1 (H)Matchday 1 Bologna1–0 (H) Bologna1–1 (A)Matchday 2 Feyenoord2–0 (A) Utrecht2–0 (H)Matchday 3 Go Ahead Eagles1–2 (A) Nice3–1 (A)Matchday 4 Maccabi Tel Aviv2–0 (H) Viktoria Plzeň0–0 (A)Matchday 5 Young Boys2–1 (H) Red Bull Salzburg1–0 (H)Matchday 6 Basel2–1 (A) Maccabi Tel Aviv1–0 (H)Matchday 7 Fenerbahçe1–0 (A) Lille0–1 (A)Matchday 8 Red Bull Salzburg3–2 (H)7th placeAdvanced to round of 16Final position2nd placeAdvanced to round of 16Opponent1st leg2nd legKnockout phaseOpponent1st leg2nd leg Genk5–20–1 (A)5–1 (H)Round of 16 Lille3–01–0 (A)2–0 (H) Celta Vigo6–13–0 (H)3–1 (A)Quarter-finals Bologna7–13–1 (A)4–0 (H) Braga4–31–2 (A)3–1 (H)Semi-finals Nottingham Forest4–10–1 (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. 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.

Details The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was predetermined as the winners of semi-final 1 (SC Freiburg).

GK 1 Noah AtuboluRB 17 Lukas Kübler CB 28 Matthias GinterCB 3 Philipp Lienhart LB 29 Philipp Treu CM 8 Maximilian EggesteinCM 27 Nicolas Höfler RW 19 Jan-Niklas Beste AM 44 Johan ManzambiLW 32 Vincenzo Grifo (c) CF 31 Igor MatanovićSubstitutes:GK 21 Florian MüllerGK 24 Jannik HuthDF 5 Anthony JungDF 30 Christian Günter DF 33 Jordy Makengo DF 37 Max Rosenfelder DF 43 Bruno OgbusMF 6 Patrick OsterhageFW 7 Derry Scherhant FW 9 Lucas Höler FW 22 Cyriaque IriéFW 26 Maximilian PhilippManager: Julian Schuster GK 23 Emiliano MartínezRB 2 Matty Cash CB 4 Ezri KonsaCB 14 Pau Torres LB 12 Lucas Digne CM 3 Victor Lindelöf CM 8 Youri Tielemans RW 7 John McGinn (c) AM 27 Morgan RogersLW 10 Emiliano Buendía CF 11 Ollie WatkinsSubstitutes:GK 40 Marco BizotGK 64 James WrightDF 5 Tyrone Mings DF 16 Andrés GarcíaDF 22 Ian Maatsen MF 9 Harvey ElliottMF 19 Jadon Sancho MF 21 Douglas Luiz MF 24 Amadou Onana MF 26 Lamare BogardeFW 18 Tammy AbrahamFW 31 Leon BaileyManager: Unai Emery

Man of the Match: Emiliano Buendía (Aston Villa)

Assistant referees: Cyril Mugnier (France) Mehdi Rahmouni (France) Fourth official: Alejandro Hernández Hernández (Spain) Reserve assistant referee: José Enrique Naranjo Pérez (Spain) Video assistant referee: Jérôme Brisard (France) Assistant video assistant referee: Willy Delajod (France) Support video assistant referee: Dennis Higler (Netherlands)

Statistics

+First halfStatisticSC FreiburgAston VillaGoals scored02Total shots39Shots on target13Saves11Ball possession43%57%Corner kicks14Fouls committed98Offsides11Yellow cards12Red cards00

+Second halfStatisticSC FreiburgAston VillaGoals scored01Total shots18Shots on target13Saves21Ball possession62%38%Corner kicks04Fouls committed67Offsides41Yellow cards01Red cards00

+OverallStatisticSC FreiburgAston VillaGoals scored03Total shots417Shots on target26Saves32Ball possession52%48%Corner kicks18Fouls committed1515Offsides52Yellow cards13Red cards00

See also 2026 UEFA Champions League final 2026 UEFA Conference League final 2026 UEFA Women's Champions League final 2026 UEFA Women's Europa Cup final 2026 UEFA Super Cup Aston Villa F.C. in international football

References

External links