The draw has led to some fascinating opponents for us! There are eight big teams from across Europe awaiting us - from international heavyweights to some surprise names. It's time to introduce you to our opponents in more detail:

FC Porto (home)

The Portuguese top club is one of the most successful clubs in Europe. Porto have won the UEFA Champions League twice (1987, 2004), the UEFA Europa League twice (2003, 2011), the UEFA Supercup (1987) and two Intercontinental Cups (1987, 2004). They have as many as 30 national titles. Fun fact: our team was at Metlife Stadium for the Portuguese club's Club World Cup match against Palmeiras – an unforgettable team outing that gives us a special insight into this opponent.

Market value: 345 million Euro
Captain: Diogo Costa (GK)
Star players: Luuk de Jong, Rodrigo Mora
Coach: Francesco Farioli

Aston Villa (away)

One of England's oldest clubs with a rich history, Villa are based in a suburb of Birmingham. Aston Villa won the European Cup (1982), seven English championships (most recently in 1981), seven FA Cups and five League Cups. Villa also won the UEFA Super Cup (1983). Its home ground is the legendary Villa Park – a place where football history has been created and which is a very special away trip for any fan. With a mixture of experience and talent, Villa finished sixth in the Premier League last season to secure a place in the UEFA Europa League. The English side also impressed in the Champions League last season, reaching the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain.

Market value: 491 million Euro
Captain: John McGinn (CM)
Star players: Boubacar Kamara, Ollie Watkins
Coach: Unai Emery

Ferencvaros (home)

Reunited with Naby Keita: Hungary's record champions brim with both tradition and passion. Ferencvaros have won the Hungarian league 36 times (most recently in 2025) and the cup 24 times. The club won the Fairs Cup in 1965 and the Mitropa Cup twice (in 1928 and 1937). The Green and Whites are regular guests in European competitions and represent pure Hungarian football culture – they are physically strong, determined and have a clear winning mentality. In 2023, we faced the Budapest club in a friendly match, which our boys won 2-1.

Market value: 47.70 million Euro
Captain: Denes Dbusz (GK)
Star player: Naby Keita
Coach: Robbie Keane

Olympique Lyon (away)

The seven-time French champions (2002–2008) dominated Ligue 1 in the 2000s. They also won five cup titles, one League Cup (2001) and eight Super Cups. Internationally, Lyon won the Intertoto Cup (1997). The club is known for its excellent youth development programme and attacking football – an opponent that stands for spectacle. They play at the Groupama Stadium, which opened in 2016 and has a capacity of almost 60,000 fans.

Market value: 181.45 million Euro
Captain: Corentin Tolisso (CM)
Star players: Malick Fofana, Nicolas Tagliafico
Coach: Paulo Fonseca

FC Basel (home)

FC Basel are on of the greats in Swiss football. With 21 league titles and 14 cup victories, the club is a force to be reckoned with nationally and last season the team regained the league title. Internationally, Basel have attracted attention with their strong performances in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. We also have a score to settle: in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League, we were defeated by Basel in the round of 16, 1-2 on aggregate – now we want our revenge.

Market value: 68.20 million Euro
Captain: Xherdan Shaqiri (AM)
Star players: Benie Traore, Marwin Hitz
Coach: Ludovic Magnin

SC Freiburg (away)

Freiburg are all about continuity and team spirit. Although they have not won any major national titles, Freiburg have celebrated four second division championships (in 1993, 2003, 2009, 2016) and reached the DFB Cup final in 2022. Particularly interesting is the reunion with our former player Junior Adamu. Another exciting fact: assistant coach Florian Bruns is the brother-in-law of our sporting director, Rouven Schröder – making for a real family duel!

Market value: 167.00 million Euro
Captain: Christian Günter (LB)
Star players: Junior Adamu, Philipp Lienhart
Coach: Julian Schuster

Go Ahead Eagles (home)

The club from Deventer have a long history. The Eagles have been Dutch champions four times (1917, 1922, 1930, 1933) and recently celebrated their greatest success in decades: winning the cup in 2025 – their first title in 92 years and their ticket to this year's Europa League!

Market value: 28.25 million Euro
Captain: Mats Deijl (CB)
Star player: Jakob Breum
Coach: Melvin Boel

FC Bologna (away)

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The historic club have won seven Italian championships (most recently in 1964) and three cups (most recently in 2025). Internationally, Bologna won the Intertoto Cup (1999) and the Mitropa Cup three times (1932, 1934, 1962). Bologna combine Italian football culture, tactical discipline and a mixture of experience and young talent.

Market value: 282.20 million Euro
Captain: Lorenzo De Silvestri (RB)
Star players: Ciro Immobile, Stefan Posch
Coach: Vincenzo Italiano

Tickets for the UEFA Europa League: exclusive from Tuesday

Four-match packages for our UEL home games will be available from next week, with our season ticket holders having exclusive presale rights. Premium season ticket holders will automatically have their seats booked with a 20 per cent discount.

Details on the ticketing process and further sales phases will follow next Tuesday, 2 September 2025.

Fixtures to follow this weekend

The exact scheduling of our UEFA Europa League matches is expected to be announced by UEFA over the weekend. The provisional schedule outlines the following dates:

Matchday 1: 24 & 25 September 2025
Matchday 2: 2 October 2025
Matchday 3: 23 October 2025
Matchday 4: 6 November 2025
Matchday 5: 27 November 2025
Matchday 6: 11 December 2025
Matchday 7: 22 January 2026
Matchday 8: 29 January 2026

How the UEFA Europa League's league phase works

Since last season, a league mode has replaced the group stage in UEFA competitions. In the UEFA Europa League, as in the Champions League, each team is drawn against eight different opponents, resulting in four home and four away matches.

At the end of the eight rounds, there is an overall table of all 36 participating teams. The top eight then advance directly to the round of 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th compete in a play-off round with home and away matches for the remaining places in the knockout phase.

Further changes compared to previous years are that after elimination, there is no longer a ‘relegation’ to the UEFA Conference League, as was previously the case for the third-placed teams in the group stage. In addition, the league phase schedule now extends until the end of January.

Raise your flag – our 25/26 UEFA Europa League kit

Get to know our Europa League opponents