This is the first ever meeting between Freiburg and Aston Villa – it’s the first time a UEFA Europa League final will be competed between two teams meeting for the first time since 2019-20, when Sevilla won 3-2 against Internazionale.

Freiburg’s only previous European meetings with an English club have been against West Ham United – they were all in 2023-24 in the UEFA Europa League, losing both group games (1-2 home, 0-2 away) and winning 1-0 in the first leg of the last 16, before losing 5-0 in the second leg.

Aston Villa faced German teams twice in last season’s UEFA Champions League, beating both Bayern Munich (1-0) and RB Leipzig (3-2). They were last beaten by German opponents in 2008-09 in the UEFA Cup, losing 3-1 to Hamburg.

This is the 11th major European final between an English club and German team, and first since the 2012 UEFA Champions League final contested by Chelsea and Bayern Munich. English teams have won eight of the previous 10, with the only German victories via Borussia Dortmund vs Liverpool in the 1965-66 Cup Winners’ Cup and Bayern Munich vs Leeds in the 1974-75 European Cup.

Freiburg are into their first ever major European final, becoming the 16th German side to feature in one. They are the first German final debutants since FC Schalke 04 in the 1996-97 UEFA Cup, who beat Internazionale on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw over two legs.

Aston Villa are featuring in just their second major European final, winning 1-0 against Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final. Only Manchester City have ever had a longer gap between their first two finals (1970 – 2021).

Türkiye will host a major European final for a fourth time – the Atatürk Olympic Stadium hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League final (Milan 3-3 Liverpool) and 2023 Champions League final (Man City 1-0 Internazionale) and the Sükrü Saracoglu Stadyumu hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup final (Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Werder Bremen).

Since the start of 2023-24, no side has won more matches in major European competition than Aston Villa (26) and only Arsenal (19) have kept more clean sheets in that time than the Villans (16).

SC Freiburg have netted 25 UEFA Europa League goals this season – since 2009-10, the only German teams to score more in one season are Werder Bremen in 2009-10 (26), Eintracht Frankfurt in 2018-19 (30) and Bayer Leverkusen in 2023-24 (31).

Following Tottenham’s victory in 2024-25, should Aston Villa win the trophy it will be the first time the UEFA Cup/Europa League has been won by an English club in consecutive seasons since the first two seasons of the competition in 1971-72 (Spurs) and 1972-73 (Liverpool).

This is only Freiburg’s second ever major final, previously reaching the 2022 DFB-Pokal final, drawing 1-1 with RB Leipzig before losing 4-2 on penalties. Aston Villa’s last major final was in 2019-20 when they lost 2-1 to Manchester City at Wembley in the League Cup.

Aston Villa have scored eight goals from the 76th minute onwards in UEFA Europa League games this season, the most of any side (excl. extra-time), while only Feyenoord (7) have conceded more in that timeframe than Freiburg (5). It’s the most goals Villa have scored in that period in a single major European campaign.

Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers ranks top for chances created (27), expected assists (3.3) and touches in the opposition box (65) in the UEFA Europa League this season. Since 2009-10, the only Englishman to create more chances in a Europa League campaign is James Milner in 2015-16 for Liverpool (31).

Freiburg’s Johan Manzambi leads all players in the UEFA Europa League this season for possession won (72), duels won (97), fouls won (37) and is second for shots (32). Only one player since 2009-10 – Amadou Haidara in 2017-18 for FC RB Salzburg (125) – has won more duels in a season while under the age of 21.

At 41 years and 35 days on the day of this final, Freiburg manager Julian Schuster will be the youngest German manager to take charge of a major European final since a 34-year-old Matthias Sammer in the 2002 UEFA Cup final, who lost 3-2 to Feyenoord with Borussia Dortmund.

Unai Emery has managed in five previous major European finals, all in the UEFA Europa League, winning four (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 with Sevilla, 2020-21 with Villarreal) and losing one (2018-19 with Arsenal). With this his sixth, he goes level with Carlo Ancelotti, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho for major finals and behind only Giovanni Trapattoni (7), while a victory would see him go level with Trapattoni, Ancelotti and Mourinho for major European final wins (5).

Unai Emery will be just the second manager to take charge of four different clubs (Sevilla, Arsenal, Villarreal, Aston Villa) in major European finals, after Jose Mourinho (Porto, Inter, Man Utd, Roma). Mourinho won a trophy with all four, while the other two managers to win with three different clubs are Rafael Benitez (Valencia, Liverpool, Chelsea) and Udo Lattek (Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Barcelona).

No player has been involved in more UEFA Europa League goals in 2025-26 than Freiburg’s Vincenzo Grifo (5 goals, 4 assists), who has scored or assisted in each of his last five appearances. The only players previously to score or assist in both legs of the quarter-final and semi-finals and then in the final in a season are Radamel Falcao for Porto in 2010-11, Carlos Bacca for Sevilla in 2014-15 and Kevin Gameiro for Sevilla in 2015-16.

Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendía has three goals and five assists in 11 UEFA Europa League starts this season. It’s one of five occasions a player has 5+ assists in a season for an English club (since 2009-10) along with Juan Mata for Chelsea in 2012-13 (5) and Man Utd in 2019-20 (5), Willian for Chelsea in 2018-19 (7) and Bukayo Saka for Arsenal in 2019-20 (5).

Aston Villa’s Pau Torres was on the winning side in the 2021 final for Villarreal under Unai Emery. Only four players (inc. UEFA Cup) have featured in finals under a manager for two different clubs: Glenn Strömberg under Sven-Göran Eriksson (IFK Göteborg and Benfica), Chris Smalling under Jose Mourinho (Man Utd and Roma), and Alberto Moreno and Carlos Bacca under Emery (Sevilla and Villarreal).