April 10, 2025

10 Amazing Europa League Stats and Facts You Didn’t Know About

The original tournament, then under a different name, kicked off in the 1971/72 season and has been a permanent fixture of the European football scene ever since. It serves as the second tier of European competition, below the Champions Leage. Winners over the past five decades include some of the biggest names in the history of the sport, like Real Madrid, Liverpool, Sevilla, Inter Milan, Juventus and many more. After all these years, there must be some pretty interesting tournament records around.

Let’s take a look back over the history of the Europa League to unearth some interesting stats and facts you may have never heard before.

10) Did you know, the EL started life as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup?

Most of us know that the tournament had a different name pre-2009, but did you know it can be traced all the way back to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup? The competition ran from 1955 to 1971 and was originally designed to promote international trade fairs, with football used as a vessel to achieve that goal. Before the Fairs Cup, trading cities would often host friendly matches anyway, so it seemed like a natural evolution.

To start with, league position played no part in determining who would feature at the Fairs Cup – only cities that hosted trade fairs could enter. After 1964, the rules changed, and it was often referred to as the ‘Runners-up Cup’ which is more akin to the second-tier European competition we know today. Eventually, UEFA swooped in and rebranded it into the UEFA Cup, which is why the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is not officially recognized as a historical UEFA competition. Winners of the Fairs Cup included Barcelona, Valencia, Leeds United, Arsenal, Roma, Newcastle United, Dinamo Zagreb, Ferencvaros, and more.

9) Which club has won the most Europa League titles?

The kings of the Europa League are famously Sevilla – in more ways than one. The La Liga club currently have seven Europa League titles to their name, lifting the trophy in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, and 2023. That means they finished on top seven times in just 17 years. That is Real Madrid in the Champions League level of dominance! To make their record even more impressive, Sevilla have also never lost a final. Seven finals, seven trophies, and zero runners-up medals.

You might assume there would be some other giants of European football nipping at their heels, but Sevilla are actually four trophies clear of any other club. Inter Milan, Liverpool, Juventus, and Atlético Madrid are all stuck on three Europa League wins. In fact, Sevilla are so dominant in this competition that Seville is the most successful winning city. There have been five winners from Madrid (3 for Atlético and 2 for Real), and just four winners from London (2 for both Tottenham and Chelsea). Despite Sevilla being the only winners in their city, they are still at the top of the tree!

8) Which club has the most appearances in the Europa League?

It would be safe to assume that Sevilla hold the most appearances in the Europa League and UEFA Cup combined, judging by their sheer dominance in the competition. However, that is not the case. Remember, doing well in the Europa League can often lead to Champions League qualification for the next season, so a club like Sevilla don’t even crack the top ten for appearances. That title goes to Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon who have played a grand total of 203 Europa League/UEFA Cup matches in their history. Out of those 203, they have won 95 and drawn 48. Despite playing fewer games, Roma boast the most wins in history, with 97 victories from 186 matches.  

7) Who is the all-time leading Europa League goalscorer?

The simple answer is – it depends on who you ask. If you head to the African country of Gabon, they will likely tell you that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the greatest scorer in Europa League history. However, fans in Sweden may argue that the title deserves to go to Henrik Larsson. But how can it be so controversial? It really depends on whether you include the qualifying phase as part of the Europa League proper. With qualifying included, Larsson has an impressive 40 goals in 56 appearances for Feyenoord, Celtic, and Helsingborg – compared to Aubameyang’s 37 in 68 for Lille, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Marseille. However, if you exclude qualifying and only count the group stages and knockout rounds, Larsson only has 31 goals in 45 games. Which of the two do you think holds the true record as the all-time Europa League goalscorer?

6) Radamel Falcao had an insane 2010/11 Europa League campaign

Radamel Falcao is the second-highest goalscorer in the history of the Europa League era (post-2009), not including qualifying. The former Porto and Atlético Madrid striker netted 30 goals in the competition across his career. But did you know he managed 17 of those in one single season?! He even missed one game through injury! Across the group stage and knockout rounds, Falcao featured 14 times for Porto, scoring more than a goal per game. That included hat-tricks against Rapid Vienna and Spartak Moscow, as well as four against Villarreal in the semi-final first leg and a winner in the final against SC Braga. It should come as no surprise that Falcao became the first player to ever win back-to-back Europa League titles with Porto (2011) and then Atlético Madrid in 2012. It’s just a shame that he only ever played 31 matches in the Europa League, scoring 30 goals, otherwise he would have likely smashed the all-time goal record. After all, he scored half of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s overall tally in the space of one single season.

5) 24 different Premier League teams have appeared in the Europa League/UEFA Cup

Since 1971, over 20 different teams from England have competed in the second tier of European football, whether it be the UEFA Cup or the current Europa League. The list includes: Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Fulham, Leicester City, West Ham United, Stoke City, Birmingham City, Swansea City, Wigan Athletic, Southampton, Chelsea, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ipswich Town, and Brighton & Hove Albion. However, of those teams, only five have ever actually lifted the trophy. Liverpool (3), Tottenham (2), Chelsea (2), Ipswich (1), and Manchester United (1) are the only champions from England so far, although Arsenal, Wolves, Middlesbrough, and Fulham have at least made it to a final before.

4) Who is the all-time leading Europa League assister?

Historic assists are always hard to track, seeing as they have only been regularly recorded in recent years. As such, most of the players at the top of the list come from the modern Europa League era. No one has more assists in the competition than Czech midfielder and former Sparta Prague captain, Borek Dockal. Dockal represented several clubs in Europe throughout his career, racking up an impressive 24 assists in the process. However, he is not alone at the top. Dries Mertens also has 24 career assists in the Europa League for clubs including Utrecht, PSV, Napoli, and Galatasaray. Considering Mertens is still playing, he will fancy his chances of taking the outright lead next year. However, he will have competition in the form of Manchester United captain, Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese star already has 21 assists to his name in the competition and has been an extremely potent creator for the Red Devils over recent years. The rest of the top five is rounded off by Rangers legend James Tavernier (18), and former Man United and Chelsea star Juan Mata (18).

3) Who has the most appearances in Europa League history?

According to official Europa League stats, Giuseppe Bergomi has the highest number of appearances in the history of the competition. Bergomi was famously a one-club man for his beloved Internazionale between 1979 and 1999, racking up well over 500 appearances for the club. An incredible 96 of those appearances came in the Europa League/UEFA Cup. Although Bergomi only ever lifted one Scudetto title during his time with Inter, he did manage to win three UEFA Cups in 1991, 1994, and 1998. In fact, Internazionale have never won a second-tier European trophy without Bergomi in the side! Unfortunately, the defender never managed to score a goal in Europe for Inter though, although his 1982 World Cup winners’ medal will likely drown those sorrows. Some of the other top appearance makers in Europa League history include Frank Rost (90), Rui Patricio (88), Bibars Natcho (87), Dries Mertens (82) and Pepe Reina (81).

2) How many times has a Champions League club won the Europa League in the same season?

Over the years, it has not been uncommon for a Champions League team to eventually lift the Europa League come the end of the season. That’s because top-tier teams who finished third in their group used to drop down into the second-tier tournament. This would essentially put a fresh pool of big-name Champions League clubs in amongst the best teams in the Europa League for the knockout rounds. Thanks to a rule change in the 2024/25 season, this no longer happens in European football. Clubs can only win the tournament they entered at the start of the season. That means we already have a comprehensive list of all the Champions League teams who dropped out early in the group stage only to go on and taste Europa League glory. The most famous example came in 2013 when Chelsea managed to win the Europa League while still technically being the holders of the Champions League (since the final for the former is played first).

  • Galatasaray – 2000
  • Feyenoord – 2002
  • CSKA Moscow – 2005
  • Shakhtar Donetsk – 2009
  • Atlético Madrid – 2010
  • Chelsea – 2013
  • Sevilla – 2016
  • Atlético Madrid – 2018
  • Sevilla – 2023

1) How many times has a Europa League winner won the Super Cup vs the Champions League winner?

The UEFA Super Cup is an annual match held between the winners of the Champions League and the winners of the Europa League. It was first established in 1972 but originally saw the winners of the European Cup take on the holders of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. The current format has been running since 1999. Of course, the current holder of the Champions League often goes into the game as the favourite over the winner of the second-tier competition. However, that is not to say that there have never been any Super Cup upsets – or Super Cupsets, if you will. In fact, it took three years for the CL teams to actually record their first win over their EL counterparts. Galatasaray beat Real Madrid via golden goal in 2000 before Liverpool ousted Bayern Munich in 2001. Over the years, Europa League holders have only lifted the Super Cup eight times, and it is a feat only achieved by six clubs.

  • Galatasaray beat Real Madrid 2-1 (golden goal) in 2000
  • Liverpool beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in 2001
  • Valencia beat Porto 2-1 in 2004
  • Sevilla beat Barcelona 3-0 in 2006
  • Zenit St Petersburg beat Manchester United 2-1 in 2008
  • Atlético Madrid beat Inter Milan 2-0 in 2010
  • Atlético Madrid beat Chelsea 4-1 in 2012
  • Atlético Madrid beat Real Madrid 4-2 (after extra time) in 2018

The last six Super Cups have been won by the holders of the Champions League.

There we have it! Our top 10 interesting Europa League records and stats. Which was your favourite?

Last Updated: 10.04.2025