2019 UEFA Europa League Final

2019 UEFA Europa League Final

Chelsea Arsenal 4 1
UEFA Report BBC Report
Event	2018–19 UEFA Europa League
Date	29 May 2019
Venue	Olympic Stadium, Baku
Referee	Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
Weather	Clear night 21 °C (70 °F) 74% humidity
← 2018

The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. It was played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan on 29 May 2019, between English sides Chelsea and Arsenal, making the final a London derby. It was the tenth tournament final to feature two teams from the same association, the second all-English final and the first between teams from the same city.

The winners will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. Should Arsenal win the final, they will enter the group stage of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League. As Chelsea have already qualified for the Champions League group stage through their league performance, should they win the final the berth reserved will be given to the third-placed team of the 2018–19 Ligue 1, the 5th-ranked association according to next season's access list.

Starting from this season, the Europa League final will be played in the same week as the Champions League final. In March 2018, UEFA announced that a fourth substitution will be allowed in extra time and that the number of substitutes has been increased from 7 to 12. The kick-off time has also been changed from 20:45 CEST to 21:00 CEST. The match will also be the first fixture (and final) of the Europa League to use the video assistant referee (VAR) system.

Teams

In the following table, finals until 2009 were in the UEFA Cup era, since 2010 were in the UEFA Europa League era.

Team	Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
Chelsea	1 (2013)
Arsenal	1 (2000)

Venue

This is the first European club competition final to be held in Azerbaijan. The stadium has also been chosen as one of the host venues of UEFA Euro 2020.

Host selection

For the first time ever, an open bidding process was launched on 9 December 2016 by UEFA to select the venues of the club competition finals (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Women's Champions League and UEFA Super Cup). Associations had until 27 January 2017 to express interest, and bid dossiers must be submitted by 6 June 2017.

UEFA announced on 3 February 2017 that six associations expressed interest in hosting, and confirmed on 7 June 2017 that three associations submitted bids for the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final:

Bidding associations for 2019 UEFA Europa League Final

Country	Stadium	City	Capacity	Notes
Azerbaijan	Baku Olympic Stadium	Baku	69,870	Also bid for 2019 UEFA Champions League Final
Spain	Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	Seville	42,500
Turkey	Vodafone Park	Istanbul	41,903	Also bid for 2019 UEFA Super Cup

The following associations expressed interest in hosting but eventually did not submit bids:

• Georgia: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi
• Germany: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart (preferred over Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt)
• Scotland: Hampden Park, Glasgow

The bid evaluation report was published by UEFA on 14 September 2017. The Baku Olympic Stadium was selected as the venue by the UEFA Executive Committee on 20 September 2017, while the Vodafone Park was successful in its bid to host the 2019 UEFA Super Cup.

Background

Chelsea will be playing in their second Europa League final, having won 2–1 against Benfica in 2013. The match will be their sixth overall European final, adding to two Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1971 (a 2–1 win over Real Madrid) and 1998 (a 1–0 win over Stuttgart), and two UEFA Champions League finals in 2008 (1–1, lost 6–5 on penalties to Manchester United) and 2012 (1–1, won 4–3 on penalties over Bayern Munich). In seventeen matches, Chelsea have a record of six wins, seven draws (two of which they lost on penalties) and four losses in European competitions against fellow English clubs. Most recently, they lost both legs against Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the 2010–11 Champions League.

It will also be Arsenal's second Europa League final, having lost on penalties to Galatasaray in 2000. Like Chelsea, it will be the sixth time they have appeared in the final of a UEFA competition. They most recently featured in the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, losing 2–1 to Barcelona. They also reached the final of the Cup Winners' Cup three times: in 1980, when they suffered a 5–4 penalty shoot-out defeat to Valencia following a 0–0 draw; 1994, beating Parma 1–0; and returning in 1995, losing 2–1 at the hands of Real Zaragoza. Arsenal had previously won 4–3 on aggregate against Anderlecht in the 1970 final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a forerunner to the UEFA Cup/Europa League. Arsenal are winless in their six prior meetings against fellow English clubs, with a record of two draws and four losses. Most recently, they lost both legs against Manchester United in the semi-finals of the 2008–09 Champions League. The match is the fourth Europa League final for manager Unai Emery, who joined Arsenal at the start of the season as the replacement for Arsène Wenger. Emery has a perfect record in Europa League finals, winning three consecutive titles with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He now solely holds the record for the most UEFA Cup/Europa League final appearances, having previously been tied with the three finals of Giovanni Trapattoni (1977, 1991 and 1993) and Sven-Göran Eriksson (1982, 1983 and 1998). A win would also see him surpass Trapattoni and become the outright most successful manager in the competition's history, with four titles.

The final will be the 198th competitive meeting between London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, with a record of 76 Arsenal wins, 63 Chelsea wins and 58 draws. The sides met twice during the 2018–19 Premier League season, with each winning at home: Chelsea by a score of 3–2 in the first match, and Arsenal 2–0 in the second. They have faced each other once before in a European tie, meeting in the quarter-finals of the 2003–04 Champions League; the first match finished as a 1–1 draw, with Chelsea winning the second meeting 2–1 away and advancing to the semi-finals. Domestically, the sides have met in three cup finals, with Arsenal winning the 2002 and 2017 FA Cup finals, and Chelsea winning the 2007 Football League Cup Final.

The match is the second all-English UEFA Cup/Europa League final, after the inaugural final in 1972 between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Overall, it is the tenth UEFA Cup/Europa League final to feature two teams from the same country, previously achieved four times by Italian teams (1990, 1991, 1995 and 1998), twice by Spanish teams (2007 and 2012), and once by German (1980) and Portuguese teams (2011), in addition to England in 1972. This is the first Europa League final to feature two teams from the same city (London), as well as the fourth in a UEFA club competition final after Madrid-based clubs Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, who met in the 2014 and 2016 finals of the Champions League, as well as in the 2018 UEFA Super Cup. As Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool also reached the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final, this is the first season to have multiple finals of major European club competitions featuring teams from a single nation.

Road to the final

For more details on this topic, see 2018–19 UEFA Europa League.

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

Chelsea				Round	Arsenal
Opponent	Result			Group stage	Opponent	Result
PAOK	1–0 (A)			Matchday 1	Vorskla Poltava	4–2 (H)
MOL Vidi	1–0 (H)			Matchday 2	Qarabağ	3–0 (A)
BATE Borisov	3–1 (H)			Matchday 3	Sporting CP	1–0 (A)
BATE Borisov	1–0 (A)			Matchday 4	Sporting CP	0–0 (H)
PAOK	4–0 (H)			Matchday 5	Vorskla Poltava	3–0 (A)
MOL Vidi	2–2 (A)			Matchday 6	Qarabağ	1–0 (H)
Group L winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Notes Chelsea 6 5 1 0 12 3 +9 16 Advance to knockout phase BATE Borisov 6 3 0 3 9 9 0 9 MOL Vidi 6 2 1 3 5 7 −2 7 PAOK 6 1 0 5 5 12 −7 3				Final standings	Group E winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Notes Arsenal 6 5 1 0 12 2 +10 16 Advance to knockout phase Sporting CP 6 4 1 1 13 3 +10 13 Vorskla Poltava 6 1 0 5 4 13 −9 3 Qarabağ 6 1 0 5 2 13 −11 3
Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg	Knockout phase	Opponent	Agg.	1st leg	2nd leg
Malmö FF	5–1	2–1 (A)	3–0 (H)	Round of 32	BATE Borisov	3–1	0–1 (A)	3–0 (H)
Dynamo Kyiv	8–0	3–0 (H)	5–0 (A)	Round of 16	Rennes	4–3	1–3 (A)	3–0 (H)
Slavia Prague	5–3	1–0 (A)	4–3 (H)	Quarter-finals	Napoli	3–0	2–0 (H)	1–0 (A)
Eintracht Frankfurt	2–2 (4–3 p)	1–1 (A)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (H)	Semi-finals	Valencia	7–3	3–1 (H)	4–2 (A)

Pre-match

Final identity

The brand identity for the final was unveiled at the group stage draw on 31 August 2018, taking inspiration from several prominent buildings in Baku. The logo also incorporates Azerbaijan's nickname, the "Land of Fire", by adding a flame to the letter "A", and a common design in Azerbaijani rugs.

Ambassador

The ambassador for the final is former Netherlands international Pierre van Hooijdonk, who won the 2001–02 UEFA Cup with Feyenoord and finished as the top scorer, in which he scored two goals in the final win against Borussia Dortmund.

Ticketing and travel

With a stadium capacity of 64,000 for the final, a total amount of 37,500 tickets are available to fans and the general public, with the two finalist teams receiving 6,000 tickets each, and with the other tickets being available for sale to fans worldwide via UEFA.com from 7 to 21 March 2019 in four price categories: €140, €90, €50 and €30. The remaining tickets are allocated to the local organising committee, national associations, commercial partners and broadcasters, and to serve the corporate hospitality programme.

The handling of ticket pricing and travel logistics for English fans, including limited flights and visa requirements to enter Azerbaijan, was criticised by supporters groups representing fans of the two clubs. Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the main airport serving Baku, was described as "too small" to accommodate the expected demand of the Europa League final, and was cited as a reason for the small ticket allocation for travelling fans. Arsenal and Chelsea had failed to sell out their individual allocations by the deadline in late May and planned to return 6,000 unsold tickets to UEFA; several sponsors with their own allocations also followed suit, citing disinterest from their clients. In an official statement, Arsenal called UEFA's decision to host the match in Baku an "unacceptable" situation that "cannot be repeated".

UEFA was also criticised for accepting Azerbaijan as the host of the Europa League final, due to its ongoing conflict with neighbouring Armenia. Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who plays for Arsenal, was given permission to play in the match, but the club raised their concerns about his safety while in the country. Mkhitaryan and Arsenal ultimately decided that he would not travel with the squad to the final match, while the club planned to meet with UEFA after the match to discuss the situation. Amnesty International's UK branch criticised the choice of Azerbaijan on the basis of its human rights violations, calling the hosting of the final an "attempt to sportswash its image".

Trophy tour

The first UEFA Europa League Trophy Tour will visit eight European cities, beginning on 5 March 2019 at the Geneva Motor Show, followed by Seville, Berlin, London, Milan, Moscow and Paris, before concluding at the host city Baku on 16 May 2019.

Match

Officials

On 13 May 2019, UEFA named Italian Gianluca Rocchi as the referee for the final. Rocchi has been a FIFA referee since 2008, and was previously the fourth official in the 2010 and 2017 Europa League finals. He also officiated the 2017 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester United. He will be joined by five of his fellow countrymen, with Filippo Meli and Lorenzo Manganelli as assistant referees, Daniele Orsato as the fourth official, Massimiliano Irrati as the video assistant referee, and Marco Guida as one of the assistant VAR officials. The other assistant VAR for the final will be Szymon Marciniak from Poland, with his compatriot Paweł Sokolnicki serving as the offside VAR official.

Details

The "home" team (for administrative purposes) will be determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw, which will be held on 19 April 2019 at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

29 May 2019 (2019-05-29) 23:00 AZT	Chelsea	4–1	Arsenal	Olympic Stadium, Baku Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
	Giroud  49' Pedro  60' Hazard  65' (Pen), 72'	UEFA Report BBC Report	Iwobi  69'

Chelsea

Arsenal

GK 1 Kepa Arrizabalaga RB 28 César Azpilicueta (c) CB 27 Andreas Christensen CB 30 David Luiz LB 33 Emerson Palmieri CM 7 N'Golo Kanté CM 5 Jorginho CM 17 Mateo Kovačić 76' RW 11 Pedro 71' CF 18 Olivier Giroud LW 10 Eden Hazard 89' Substitutes: GK 13 Willy Caballero GK 52 Jamie Cumming DF 3 Marcos Alonso DF 21 Davide Zappacosta 89' DF 24 Gary Cahill DF 44 Ethan Ampadu MF 8 Ross Barkley 76' MF 51 Conor Gallagher MF 55 George McEachran FW 9 Gonzalo Higuaín FW 22 Willian 71' Manager: Maurizio Sarri

GK 1 Petr Čech CB 5 Sokratis Papastathopoulos CB 6 Laurent Koscielny (c) CB 18 Nacho Monreal 66' RM 15 Ainsley Maitland-Niles CM 11 Lucas Torreira 67' CM 34 Granit Xhaka LM 31 Sead Kolašinac AM 10 Mesut Özil 77' CF 9 Alexandre Lacazette CF 14 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Substitutes: GK 19 Bernd Leno GK 44 Dejan Iliev DF 12 Stephan Lichtsteiner DF 20 Shkodran Mustafi DF 25 Carl Jenkinson MF 4 Mohamed Elneny MF 29 Matteo Guendouzi 66' MF 59 Joe Willock 77' FW 17 Alex Iwobi 67' FW 23 Danny Welbeck FW 49 Eddie Nketiah FW 87 Bukayo Saka Manager: Unai Emery

Assistant referees: Filippo Meli (Italy) Lorenzo Manganelli (Italy) Fourth official: Daniele Orsato (Italy) Video assistant referee: Massimiliano Irrati (Italy) Assistant video assistant referees: Marco Guida (Italy) Szymon Marciniak (Poland) Offside video assistant referee: Paweł Sokolnicki (Poland)

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Twelve named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions, with a fourth allowed in extra time

See also

• 2019 UEFA Champions League Final
• 2019 UEFA Super Cup

External links

• UEFA Europa League (official website)
• BBC Report