![]() | |||||||
| |||||||
Villarreal win 11–10 on penalties | |||||||
Event | 2020–21 UEFA Europa League | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | 26 May 2021 | ||||||
Venue | Stadion Miejski, Gdańsk | ||||||
Player of the Match | ![]() | ||||||
Referee | ![]() | ||||||
Attendance | 9,412 | ||||||
Weather | Partly cloudy night 11 °C (52 °F) 45% humidity | ||||||
← 2020 2022 → |
The 2021 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. It was played on 26 May 2021 at the Stadion Miejski in Gdańsk, Poland, between Spanish club Villarreal and English club Manchester United.
The final was originally scheduled to be played at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville, Spain. However, due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final to Cologne, the final hosts were shifted back a year, with Gdańsk instead hosting the 2021 final, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
The final was originally scheduled to be played at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville, Spain. However, due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final to Cologne, the final hosts were shifted back a year, with Gdańsk instead hosting the 2021 final, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
Villarreal won the match 11–10 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time, thus winning the first major trophy in the club's history. As winners, Villarreal earned the right to play against the winners of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League in the 2021 UEFA Super Cup. They also qualified for the group stage of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.
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) |
---|---|
![]() |
None |
![]() |
1 (2017) |
Venue[]
The match was played at the Stadion Miejski in Gdańsk, Poland. At the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Kyiv in May 2018, the stadium was initially selected to host the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final, but when the COVID-19 pandemic forced UEFA to move the latter stages of the 2019–20 competition to Germany, the UEFA Executive Committee delayed Stadion Miejski's hosting of the Europa League final to 2021. The original venues for the 2021 and 2022 finals were also delayed by a year.
This was the first UEFA club match hosted at the stadium, which was one of the venues for UEFA Euro 2012. It is the second UEFA club competition final to be played in Poland, as the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was played at the National Stadium in Warsaw. When the stadium was selected to host the 2020 final, it was known as Stadion Energa Gdańsk, so due to UEFA sponsorship regulations, marketing materials for the match referred to the venue as Gdańsk Stadium. Although the sponsorship deal with Energa was ended in November 2020, the stadium will continue to be known as Gdańsk Stadium for the final.
Host selection[]
An open bidding process was launched on 22 September 2017 by UEFA to select the venues of the finals of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Women's Champions League in 2020. Associations had until 31 October 2017 to express interest, and bid dossiers must be submitted by 1 March 2018. Associations hosting matches at UEFA Euro 2020 were not allowed to bid for the 2020 UEFA Europa League final.
UEFA announced on 3 November 2017 that two associations had expressed interest in hosting the 2020 UEFA Europa League final.
Country | Stadium | City | Capacity | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Stadion Energa Gdańsk | Gdańsk | 43,615 | |
![]() |
Estádio do Dragão | Porto | 50,035 | Also bid for 2020 UEFA Super Cup |
The Stadion Miejski in Gdańsk was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Kyiv on 24 May 2018.
On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final, Gdańsk would instead host the 2021 final.
Background[]
This is Villarreal's first ever major final in either domestic or European competition. The club have not won any major titles previously, only finishing as co-winners of the minor UEFA Intertoto Cup twice in 2003 and 2004. At the other hand, this is head coach Unai Emery's fifth European final, all in the Europa League; he won three successive titles with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016, before losing in 2019 with Arsenal.
Manchester United will play in their second UEFA Cup/Europa League final, having won in the previous occasion in 2017. Overall, this is their eighth European final. Ole Gunnar Solskjær reached his first final as the club's manager, having scored the winning goal in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final playing for them.
The clubs previously met four times, in the 2005–06 and 2008–09 Champions League group stages. All games ended in goalless draws.
Road to the final[]
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
![]() |
Round | ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Europa League | Champions League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opponent | Result | Group stage (EL, CL) | Opponent | Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
5–3 (H) | Matchday 1 | ![]() |
2–1 (A) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
3–1 (A) | Matchday 2 | ![]() |
5–0 (H) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
4–0 (H) | Matchday 3 | ![]() |
1–2 (A) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
1–1 (A) | Matchday 4 | ![]() |
4–1 (H) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
1–0 (A) | Matchday 5 | ![]() |
1–3 (H) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
3–0 (H) | Matchday 6 | ![]() |
2–3 (A) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group I winners
|
Final standings | Group H third place
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Europa League | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
4–1 | 2–0 (A) | 2–1 (H) | Round of 32 | ![]() |
4–0 | 4–0 (A) | 0–0 (H) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
4–0 | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) | Round of 16 | ![]() |
2–1 | 1–1 (H) | 1–0 (A) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
3–1 | 1–0 (A) | 2–1 (H) | Quarter-finals | ![]() |
4–0 | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
2–1 | 2–1 (H) | 0–0 (A) | Semi-finals | ![]() |
8–5 | 6–2 (H) | 2–3 (A) |
Match[]
Details[]
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) will be determined by an additional draw to be held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.
26 May 2021 21:00 CEST |
Villarreal ![]() |
1–1 (a.e.t.) |
![]() |
Stadion Miejski, Gdańsk Attendance: 9,412 Referee: Clément Turpin (France) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gerard ![]() |
Report | Cavani ![]() | ||
Penalties | ||||
Gerard ![]() Raba ![]() Alcácer ![]() Moreno ![]() Parejo ![]() Gómez ![]() Albiol ![]() Coquelin ![]() Mario ![]() Torres ![]() Rulli ![]() |
11–10 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
|
Match rules
|
See also[]
External links[]
UEFA Cup and Europa League |
UEFA Cup seasons |
1996–97 · 1997–98 · 1998–99 · 1999–00 · 2000–01 · 2001–02 · 2002–03 · 2003–04 · 2004–05 · 2005–06 · 2006–07 · 2007–08 · 2008–09 |
Europa League seasons |
2009–10 · 2010–11 · 2011–12 · 2012–13 · 2013–14 · 2014–15 · 2015–16 · 2016–17 · 2017–18 · 2018–19 · 2019–20 · 2020–21 · 2021–22 · 2022–23 · 2023–24 · 2024–25 · |
UEFA Cup and Europa League Finals |
1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 · |
2020–21 in European football (UEFA) |
Domestic leagues |
Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus '20 '21 · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · England · Estonia '20 '21 · Faroe Islands '20 '21 · Finland '20 '21 · France · Georgia '20 '21 · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Hungary · Iceland '20 '21 · Israel · Italy · Kazakhstan '20 '21 · Kosovo · Latvia '20 '21 · Lithuania '20 '21 · Luxembourg · Malta · Moldova '20 '21 · Montenegro · Netherlands · North Macedonia · Northern Ireland · Norway '20 '21 · Poland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland '20 '21 · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Scotland · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia{{,}Spain · Sweden '20 '21 · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · Wales |
Domestic cups |
Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · England · Estonia · Faroe Islands '20 '21 · Finland · France · Georgia '20 '21 · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Hungary · Iceland '20 '21 ·
Israel · Italy · Kazakhstan '20 '21 · Kosovo · Latvia '20 '21 · Liechtenstein · Lithuania '20 '21 · Luxembourg · Malta · Moldova · Montenegro · Netherlands · North Macedonia · Northern Ireland · Norway '20 '21 · Poland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland '20 '21 · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Scotland · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · Wales |
League cups |
England · Estonia · Iceland '20 '21 · Israel · Latvia · Northern Ireland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland '20 '21 · Scotland · Wales |
Supercups |
Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bulgaria · Cyprus · England · Estonia · Faroe Islands · France · Georgia · Germany · Gibraltar · Hungary · Iceland · Israel · Italy · Kazakhstan · Kosovo · Lithuania '20 '21 · Malta · Moldova · Netherlands · Northern Ireland · Norway '20 '21 · Poland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland '20 '21 · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Spain · Turkey · Ukraine |
UEFA competitions |
Champions League (qualifying phase and play-off round, group stage, knockout phase, Final) · Europa League (qualifying phase and play-off round, Champions Path, Main Path, group stage, knockout phase, Final) · Super Cup |
International competitions |
UEFA Euro 2021 (qualification) · 2022 FIFA World Cup (qualification) · 2020–21 UEFA Nations League (League A · League B · League C · League D · Finals · Final) |