The 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League Final was the final match of the

2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania, with Roma ...

, the first season of Europe's tertiary club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organised by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

. It was played on 25 May 2022 at the

Arena Kombëtare Arena Kombëtare (; known for sponsorship reasons as the Air Albania Stadium) is an all-seater, multi-purpose football stadium located in the capital city of Tirana which was built on the ground of the former Qemal Stafa Stadium. The stadium ha ...

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, Albania, between Italian club

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and Dutch club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. Roma won the match 1–0 to secure the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League title, the first club from Italy to win a UEFA competition in 12 years. As they had already qualified for the group stage of the

2022–23 UEFA Europa League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League is the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final will be played at the Puská ...

via their domestic league performance, that competition's access list was rebalanced, with Feyenoord qualifying for the group stage instead of play-off round as the third place in the

2021–22 Eredivisie The 2021–22 Eredivisie was the 66th season of Eredivisie, the premier football competition in the Netherlands. It began on 14 August 2021 and concluded on 15 May 2022. Teams SC Cambuur (promoted after a five-year absence), Go Ahead Eagles an ...

. If Roma had not qualified for the Champions League or the Europa League through their league performance, they would have received a place in the Europa League group stage instead.

Venue

The match was the first UEFA competition final to be played in Albania. The 21,690-seat

is the home stadium of the Albania national team, as well as clubs

Dinamo Tirana Futboll Club Dinamo Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in the country's capital Tirana. They play in the Kategoria e Parë, the second tier of Albanian football, in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1950 during the communist r ...

and Partizani. Construction of the stadium began in 2016 and was completed by November 2019.

Host selection

A bidding process was launched by UEFA to select the venues of the finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2022 and

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

. Associations interested in hosting one of the finals had until 20 February 2020 to submit bid dossiers.

was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 3 December 2020.

Background

A graffito in honour of Jose Mourinho in the streets of Rome

This was Roma's third final in a major UEFA competition, having lost the

1984 European Cup Final The 1984 European Cup Final was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Roma of Italy on 30 May 1984 at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. It was the final match of the 1983–84 season of Europe's premier cup competition, ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and the

1991 UEFA Cup Final The 1991 UEFA Cup Final was a football tie played on 8 May 1991 and 22 May 1991 to determine the champion of the 1990–91 UEFA Cup. It was contested across two legs between Italian sides Internazionale and Roma. Inter won 2–1 on aggregate a ...

to fellow Italian club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, who were the most recent Italian club to reach a European final – losing in the

2020 UEFA Europa League Final The 2020 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Eur ...

. Roma was seeking to win their first trophy since the

2007–08 Coppa Italia The 2007–08 Coppa Italia was the 61st edition of the tournament. Fixtures were announced at 16:00 CET, July 25, 2007. The tournament began on August 14, 2007, and ended on May 24, 2008 with a single-match final to be played at the Stadio Olimp ...

, and a first European title for an Italian side since Inter won the

2010 UEFA Champions League Final The 2010 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid, on Saturday, 22 May 2010, to determine the winners of the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League. It was the first Cha ...

. Their head coach

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

, having become the first manager to reach European finals with four different clubs – including the aforementioned 2010 Champions League Final, was seeking to become only the third manager – after

Udo Lattek Udo Lattek (16 January 1935 – 31 January 2015) was a German professional football player and coach. Lattek is one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game, having won 15 major titles, most famously with Bayern Munich. He also ...

and

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

– to have won all three existing major European trophies, and the first to achieve the UEFA treble by winning the European Champion Clubs' Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, and UEFA Europa Conference League (in place of the now-defunct

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

). This was Feyenoord's fourth final in a major UEFA competition, having won the

1970 European Cup Final The 1970 European Cup Final was a football match held at the San Siro, Milan, on 6 May 1970, that saw Feijenoord of the Netherlands defeat Celtic of Scotland 2–1 after extra time. Ove Kindvall's goal in the 117th minute meant the trophy was won ...

and both the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

UEFA Cup finals. The first Dutch club to reach a European final since

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

lost the

2017 UEFA Europa League Final The 2017 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, the 46th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 8th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Euro ...

to Mourinho's

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and the most recent to win a European title, they were seeking to join

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

, Ajax,

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and Manchester United as the only clubs to have won all three existing major European trophies, and the first to achieve the UEFA treble by winning the European Champion Clubs' Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League (again in place of the Cup Winners' Cup). Their head coach

Arne Slot Arend Martijn Slot (; born 17 September 1978) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Feyenoord. Playing career Slot played as midfielder for PEC Zwolle, NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam. Coaching care ...

was seeking to become the first Dutch to win a European trophy since

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

with

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

in the

2008 UEFA Super Cup The 2008 UEFA Super Cup was the 33rd UEFA Super Cup, a football match played between the winners of the previous season's UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions. The 2008 competition was contested by Manchester United of England, who won ...

. The two sides previously met twice in European competitions, in the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, with Roma won one and drew one.

Road to the final

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

Pre-match

Identity

The logo of the 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League Final was unveiled at the group stage draw on 27 August 2021 in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Ambassador

The ambassador for the final was former Albanian international

Lorik Cana Lorik Agim Cana (; born 27 July 1983) is an Albanian former professional footballer. He is currently the Grassroots ambassador for children's football in Albania, named by the Albanian Football Association on 26 October 2017. Cana played in the ...

Officials

On 11 May 2022, UEFA announced Romanian István Kovács, a

FIFA referee This is a list of current FIFA international referees. Years in brackets indicate when the referee was added to the FIFA International Referees List. Afghanistan Men's Referees * Halim Shirzad (2019) Assistant Referees * Nangy ...

since 2010, would officiate the final. Kovács officiated six matches in the 2021–22 Champions League, three matches in the 2021–22 Europa League and one group stage fixture in the 2021–22 Europa Conference League season. He served as a referee at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, where he officiated one group stage match. He also was a referee at the

2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship since its reclassification from an under-18 event in 2002, and the 63rd since the tournament was created in 1948. Hungary was chosen to ho ...

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

and

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

. He was joined by his fellow countrymen Vasile Marinescu and Ovidiu Artene as assistant referees.

Sandro Schärer Sandro Schärer (born 5 June 1988) is a Swiss professional football referee. He has been a full international for FIFA since 2015.FIFA"Switzerland: Referees - Men" See also *List of football referees This is a list of current FIFA internation ...

of Switzerland served as the fourth official, while German

Marco Fritz Marco Fritz (born 3 October 1977) is a German football referee who is based in Korb. He referees for SV Breuningsweiler of the Württemberg Football Association. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a UEFA second category referee. Refereein ...

was appointed as the video assistant referee. Fritz's compatriots

Christian Dingert Christian Dingert (born 14 July 1980) is a German football referee who is based in Lebecksmühle. He referees for TSG Burg Lichtenberg of the Southwest German Football Association. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a UEFA second category re ...

and Bastian Dankert served as the assistant and support VAR officials, respectively.

Match

Details

The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.

Statistics

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uefa Europa Conference League Final 2022

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

May 2022 sports events in Albania Europa Conference League Final 2022 2021–22 in Italian football Europa Conference League Final 2022 2021–22 in Dutch football International club association football competitions hosted by Albania 2021–22 in Albanian football Sports competitions in Tirana