West Ham vs AZ Alkmaar facts

Conquerors of Belgian opposition in the quarter-finals, West Ham United and AZ Alkmaar meet for the first time in the last four of the UEFA Europa Conference League, with both clubs looking to end a lengthy wait to reappear in a major European final.

West Ham became the first team to gain maximum points in a UEFA Europa Conference League group when they won all six matches against FCSB, Silkeborg and Anderlecht to top Group B, having also previously won both qualifying play-off matches against Viborg. The London side prolonged that perfect sequence against AEK Larnaca in the round of 16 (2-0 a, 4-0 h), but although they were held 1-1 at Gent in the first leg of the quarter-final, they came from behind to win 4-1 at home and reach a European semi-final for the second season in a row.

AZ won their UEFA Europa Conference League group for the second successive season – the only club to do so – and with one point more than in 2021/22 as they recorded five victories in six matches in Group E to qualify directly for the round of 16. There they made impressive further progress at the expense of Lazio, coming from behind to win both legs 2-1, the first in Rome, with Vangelis Pavlidis on target in each game. The Greek striker then struck both goals in Alkmaar as AZ reversed their 2-0 first-leg defeat at Anderlecht in the quarter-final before triumphing 4-1 on penalties.

Previous meetings

West Ham have won their only two previous ties against Dutch opponents in UEFA competition, overcoming Den Haag on away goals in the quarter-finals of the 1975/76 European Cup Winners' Cup (2-4 a, 3-1 h) – in which they reached the second of their two major European finals – and winning both legs 1-0 against Heerenveen in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-finals.

AZ's all-time record against English clubs is W2 D5 L7, with six defeats out of six in England. The most famous of those was a 3-0 first-leg loss at Ipswich Town in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup final, which AZ would go on to lose 5-4 on aggregate in what remains their only major final appearance. The Dutch club have conceded 20 goals on those six visits to England, including four in each of their last three matches there, going down 4-0 at Manchester United in the most recent, in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League group stage.

AZ lost their first three two-legged knockout ties against English sides, including that 1980/81 UEFA Cup final, but won the fourth and most recent, on away goals against Newcastle United in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 16 (2-4 a, 2-0 h).

Form guide

West Ham

Seventh in the 2021/22 Premier League, West Ham therefore ensured a second successive European campaign after going all the way to the semi-finals of last season's UEFA Europa League, a journey that took David Moyes' side past Sevilla and Lyon in the knockout phase before they were eliminated by eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt (1-2 h, 0-1 a).

The Hammers had never played in a European group stage until last season, but they made it two in a row this term with that UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying play-off win against Viborg (3-1 h, 3-0 a) before again cruising through their section as they twice overcame FCSB (3-1 h, 3-0 a), Silkeborg (3-2 a, 1-0 h) and Anderlecht (1-0 a, 2-1 h) to end up ten points clear of the Belgian club. Cypriot side AEK Larnaca then provided further easy pickings in the round of 16 before they eventually proved too strong for Gent in the quarter-finals, two goals from Michail Antonio and one each from Lucas Paquetá and Declan Rice getting the job done in the second leg at the London Stadium.

Last season's defeat by Frankfurt made West Ham's record in major European semi-finals W2 L2. They reached the 1964/65 European Cup Winners' Cup final, which they won 2-0 against 1860 München, by defeating Real Zaragoza (2-1 h, 1-1 a) in the last four, then, as holders, lost to Borussia Dortmund in the following season's semi-final (1-2 h, 1-3 a). Ten years later they were successful at the same stage of the same competition, defeating Frankfurt (1-2 a, 3-1 h), before going on to lose the final 4-2 to Anderlecht.

West Ham have won all six home fixtures in the UEFA Europa Conference League this season to make their overall European record at the London Stadium W10 D1 L3. They have scored 17 goals in those six matches, including four in each of the two knockout phase encounters.

AZ 

AZ finished fifth in the Dutch Eredivisie last season, 22 points adrift of champions Ajax. They also featured as one of three clubs from the Netherlands in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage, topping their section unbeaten ahead of Randers, Jablonec and CFR Cluj before losing after extra time to Bodø/Glimt in the round of 16 (1-2 a, 2-2 h).

The Alkmaar side, led since December 2020 by Pascal Jansen in his first head coach role, negotiated three qualifying rounds this season, comprehensively beating Tuzla City, Dundee United and Gil Vicente to become one of only seven teams appearing in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage for the second straight season. They then became the only side to top their group twice, doing the double over Dnipro-1 (1-0 a, 2-1) and Vaduz (4-1 h, 2-1 a), while trading home wins with Apollon Limassol (3-2 h, 0-1 a). Then came the wins against Lazio and – on penalties – Anderlecht to put AZ into their third major European semi-final and leave them as the Netherlands' last team standing in Europe this season.

AZ won their first European semi-final, beating French club Sochaux 4-3 on aggregate (1-1 a, 3-2 h) in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup, but lost the second, on away goals to Sporting CP in the same competition 24 years later after conceding at home in the last minute of extra time (1-2 a, 3-2 h).

The Matchday 4 defeat by Apollon in Cyprus ended AZ's four-match unbeaten run in European away fixtures (W2 D2). The Dutch club's record away from home in the UEFA Europa Conference League, qualifiers included, is now W6 D2 L4, with five wins and three defeats in 2022/23.

Links and trivia 

AZ's Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan played in the English Premier League for Brighton from 2017 to 2021, making 123 appearances in all competitions for the club. He also had a loan spell in 2020/21 with West Ham's London rivals Arsenal.

AZ's Jordy Clasie made 49 appearances and scored two goals for Southampton from 2015 to 2017, while captain Bruno Martins Indi was a Stoke City player from 2016 to 2020, appearing 137 times, before moving to Alkmaar.

Martins Indi was a central defensive team-mate of West Ham's Kurt Zouma at Stoke in 2017/18, the Frenchman spending that season there on loan from Chelsea.

Hammers manager Moyes was in charge of the Everton side that beat Louis van Gaal's AZ 3-2 in Alkmaar on the fourth and final matchday of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.

West Ham and AZ are the only UEFA Europa Conference League group winners to have reached the semi-finals. The other two teams in the last four, Fiorentina and Basel, were both runners-up in their section.

AZ are one of two clubs, along with Basel, who were eliminated in last season's UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 but have made it through to the semi-finals this term. None of the 2021/22 semi-finalists are involved again this season.

England and the Netherlands were, however, also represented in last season's UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals, Leicester City losing to Roma and Feyenoord knocking out Marseille.

AZ held Ajax to a 0-0 draw in Amsterdam last Saturday, claiming their third successive Eredivisie clean sheet, before West Ham won 1-0 at home to Manchester United on Sunday evening to ease themselves towards safety in the Premier League.

The winners of this tie will face Fiorentina or Basel in the final in Prague on 7 June.