Meet the UEFA Conference League quarter-finalists

The stage is set for the quarter-finals of the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League. Meet the teams involved as they target glory in Leipzig on 27 May.

UEFA coefficient rankings accurate as of 20 March.

AEK Athens (GRE)

Quarter-finals: vs Rayo Vallecano
UEFA coefficient ranking: 91
League phase position: 3
Round of 16: 4-2agg vs Celje
Last season: Third qualifying round (L2-3agg vs Noah)
Best Conference League performance: Third qualifying round (2024/25)

AEK stands for Athletic Union of Constantinople, with the Athens club founded in 1924 by Greek refugees from what is now Istanbul. The Double-Headed Eagle won the most recent of their 13 Greek titles in 2022/23, while the most successful of their past European campaigns took them to the semi-finals of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup.

AZ Alkmaar (NED)

Quarter-finals: vs Shakhtar
UEFA coefficient ranking: 35
League phase position: 14
Knockout phase play-offs: 4-1agg vs Noah
Round of 16: 6-1agg vs Sparta Praha
Last season: Europa League round of 16 (L2-3agg vs Tottenham)
Best Conference League performance: Semi-finals (2022/23)

The Kaasboeren (Cheese Farmers) have won two Dutch titles, their long European history including reaching the final of the 1980/81 UEFA Cup, which they lost to Ipswich Town over two legs. The initials AZ stand for Alkmaar Zaanstreek, the club representing the city of Alkmaar in the north of Netherlands and the wider Zaan region.

Crystal Palace (ENG)

Quarter-finals: vs Fiorentina
UEFA coefficient ranking: 85
League phase position: 10
Knockout phase play-offs: 3-1agg vs Zrinjski
Round of 16: 2-1agg vs AEK Larnaca
Last season: N/A
Best Conference League performance: Debut

From Croydon, south London, Crystal Palace are (along with Millwall) one of only two London sides from south of the River Thames to play in Europe. Founded in 1905, Palace were named after a spectacular iron and glass exhibition centre that stood from 1851 to 1936. This is only their second season in Europe; they previously played in the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Fiorentina (ITA)

Quarter-finals: vs Crystal Palace
UEFA coefficient ranking: 22
League phase position: 15
Knockout phase play-offs: 5-4agg vs Jagiellonia
Round of 16: 4-2agg vs Raków
Last season: Semi-finals (L3-4agg vs Real Betis)
Best Conference League performance: Final (2022/23, 2023/24)

Two-time champions of Italy, either side of their European Cup Winners' Cup triumph of 1960/61, the Viola have been Conference League runners-up twice since the advent of the tournament in 2021/22.

Mainz (GER)

Quarter-finals: vs Strasbourg
UEFA coefficient ranking: 111
League phase position: 7
Round of 16: 2-0agg vs Sigma Olomouc
Last season: N/A
Best Conference League performance: Debut

Known as the Karnevalsverein (Carnival club) due to the months-long festivities in their home city over the winter, Mainz have yet to win a major senior honour. However, this season they made it through a league phase/group stage for the first time after falling just short in the 2016/17 Europa League. A special carnival tune, the Narrhallamarsch, is played every time Mainz score a home goal.

Rayo Vallecano (ESP)

Quarter-finals: vs AEK Athens
UEFA coefficient ranking: 104
League phase position: 5
Round of 16: 3-2agg vs Samsunspor
Last season: N/A
Best Conference League performance: Debut

From the Madrid suburb of Vallecas, Rayo (literally 'thunderbolt') were partly inspired by Argentinian side River Plate, hence the diagonal red flash on their white shirts. They have made it to the quarter-finals in what is only their second European campaign; the first was also a success, Rayo reaching the last eight of the 2000/01 UEFA Cup before losing to Alavés.

Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

Quarter-finals: vs AZ Alkmaar
UEFA coefficient ranking: 48
League phase position: 6
Round of 16: 4-3agg vs Lech Poznań
Last season: Champions League league phase (27/36)
Best Conference League performance: Debut

Founded in the Donbas region of Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk were traditionally associated with the local coal mines, hence the name Shakhtar (Miner). UEFA Cup winners in 2008/09, Shakhtar have claimed 15 league titles in Ukraine since independence. They have now made it to the last eight in their first Conference League campaign.

Strasbourg (FRA)

Quarter-finals: vs Mainz
UEFA coefficient ranking: 107
League phase position: 1
Round of 16: 3-2agg vs Rijeka
Last season: N/A
Best Conference League performance: Debut

Le Racing's youthful squad have taken the club into the spring phase of a UEFA club competition for the first time since they reached the UEFA Cup round of 16 in 2005/06. French league champions in 1978/79, the side from the Alsace region have nurtured a number of major stars, not least 1998 World Cup winners Franck Leboeuf and Youri Djorkaeff.