Conference League quarter-final second leg: Strasbourg vs Mainz facts
Friday, April 10, 2026
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Strasbourg have work to do when they stage the second leg of their UEFA Conference League quarter-final with Mainz, who take a 2-0 lead to France.
First-half goals from Kaishu Sano (11) and Stefan Posch (18) at the Mainz Arena on 9 April have given the German side the upper hand in the tie.
Strasbourg advanced from the round of 16 courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate success against Rijeka (2-1 a, 1-1 h) after an unbeaten league phase campaign (W5 D1) in which they finished top of the table on 16 points.
A 2-0 aggregate victory over Sigma Olomouc (0-0 a, 2-0 h) in the round of 16 sent Mainz into their first-ever European quarter-final, the German club having won four of their six games in the league phase (D1 L1) to finish seventh on 13 points.
Last match
The first leg was the teams' first meeting.
Strasbourg have won just one of their five games with German teams, 1-0 at home against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2019/20 Europa League qualifying play-off first leg. They went on to suffer a 0-3 second-leg defeat in Germany – their most recent meeting against a Bundesliga side before the first leg – to lose the tie 1-3.
Strasbourg are unbeaten in their two home matches against German teams (W1 D1), that 2019 win over Frankfurt their most recent such encounter on French soil.
Mainz remain unbeaten from three contests against French teams, having also drawn twice against Saint-Étienne in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League group stage (1-1 h, 0-0 a).
The 2005/06 UEFA Cup – in which they were eliminated 2-4 on aggregate by Basel in the round of 16 (0-2 a, 2-2 h) – was also Strasbourg's last involvement in a knockout stage of European competition, although they did reach the qualifying play-offs of the 2019/20 Europa League, where they suffered that defeat by Frankfurt.
The French side's only previous major UEFA quarter‑final came in the 1979/80 European Cup, where they lost 0-4 on aggregate to Ajax (0-0 h, 0-4 a). They also reached the quarter‑finals of the 1995 Intertoto Cup, winning their single‑leg tie 2-0 at domestic rivals Metz.
Strasbourg are the fourth French club to reach the UEFA Conference League quarter finals after Marseille (2021/22), Nice (2022/23) and Lille (2023/24). Only Marseille went on to reach the semi finals.
The first German club to reach the quarter-finals of the Conference League, Mainz are competing in their first European campaign since they finished third in Group C of the 2016/17 Europa League with a record of W2 D3 L1.
Their UEFA competition debut came at the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, where they lost 0-2 on aggregate to eventual winners Sevilla in the first round (0-0 a, 0-2 h).
Key stats
The first leg was Strasbourg's first Conference League defeat this season (W7 D3); they had previously won all five away.
Strasbourg have lost just one of their 33 home European matches (W21 D11) — 0-1 against AC Milan in the first leg of a UEFA Cup second round tie in October 1995 (1-3 aggregate).
The French side have won six of their last eight two‑legged European ties.
Strasbourg have won one of the three European ties in which they lost the first leg by a two‑goal margin, beating Elfsborg in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup first round (0-2 a, 4-1 h).
Mainz have lost only two of their last 13 European matches (W8 D3).
However, Mainz have won only two of their last 11 away games in UEFA competition (D5 L4).
The German club have not conceded a goal in their last four Conference League games.
Mainz won the only previous European tie in which they held a two‑goal first‑leg lead — against Iceland's Keflavík in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup second qualifying round (2-0 h, 2-0 a).