Eintracht welcome Donis back with APOEL

Eintracht Frankfurt are certain to finish top of UEFA Europa League Group F, with APOEL FC eager to join them in the round of 32 when they come to Germany on matchday six.

• APOEL can finish second if they win in Frankfurt and Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC lose at home against FC Girondins de Bordeaux by a margin which gives the Cypriot side a superior goal difference.

Previous meetings
• Eintracht made light work of APOEL in what was their first meeting with a Cypriot club on matchday two, Srdjan Lakić and Sebastian Jung on target after Nektarios Alexandrou's own goal had put the home side on the back foot.

• That defeat prompted the dismissal of APOEL's Portuguese coach Paulo Sérgio, who lasted just 11 games as Ivan Jovanović's successor.

• APOEL's 13 meetings with German teams stand at W1 D1 L11 (W1 D0 L6 at home – W0 D1 L5 in Germany). Their 2-1 victory against Berliner FC Dynamo in the first round of the 1980/81 European Champion Clubs' Cup remains the only victory for a Cypriot club in 39 meetings with German opponents, with the overall record of Cypriot sides against German teams a rather daunting W1 D5 L33.

• Nevertheless, the balance of power between Cypriot and German clubs has shifted somewhat in recent years: five of the last nine UEFA club competition matches between the nations' outfits have ended in draws.

Match background
• Eintracht have won all three of their European home games this season, conceding just once in the process. They are back in Europe for the first time since failing to make it through the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage.

• APOEL have featured in the UEFA Champions League group stage twice, famously making it to the quarter-finals in 2011/12, but this is their first participation in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

• APOEL were reinstated into the UEFA Europa League after being drawn to replace Fenerbahçe SK following the Turkish club's exclusion from the 2013/14 UEFA competitions. They have not won in five European away games.

Team facts
• APOEL defender Marios Antoniades celebrates his 24th birthday on 15 May 2014 – the day of the UEFA Europa League final.

• Eintracht's Václav Kadlec scored the first goal of the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage, a calm finish from inside the area four minutes into his side's 3-0 matchday one win against FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

• APOEL midfielders Stathis Aloneftis and Constantinos Charalambides spent the 2007/08 season in Germany with FC Energie Cottbus and FC Carl Zeiss Jena respectively.

Coach information
• Born in Frankfurt, APOEL coach Giorgos Donis played as a winger for, among others, Panathinaikos FC, Blackburn Rovers FC and AEK Athens FC, and won 24 caps for Greece, before turning his hand to coaching at Ilisiakos FC. He then led Larissa FC to the top flight in 2005 and Greek Cup glory the following year, before stints with AEK, Atromitos FC and PAOK FC.

• Hired in May 2011, Armin Veh led Eintracht to promotion in his first season in charge and into Europe as sixth-place finishers in his second. As a midfielder, he was in the VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach squad that lost to Eintracht in the 1980 UEFA Cup final, before a broken leg ended his career. As a coach, he won the 2006/07 German title at VfB Stuttgart prior to less successful spells with VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV.