Europa League: 2025/26 league phase in numbers

Fenerbahçe, Roma and Go Ahead Eagles celebrated milestone moments as 36 teams from 23 national associations contested the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League.

We run through the key facts and figures.

Statistics do not include qualifying unless stated.

1 Go Ahead Eagles made their first-ever appearance in the league phase or group stage of a men's European competition. The Dutch side recorded their first Europa League win on Matchday 2 when they came from behind to defeat Panathinaikos in Athens.

2 Matchday 5 brought two rematches of European Cup finals: Nottingham Forest overcoming Malmö just as they had done in 1979 while Celtic defeated Feyenoord, to whom they lost in the 1970 showpiece.

3 The only team to come through the league phase unbeaten were Viktoria Plzeň, who finished in 14th place with a record of three wins, five draws and zero defeats. The Czech team also had the best defensive record with only three goals conceded.

4 Compared to zero hat-tricks in last season's league phase, there were four this time round. Those came from Anass Zaroury (Panathinaikos), Petar Stanić (Ludogorets), Corentin Tolisso (Lyon) and Talisca (Fenerbahçe).

4 There was a four-way tie for most assists as Ricardo Horta (Braga), Denis Undav (Stuttgart), Bryan Zaragoza (Celta) and Andrija Živković (PAOK) each laid on four goals.

5 Aston Villa, Bologna, Brann, Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest made their first appearances in the group stage/league phase of this competition in the Europa League era. All but Go Ahead Eagles reached the knockout phase.

7 Stanić finished as the league phase top scorer with seven goals for Ludogorets, including the winner in their decisive Matchday 8 meeting with Nice. Nottingham Forest's Igor Jesus leads the chase with six goals heading into the knockout phase.

18 Lyon and Midtjylland were the top-scoring teams with 18 goals apiece. PAOK were next on 17.

19 Gabriel Veiga scored after just 19 seconds as Porto swept aside Nice at Estádio do Dragão on Matchday 5, the fastest goal of the 2025/26 league phase.

23 Teams from 23 national associations were represented in the league phase. Seventeen different nations will be represented in the knockout phase.

37 Go Ahead Eagles goalkeeper Jari De Busser made the most saves in the league phase.

39 Olivier Giroud became the third-oldest scorer in competition history when he helped Lille to victory over Brann on opening night aged 38 years 360 days. The French forward then improved on that mark (though remained third) on both Matchdays 7 and 8, his latest a match-winning penalty against Freiburg at the age of 39 years 121 days.

42 Aged 41 years 341 days, Dante became the oldest outfield player to appear in the Europa League as Nice hosted Roma on Matchday 1. He has since improved on his own record, featuring in the Matchday 7 success against Go Ahead Eagles at the age of 42 years 96 days.

51 Eighteen simultaneous games produced 51 goals as the league phase reached a dramatic conclusion on Matchday 8.

61 Lyon topped the possession charts as well as the league phase table with an average of 61.2%.

87 Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba enjoyed a European debut to remember on Matchday 8 when he came on as a second-half substitute and scored the 87th-minute winner for Aston Villa against Salzburg.

100 Roma became the first team to reach a century of Europa League/UEFA Cup victories (including qualifying) when they defeated Midtjylland 2-1 on Matchday 5. In doing so, the Italian side also ended the last remaining 100% record in the league phase; the Danish side were the only team to win all four of their opening matches.

100 Unai Emery reached the landmark of 100 Europa League games as a coach on Matchday 7.

386 The 144 league phase fixtures produced 386 goals, an average of 2.69 per match.

400 Kerem Aktürkoğlu's Matchday 2 double brought victory over Nice for Fenerbahçe and a 400th goal in Europe for the Turkish side.