#UEFA Europa Conference League

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Calum Chambers - AZ Alkmaar v. Aston Villa - UEFA Europa Conference League

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FOOTBALL FAN POLL # 1

If you have opinions or thoughts about the Ballon d'Or 2024, feel free to comment down below.

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Olympiakos: 2024 UEFA Europa Conference League Winners

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Setting off wild celebrations in Athens, Olympiakos won Greece’s first European club title by beating Fiorentina 1-0 with a goal in extra time of the Europa Conference League final on Wednesday.

Ayoub El Kaabi provided the dramatic ending, diving to nudge in a last-gasp goal in the second period of extra time, with fans erupting in celebration after a lengthy wait for a VAR check for offside.

“Praise be to God, we promised our supporters we’d do this today and we did it,” El Kaabi said.

The Morocco striker – who finished as the competition’s top scorer – struck in the 116th minute of the match and dropped to his knees as he waited to see if the goal would stand after he had met a cross from Santiago Hezze.

The goal decided a game that had looked destined for a penalty shootout following an energetic but largely risk-free encounter at AEK Arena, and condemned Fiorentina and its coach Vincenzo Italiano to a second straight defeat in the final of the Europa Conference League after losing last year to West Ham.

“We created chances and had the opportunity to lift the cup but unfortunately it didn’t happy – I’m sorry,” Italiano said. “In Europe it’s not an easy thing to get this far and lose.”

Olympiakos coach Jose Luis Mendilibar secured a second straight European title after winning the Europa League with Sevilla last season.

“It’s an honor to have made all these people happy, I feel immense joy and happiness to have made people feel this way and I dedicate it to them,” Mendilibar said.

“We have achieved something that our club has never achieved before. We will celebrate it and celebrate it the way we should. Then we will start working on what comes next.” Tens of thousands of Olympiakos fans joined boisterous celebrations across the Greek capital after attending outdoor viewing parties. Youths held up lit flares in the port city of Piraeus, near Athens, where the team is based.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described Olympiakos as “a true legend,” adding in an online post: “Olympiakos has won the Europa Conference League and made history! A sensational night for the club itself, but also for Greek football as a whole.”

The third-tier European club competition took place amid a massive security operation, with some 5,000 police officers forming concentric cordons around a northern area of the capital – amid Europe-wide security concerns this summer for major sporting events including the Paris Olympics and European soccer championship in Germany.

The final was briefly marred by scuffles between Fiorentina fans inside the stadium and riot police next to them.

Although the visitors dominated the early stages of the final, Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano kept his team in the game with two impressive fingertip saves to block on-target shots from Daniel Podence in the fourth minute and Stevan Jovetic in the sixth minute of extra time.

El Kaabi, who scored a total of 11 goals in the competition, had been largely sidelined in the match by Fiorentina’s unyielding four-man defense.

Olympiakos players celebrated with 15,000 fans after the game, some holding their young children as golden confetti was fired into the air around the awards podium.

“It’s the best emotion I’ve felt so far in my career,” defender Panagiotis Retsos said. “I’ve had a lot of ups-and-downs but I’m very, very happy to be here.”

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🟠 UEFA Europa League 2023/2024

⏰ RESULTS⏰

🇨🇿 Sparta Praha 1-5 Liverpool 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇫🇷 Marseille 4-0 Villarreal 🇪🇸 🇮🇹 Roma 4-0 Brighton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇦🇿 Qarabağ 2-2 Leverkusen 🇩🇪

🇵🇹 Benfica 2-2 Rangers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇩🇪 Freiburg 1-0 West Ham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇮🇹 Milan 4-2 Slavia Praha 🇨🇿

🟢UEFA Europa Conference League 2023/2024

🇨🇭 Servette 0-0 VIktoria Plzeň 🇨🇿 🇳🇱 Ajax 0-0 Aston Villa 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇧🇪 Union SG 0-3 Fenerbahçe 🇹🇷 🇮🇱 M. Haifa 3-4 Fiorentina 🇮🇹

🇳🇴 Molde 2-1 Club Brugge 🇧🇪 🇭🇷 Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 PAOK 🇬🇷 🇦🇹 Sturm Graz 0-3 Lille 🇫🇷 🇬🇷 Olympiacos 1-4 Maccabi Tel-Aviv 🇮🇱

UECL

UEL

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West Ham's trophy parade

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Cannot have West Ham win this trophy.

Fear I will never live it down.

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Perché sky odia tanto l'athletic club? Ci fosse una volta che lo facessero vedere....

Invece no, meglio far vedere l'az alkmar, il galatasaray, il Chelsea contro heidenheim, porto e anderlecht

Praticamente l'athletic club o gioca contro le italiane o non esiste

È veramente difficile essere un tifoso italiano di sta squadra...

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Info: AIK – FC Slovácko AS (Playoff till UEFA Europa Conference League AIK Fotboll Herr 2022) Av: Christopher Anderton Mer info: https://aikstats.se/matches.php?id=4845

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Europa Conference League Champion Seals Move To League One

League One outfit Wycombe Wanderers have confirmed the signing of West Ham United midfielder Freddie Potts on a loan until the end of the season. Potts has spent his entire career with the Hammers, making his competitive debut aged 18, and so moving to Adams Park will be the first loan of his career as of yet. The 19-year-old is joining Matt Bloomfield’s side as a European champion, having won…

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ACF Fiorentina vs. West Ham United 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League Final Predictions FIFA 23

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Captain Rice - West Ham v. La Gantoise, UEFA Europa Conference League

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West Ham United: 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League Winners

Pietro Terracciano saved from Michail Antonio in the opening minute, and West Ham took courage for a while, hurrying Fiorentina and preventing them from building from the back. Declan Rice fired just wide from the edge of the box, but the Viola pressed and passed more effectively as a stop-start first half went on.

Luka Jović had a shot blocked at source in the box, and got behind the Hammers' defence in the final seconds before the break. The No7 reacted sharply after Christian Kouamé's header looped back to him off the post, but the effort was ruled offside.

The second half sparked into life after West Ham were awarded a penalty, Cristiano Biraghi handling a long throw into the Fiorentina box. Said Benrahma struck it sweetly into the top corner, sending Terracciano the wrong way.

Their lead lasted just five minutes, though, Giacomo Bonaventura controlling Nicolás González's knock-down and then beating Areola with a low angled shot. It might have got even better for Fiorentina three minutes later, Rolando Mandragora flashing a powerful shot just wide from the edge of the box.

However, the momentum drained away, and extra time looked to be looming when Areola saved Sofyan Amrabat's hopeful effort from distance. There was a final cruel twist for the Viola, though, Jarrod Bowen chasing Lucas Paquetá's smart ball through the Fiorentina defence before angling the ball past Terracciano.

Laufenn Player of the Match: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham) "Even when they were not on top, he was the outlet for West Ham's counterattacks and then scored the goal to win the match." UEFA Technical Observer Panel

Paolo Menicucci, Fiorentina reporter Football can be cruel. Fiorentina dominated possession for the whole game and were the more dangerous side with the ball and created more chances to score but a sudden counterattack is all it takes to destroy a dream. Fiorentina have reached two finals this season and lost both of them, but Vincenzo Italiano and his players should be proud of the way they have played, even though they failed to win any trophies.

Lynsey Hooper, West Ham reporter The Hammers only held on to their initial lead for a matter of minutes. Despite a rocket of a penalty from Benrahma, the momentum shifted when Fiorentina equalised. The match was anyone's at 1-1, but Bowen was quickest to a through-ball and kept his composure to beat the goalkeeper in the final minute of normal time. The image of David Moyes running down the touchline will live long in the memory, as will this European title victory.

Jarrod Bowen, West Ham forward, speaking to BT Sport: "I dreamed of scoring but to score the winner in the last minute, I thought I was going to cry. I'm just happy, I can't put it into words. We haven't had the best season, myself included. I'm over the moon. You make that run ten times and you might get it once. I had a lot of time but I was confident and when I saw it going in, I didn't know what to do. This was the biggest game of my career."

Declan Rice, West Ham captain: "When Jarrod ran through on goal I said to myself: 'This is your time'. And then you see the ball hit the back of the net. I'm still in shock now. Honestly, it's incredible."

David Moyes, West Ham manager, speaking to BT Sport: "This year we've gone unbeaten in Europe, which is incredible. Being in the Europa League next season will be a thrill again. The moments when you win in the last minute of the game and get to celebrate with your family don't happen often. It can go against you but tonight is a brilliant feeling. This competition has been great for us; the players have been remarkable."

Vincenzo Italiano, Fiorentina coach: "We lost two finals when we played really well and it's a shame. Tonight, I honestly didn't imagine it could finish like this. We played well, had chances, equalised straight away after a penalty that could have killed us. We responded, we had a great chance through Mandragora. Then a ball came down the middle, we did not make the right movement in defence and it was all over. The lads were destroyed."

Cristiano Biraghi, Fiorentina captain: "It's so awful to lose like this. We are dead inside, above all because we are the players on the pitch but we were playing for a city, for the fans, the people who came to us after the Coppa Italia final [a 2-1 defeat against Inter] to tell us how much Fiorentina mean to them. The biggest regret is not taking anything home for them."

Joe Cole, BT Sport

"We've seen all the outpouring of emotion: I've never seen so many grown men cry. It's incredible. It's one of the most iconic scenes in this club's history."

Key stats West Ham have won their first major continental trophy since the 1964/65 European Cup Winners’ Cup. The Hammers made it through the whole campaign unbeaten; their final record W14 D1. David Moyes is the first Scottish coach to win a UEFA competition since Sir Alex Ferguson claimed his second Champions League title with Man United in 2008. Fiorentina finished as the top scorers in this season's Europa Conference League with 37 goals; West Ham were second on that list with 29. Fiorentina's Arthur Cabral was the joint-top scorer in the Europa Conference League this season on seven goals; Kouamé and Biraghi provided the most assists with five each.

Line-ups Fiorentina: Terracciano; Dodô, Milenković, Ranieri (Igor 84), Biraghi; Amrabat, Mandragora (Barák 90+3); González, Bonaventura, Kouamé (Saponara 61); Jović (Cabral 46)

West Ham: Areola; Coufal, Zouma (Kehrer 61), Aguerd, Emerson; Souček, Rice, Paquetá; Bowen, Antonio (Ogbonna 90+4), Benrahma (Fornals 76)

© 1998-2023 UEFA. All rights reserved. Last updated: Wednesday, June 7, 2023

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🔚 FULLTIME

🇬🇷 Olympiacos 1-0 Fiorentina 🇮🇹

▪️ OLYMPIACOS HAVE WON THE EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE 2023/2024! 🇬🇷🏆 ▪️ The first Greek side to win a UEFA club competition 💫

UECL #UECLfinal #OLYFIO

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UEFA Europa Conference League 2022/23 Draw

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