“THE UEFA Europa League returns for the 2025/26 edition, and as ever, it promises to be an open competition with a number of teams in with a chance of lifting the trophy. Unlike the Champions League, where the likes of Real Madrid, PSG or Bayern are always likely to reach the final, the Europa League”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
THE UEFA Europa League returns for the 2025/26 edition, and as ever, it promises to be an open competition with a number of teams in with a chance of lifting the trophy.
Unlike the Champions League, where the likes of Real Madrid, PSG or Bayern are always likely to reach the final, the Europa League can throw up plenty of variety and surprises.
Thank you!
Sevilla are the most decorated club in the competition’s history. But after a poor season in La Liga, the seven-time winners haven’t qualified for this year’s edition.
Instead, it’s former Seville boss Unai Emery’s current team, Aston Villa, that lead the Europa League winner odds. Villa are 4/1 favourites to win the competition for the first time in their history. They’re closely followed by Roma and Bologna from Italy, and Real Betis and Celta Vigo from Spain.
➡️ Europa League tips for 2025/26
- Aston Villa to win – 4/1 at BetMGM
- Stuttgart to reach the final – 10/1 at bet365
- Braga to finish in the top 8 – 8/11 at Spreadex
🏆 Latest Europa League winner odds
*Odds are subject to change.
👉 Europa League winner – betting favourites The Europa League generally includes a mix of teams made up of those who underachieved and failed to qualify for the Champions League, and those who have overachieved and are making a name for themselves in European competition.
This season is no different. Below, we look at the favourites in more detail:
Aston Villa Aston Villa finished just outside the Champions League places last season and struggled to recruit in the summer as they attempted to comply with both the Premier League and UEFA’s PSR rules.
However, they do boast the most decorated Europa League winning manager of the modern era, Unai Emery, who has won this competition four times in recent years.
Villa made a slow start to their Premier League season – failing to score until the second half of their fifth game at Sunderland. Their upturn in form domestically since then has coincided with the start of the European campaign – they’ve now won five in a row in both competitions heading into matchday three against the Go Ahead Eagles.
FC Porto After a four year run in the Champions League came to an end in 2024, this will be Porto’s second consecutive season competing in the Europa League.
Last season’s performances were mixed. The team finished 18th in the league phase with three wins and two draws in their eight matches; they were then knocked out in the Round of 16 playoff. For a team with Champions League pedigree, that was very disappointing.
The 2004 Champions League winners have started their 2025/26 domestic campaign positively under new head coach Francesco Farioli and have also won two from two in the Europa League. They head to Nottingham this week to face a Forest side who are once again managerless, after Ange Postecoglu was sacked after just 39 days in charge.
Roma AS Roma are among the strongest contenders according to the latest Europa League winner odds 2025.
Former Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini is now in charge of the Giallorossi, having taken over from the retired Claudio Ranieri in the summer.
Ranieri did a remarkable job turning around Roma’s fortunes last season, but his departure has resulted in a change of strategy with Gasperini looking to create a younger more energetic team in the mould of his former Atalanta team.
They’ve faced two French sides so far, with mixed results. They won 2-1 on the road at Nice but fell to a disappointing 1-0 home loss to Lille. They have some interesting fixtures to come too, with two trips to Glasgow to face both Rangers and Celtic in November and December.
Real Betis Betis will be looking to build on last season’s run to the Europa Conference League final, where their dreams of a first ever European trophy were ended by a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
One of the main objectives of Manuel Pellegrini’s team in the summer was securing the permanent transfer of former-Manchester United outcast Antony. The Brazilian was a revelation during his loan spell last season, so getting that deal completed was a huge bonus for the Spaniards.
Betis are a team heading in the right direction and are justified in being one of the favourites to lift this trophy – possibly bringing it back to the city of Seville again. They’ve picked up four points so far from games against Nottingham Forest and Ludogorets.
Lyon This is Lyon’s second successive season in the Europa League having made it to the quarter-finals last season, where they were dramatically knocked out 7-6 on aggregate by Manchester United. The Ligue 1 outfit have had plenty of off-field issues and were set to be demoted from the French top flight for financial irregularities until their successful appeal in July.
Lyon have also flirted with relegation with their on-pitch performances too in recent years, but they’ve made a solid start this time – winning five of their first eight in the league, and they’ve won both of their Europa League games so far. They’ll face FC Basel and Real Betis – both tricky opponents – in their next two.
Nottingham Forest Forest had looked on course for a top five finish and a place in the Champions League. However, a disappointing end to their 2024/25 Premier League season saw the Tricky Trees fall away and eventually finish in the Europa Conference League places.
A change in fortune saw Forest promoted to the Europa League at the expense of Crystal Palace. But a poor start to the current season has already seen two managers get the boot. Whoever the club appoint next will have work to do to get their first European campaign for 30 years back on track – they’ve only picked up one point so far.
After this week’s high-profile matchup with Porto, they’ll take on Sturm Graz and Malmö – which will likely be must-wins.
Lille Lille produced a series of stunning results in last season’s Champions League – beating Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid before hammering Feyenoord 6-1 to clinch a top 8 spot.
The most recent team to break PSG’s streak of titles in France (back in 2021) missed out on the top UEFA competition for this season on goal difference. Despite that disappointment, and despite losing goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier to France’s juggernaut team in the summer, Lille have started the new campaign well. A 1-0 win in Rome on matchday 2 shows they still have the pedigree in Europe.
Bologna Bologna sensationally qualified for the 2024/25 Champions League after Thiago Motta led them to fifth place in a successful 2023/24 Serie A campaign.
Unfortunately, their return to Europe’s top flight for the first time in the Champions League era didn’t go to plan. The club finished 28th with just one win from their eight games.
However, things were different at home, and right up until their final handful of games last season, the Red and Blues were involved in the battle for a top four finish in Serie A.
Somehow, they managed to finish ninth in the table, but they secured their place in the Europa League by winning the Coppa Italia. It would be very foolish to underestimate Vincenzo Italiano’s team in this competition.
🔎 Europa League winner – ones to watch There are plenty of unpredictable floaters outside of the favourites to win the Europa League. And all are available at good value Europa League outright winner odds.
Stuttgart is one such team. They underachieved in the Bundesliga last season, finishing ninth. However, they finished the season strongly and also captured the DFB-Pokal.
Furthermore, the Germans played in last season’s Champions League, so are a more than capable side who can’t be ignored at 25/1 with bet365.
Other teams worth keeping an eye on include Scottish giants Celtic (who have slipped to 50/1 after a poor start), along with Feyenoord, who defeated Bayern Munich 3-0 in the group stage of the 2024/25 Champions League and qualified for the knockouts with four wins from their eight group matches. The Eredivisie team are 40/1 to lift the trophy.
Finally, for anybody who thinks that shocks don’t happen in this competition, think back to Bodo/Glimt who made it to the semi-final last season.
📑 A reminder of the new Europa League format Like its older Champions League brother, the Europa League also adopted a new league phase in the 2024/25 season. Replacing the old group style format, the Europa League is now also a 36-team group, with all teams playing eight matches each.
The teams that finish in the top eight go straight through to the Round of 16. The teams that finish 9th-16th, will play one of the teams that finish 17th-24th in a two-legged playoff, with the winners then progressing to the Round of 16.
This format rewards the eight best performing teams as they will go straight to the Round of 16 and be fresher. To further highlight this point, three of last season’s semi-finalists, Spurs, Man Utd and Athletic Club all finished in the top eight.
⚽ Other Europa League betting markets Make sure you check out our free bets and betting sign-up offers for more wagering options on the 2025/26 Europa League. With such an open competition expected, these offers are ideal to use on other Europa League betting markets. Some to consider are:
To reach the final If you’re looking to avoid the Europa League odds outright winner market, this one offers great alternative value.
This is simply a bet on a team to reach the final. But as your team doesn’t have to lift the trophy for the wager to win, the odds will typically be shorter.
However, this market offers you the opportunity to bet on an outsider at longer odds who you think might go a long way, but not necessarily win the competition.
Stage of elimination In this market, you can place a wager on what stage of the competition you think a team will exit.
So for example, you can back Celta Vigo to exit the competition at the group stage if you think they will struggle back in Europe.
Or if you think Aston Villa will fall short, you might back them to be knocked out at the semi-final stage, as they are likely to go deep into the competition.
League stage winner & league stage top 8 Another popular and very open market that the new 36-team group stage format offers is a bet on who will finish top.
In this larger group format, we would expect the cream to rise to the top. This is why the likes of Aston Villa and Roma are favourites.
You can also wager on a team to finish in the top eight. Here, with some teams maybe not going flat out in the earlier matches, you may find one of the outsiders taking advantage and sneaking into the automatic Round of 16 places.
An example would be Roma, who finished 16th last season. Their poor performances opened the door for Olympiacos and Rangers to sneak into the top eight. The Gers are 16/1 for a repeat this season.
🥅 My Europa League betting tips With the Europa League looking set to offer plenty of betting value again this season, I’ve named my early season Europa League betting tips:
Aston Villa to win the Europa League We have to go for Aston Villa to win the 2025/26 Europa League.
In getting to the quarter-final stage in last season’s Champions League, Villa boss Unai Emery showed that he still has what it takes to battle against the very best with whatever squad he has.
In the second leg of their showdown with PSG, Emery’s Villa team gave the eventual winners their toughest match of the latter stages and came very close to dumping the Parisians out.
Along with Emery’s remarkable record in this competition, a bet on Villa looks the best option.
➡️ Back Aston Villa to win the Europa League at 4/1 with BetMGM
Stuttgart to reach the final They may have lost Nick Woltemade to Newcastle in a record deal, but Stuttgart have already shown intent by purchasing the exciting Badredine Bouanani to help fill the void left by the departing striker.
The Germans will have plenty of money left over from the Woltemade transfer that they can invest in January, and if history repeats itself, they could be one of those teams that comes on strong at the end of the season.
➡️ Back Stuttgart to reach the Europa League final at 10/1 with bet365
Braga to finish in the top 8 Braga performed well domestically in Portugal last season, finishing a credible fourth in the Primeira Liga on 66 points, just five behind third placed Porto.
They did flop in the Europa League, finishing 25th and failing to qualify for the knockout stages.
However, Braga are consistent qualifiers at this level. This season will be their sixth in the Europa League in their last seven seasons.
And after last season’s disaster, the Archbishops will be keen to make amends.
➡️ Back Braga to finish in the top 8 of the Europa League group stage at 8/11 with Spreadex
How Tottenham won the Europa League last season Most people might start by saying Spurs were quite fortunate to go all the way last season, especially given their domestic form. However, the North Londoners do have to be given credit as they performed well in the group stages, finishing fourth with 17 points, and they did also overcome some tough opponents in the knockout stages.
Spurs had to come from behind to beat AZ Alkmaar 3-2 on aggregate in the Round of 16. But probably their best performance of the knockouts came in the quarter-final, when they went to Germany and defeated the high flying Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 in the second leg to seal a 2-1 aggregate win and place in the last four.
Tottenham did get a stroke of luck in the semi-final. Bodo/Glimt didn’t offer much resistance, and Spurs won 5-1 on aggregate. And then in a match everyone other than Tottenham fans would prefer to forget, they defeated Manchester United 1-0 in a less than memorable final.
FAQs about the 2025/26 Europa League campaign Below we have put together a selection of FAQs about the 2025/26 Europa League:
1. How many games do teams now play in the revamped Europa League format? Under the new Europa League format, each team will play eight matches. Four matches are played at home, with the other four away.
2. Which team has won the Europa League the most often? Sevilla are by far the most successful team with seven Europa League wins. Remarkably, the wins have all come in the past 20 years, with their first in the 2005/06 season.
Repeating this feat is now almost impossible. This is because UEFA have changed the rules, with the winner of the Europa League no longer able to defend their trophy as they are promoted to the Champions League for the following season.
3. Do teams with more strength in depth tend to fare better in the Europa League? Yes, the teams with the bigger squads tend to do better in the Europa League.
It’s long been said that playing on a Thursday in Europe and on a Sunday domestically is tough. Having a strong squad allows managers to rotate players and better cope with the workload.
Given their additional spending power, the English clubs have the bigger squads. This should benefit Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest this season.
4. How often does the Europa League produce a shock winner or finalist? It’s become less fashionable in recent years for a rank outsider to win the Europa League. This is because UEFA started to offer a place in the following season’s Champions League, which means teams now take the competition far more seriously.
There have been shocks in recent years, though. A couple of notable English underdog stories were Fulham’s run to the final in 2010 and Middlesbrough’s in 2006.
The biggest shock finalist in recent years would have to be FC Dnipro’s appearance in the 2014/15 final, where the Ukrainians lost to Sevilla – who else!
📖 Read more about the 2025/26 football season
- Champions League winner predictions
- Premier League winner predictions
- Premier League relegation predictions
- Championship promotion predictions
Craig Mahood
Craig Mahood is an expert in sports betting and online casinos and has worked with the company since 2020. He joined the Betting & Gaming team at The Sun in June 2022 and works closely with the leading bookmakers and online gaming companies to provide content on all areas of sports betting and gaming. He previously worked as a Digital Sports Reporter at the Scottish Sun, covering Scottish football with particular focus on Celtic and Rangers, As well as football, he has covered horse racing, boxing, darts, the Olympics and tennis for the Sun.