Confirmed Europa League clubs 2023-24 – Italy and Germany
Brighton will play Europa League football in the 2023-24 season and as the draw for the group stage moves ever closer, the time has come to start looking at the clubs who the Albion could face on their debut in continental competition.
At the time of writing, 16 teams have guaranteed their spot in the competition. Of those, the Albion will definitely not draw West Ham United or Liverpool on account of clubs from the same country being kept apart.
The rest comes down to which pot Brighton are in based on UEFA coefficients, which will not become known until the remainder of the qualifiers are confirmed.
For part one of our guide to Europa League clubs 2023-24, we are looking at the confirmed participants from Italy and Germany.
Atalanta and Roma are in from Serie A alongside Bayer Leverkusen and SC Freiburg from the Bundesliga. From partying head coaches to how to marry a woman from the Black Forest, here is everything you could ever want to know about those clubs and cities.
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Atalanta
The football team
Atalanta are an Italian club who were founded in 1907 by students of the Liceo Classico Paolo Sarpi. They are named after the female athlete of the same name from Greek mythology.
They are known in Italy as Regina delle provinciali, which translates to Queen of the Provincial Clubs. This marks the fact Atalanta are the most consistent among Italian clubs not based in a regional capital, having played 62 seasons in Serie A, 28 in Serie B, and only one in Serie C.
Atalanta finished fifth last season in Serie A to qualify for the Europa League 2023-24. Their current manager is Gian Piero Gasperini, who has been in the job since 2016 and was made an honorary citizen of Bergamo on account of his success with the club.
The stadium
Atalanta play at the 21,747 capacity Gewiss Stadium. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 1,080 tickets.
The stadium is currently undergoing upgrades having previously failed to meet the standards required for UEFA competitions.
That meant before the 2020-21 season, Atalanta had to play Europa League home matches at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia and Champions League home matches in its debut season at the San Siro.
The place
Atalanta are based in Bergamo, an alpine city in the north of Italy. The city is composed of an old walled core, known as Upper Town, nestled within a system of hills, and the modern expansion in the plains below. The Upper Town is encircled by massive Venetian defensive systems that are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
One of Bergamo’s most famous residents is Enrico Rastelli, a highly technical and world famous juggler who lived in the town and sadly died there at the early age of 34 in 1931. There is a life-sized statue of Rastelli within his mausoleum.
Links with Brighton
None of any note, although Atalanta are hated rivals of Roberto De Zerbi‘s hometown team Brescia. You suspect the Albion head coach would rather fancy getting one of them.
Bayer Leverkusen
The football team
German side Bayer Leverkusen were founded in 1904 by employees of pharmaceutical company Bayer AG, whose headquarters are in the city and from which the club draws its name.
They have finished runners up in the Bundesliga five times without winning the competition, a German football record.
Three of those second places were achieved by head coach Christoph Daum between 1996 and 2000, who was tipped to become Germany manager as a result until the press reported rumours he engaged in cocaine-fuelled orgies with prostitutes.
Daum threatened the press and even gave hair samples to the authorities to convince everybody about his innocence.
The samples instead showed he was a cocaine user but he told the press that the hairs were not his. However, one year later and facing the prospect of jail time, Daum admitted he had used cocaine.
Bayer’s current manager is former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, a much less exciting character than Daum. Alonso led Die Werkself into the Europa League for 2023-24 on account of their sixth place finish in the Bundesliga last season.
The stadium
Bayer Leverkusen play at the 30,210 capacity BayArena. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 1,500 tickets.
It has been home to Bayer since 1958 and underwent a modernisation project in 1986 which took 11 years to complete. So much for German efficiency.
The place
Leverkusen is located in the North Rhine-Westphalia and with a population of 163,000 inhabitants, is one of the state’s smaller cities.
It is most famous for being home of the pharmaceutical company who founded the football club, whilst the Bayer Cross Leverkusen is one of the largest illuminated advertisements in the world.
Links with Brighton
For some Brighton fans, Bayer would be a dream draw due to the infamous relationship between the two club’s supporters.
The Albion and Bayer have also share a former manager. Sami Hyypia spent two seasons in charge of Die Werkself in which they somehow finished third and fourth in the Bundesliga prior to his reign of terror at the Amex.
SC Freiburg
The football team
SC Freiburg can trace their history back to two clubs founded in this lovely Germany city in 1904. They would not enter the modern-day Bundesliga until 1994, winning promotion under head coach Volker Finke.
Having spent 16 years in the job at Freiburg, Finke remains the longest serving manager in the history of professional football in Germany.
Another notable figure for Freiburg is Die Mannschaft’s 2014 World Cup winning manager, Joachim Lowe. He is the club’s second highest goal scorer with 81 from 252 appearances over three spells.
Freiburg spent most of last season in the Champions League spots, only for consecutive losses against rivals RB Leipzig and Union Berlin to drop them down to fifth and the Europa League places with two games remaining.
In the DFB Pokal quarter finals, they defeated Bayern Munich in an away game for the first time in their history when winning 2–1 at the Allianz Arena before elimination in the semis against eventual winners RB Leipzig.
The stadium
SC Freiburg play at the 34,700 capacity Europa-Park Stadion. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 1,700 tickets.
Europa-Park Stadion was opened in 2021 to replace the charming old Dreisamstadion which sat next to a forested hillside. Europa-Park in contrast is adjacent to Freiburg municipal airport.
Future plans include securing approval for larger aircraft to arrive and take off from the airport, so that visiting teams’ could literally land next to the stadium they are playing in.
The place
Freiburg is a charming place situated close to the Black Forest. It is known for its medieval minster and renaissance university as well as for its high standard of living and advanced environmental practices.
The city has a series of small open streams (called Freiburg Bachle) which run throughout the streets in its, pumping fresh water from the Dreisam river through the city.
During the summer, the running water provides natural cooling of the air and offers a pleasant gurgling sound. It is said that if you accidentally fall or step into a Bachle, you will marry a Freiburger. Get me in one of those Bachles.
Links with Brighton
You might think that Andi Zeqiri has something to do with Freiburg and although in the right sort of area, you would be wrong.
Zeqiri spent the 2021-22 season on loan with another German team, Augsburg. He then joined Basel for 2022-23, which happens to be just 40 miles away from Freiburg over the Swiss border.
The international airport serving the region is located close to tripoint where France, Switzerland and Germany meet. It is one of the one of the few in the world operated jointly by two nations, in this case the French and the Swiss.
Roma
The football team
Since being formed in 1927, Roma have participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence bar the 1951–52 season.
I Giallorossi have won three Serie A titles, nine Coppa Italias and the Europa Conference League in 2022 under Jose Mourinho.
The Special One took Roma to the final of the Europa League last season and they qualify for the competition in 2023-24 on account of a sixth place finish in Serie A.
Roma ultras have something of a reputation for unprovoked attacks of fans of foreign clubs using knives, poles, flares, bottles and stones.
Supporters of English teams to have suffered stabbings and other injuries during visits to the Eternal City include Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and those well known hooligans who follow Middlesbrough.
The stadium
Roma play at the 70,634 capacity Stadio Olimpico. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 3,531 tickets.
It held the 1960 summer Olympics, the 1990 World Cup final and is now the home stadium of Roma and Lazio as well as hosting the Coppa Italia final.
The place
Rome of course has plenty to do besides attempt to avoid being knifed or attacked with a pole. From the Colosseum to the Vatican to the Trevi Fountain, it is one of the most historic cities on the planet.
Links with Brighton
You can bet your bottom dollar that Mourinho will be hoping to avoid Brighton. The Amex is the only ground where Mourinho has suffered three successive defeats in his managerial career, losing as Manchester United boss in May and August 2018 and Spurs manager in January 2021.
