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AFC Fiorentina - Club: the Club Facts

UEFA Conference League

Tonight is the European round of the UEFA Conference League semifinals! At 9 p.m., AFC Fiorentina and Club Brugge kick off the match at the Artemio Franchi stadium.

The match

As many as 178 clubs participated in this edition of the UEFA Conference League. Now four teams remain in the running for the trophy, including Club Brugge.

It is the fifth semifinal in a European cup in Club's history after 1975-76 (UEFA Cup), 1977-78 (European Cup I), 1987-88 (UEFA Cup) and 1991-92 (European Cup II). So it has been 32 years since Club made it this far in Europe.

Tonight, Blauw-Zwart will play its 360thEuropean match in its history, Fiorentina its 221st match on the European stage. For the 111th time a Belgian and an Italian club will face each other in Europe, but never before did FCB take on La Gigliati. This makes the Tuscan club Club's 133rdunique opponent in Europe and also the 7th Italian team that Blauw-Zwart will face.

On Italian soil, Club achieved 2 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats in the past. The last confrontation with an Italian team dates back to December 2020. Then Club Brugge played a 2-2 draw on the field of S.S. Lazio after goals by Vormer and Vanaken.

There are 4 players who played for both Blauw-Zwart and La Viola: Antolin Alcaraz (Par), Sofyan Amrabat (Mar), Paul Okon (Aus) and Javier Portillo (Esp). Of the current core, Skov Olsen is the only player who was ever active in Serie A (Bologna FC). Never before has an Italian player played in the colors of FCB.

For Club, it is already the 58th match of the season. In terms of highest number of matches in Europe, FCB is ahead of first pursuers Liverpool FC (Eng), PAOK FC (Gre) and Qarabağ FK (Aze), who are at 55 matches, but are eliminated in Europe. Blue-Black will have played at least 18 European matches this season. In doing so, it breaks its club record from the 2014-15 season (then 16).

Club already scored 39 times this season in Europe. That is a pulverization of the club record from 2001-02 (then 30 goals). Club won 12 of its 16 matches, breaking the 2014-15 record (then 11 wins).

Andreas Skov Olsen is the top shooter in Europe. The Dane scored 7 goals already this season, equaling Joseph Akpala's season record in Europe (also 7 goals in the 2011-12 season). Ferran Jutglá has been involved in a goal every time in his last 3 European matches (2 goals + 2 assists).

Opponent.

ACF Fiorentina (Associazione Calcio Fiorentina) was founded in 1926 from a merger of 2 local clubs. The club won 2 Italian national titles (1956 and 1969) and could win the Coppa Italia 6 times (last time in 2001).

The club was financially troubled and went bankrupt in 2002. In the same year, the club was re-established and restarted in Serie C2 (the fourth level). Since 2004, the club has been back in Serie A and did not relegate. Last season, La Viola finished 8th in Serie A. Juventus' suspension allowed Fiorentina to enter Europe after all.

ACF Fiorentina is 8th in the rankings after 33 games this season (1 catch-up match due). It collected 50 points, 39 less than the new champion Inter Milan. In the Coppa Italia, not like last season when it lost to Inter, it was able to reach the final. It fell in the semifinals against Charles De Ketelaere's Atalanta BC.

Fiorentina's greatest success was winning European Cup II in 1961. In addition, it was a losing finalist in the European Cup I (1957), European Cup II (1962), UEFA Cup (1990) and last season in the Conference League (2023). So for Fiorentina it is the 9th time they have been in a European semifinal, 5 of which they advanced to the final. This was also the case last season. Despite a home defeat in the outward match of the semifinal against FC Basel (Sui), Fiorentina still advanced to the final by plunging the Swiss into mourning in their own stadium. In the Conference League final, West Ham United FC (Eng) was too strong 2-1.

It is only the third time the club has faced a Belgian opponent in Europe. This season they took on KRC Genk in the group stage of the UEFA Conference League and in 1984 they competed against Anderlecht. In both home games against Belgian teams, Fiorentina remained unbeaten.

Fiorentina completed the following course in the 2023-2024 UEFA Europa Conference League: they eliminated SK Rapid Wien in the preliminary round. In the group stage, like Club, it became group winner in a pool with Ferencvarosi TC (Hun), KRC Genk (Bel) and FK Čukarički (Srb). In final stages, Maccabi Haifa FC (Isr) and FC Viktoria Plzeň (Cze) went under. Since the group stage, the Italian team remained unbeaten.

Like Club, Fiorentina also played a lot of matches this season. Last weekend they played their 50thmatch of the season. It beat tail team Sassuolo 5-1 at home.

Argentine flank attacker Nicolás González is the club's top shooter in Europe (4 goals). The 26-year-old Argentine is also the club's top shooter in Serie A (9 goals).

With Christian Kouamé, who played for RSC Anderlecht in the 2021-22 season, there is 1 player with a past in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League. These 3 Belgians once played for Fiorentina: Luis Oliveira, Kevin Mirallas and Anthony Vanden Borre.

Milestones

  • Ferran Jutglà can play his 90th official game for Club Brugge.
  • Maxim De Cuyper and Casper Nielsen can play their 20th European match for Club.
  • Joel Ordóñez can play for the 10th time in action in Europe for Blue-Black.
  • Igor Thiago can play the 30th European match of his career. He played 15th European match last season for PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bul) and Thursday could be his 15th European match at Club.

The referee

Englishman Michael Oliver was designated as referee for the outward match in the semifinals. He will be assisted by his compatriots: Stuart Burt and Daniel Cook (linesmen) and Andrew Madley (fourth official). The VAR on duty is Christopher Kavanagh, assisted by Jarred Gillet (Aus).

The 39-year-old ref from Northumberland has led Club's European match 4 times before.

Michael Oliver has been active in the Premier League since 2010 and at international level since 2012. He previously whistled the UEFA Super Cup (2022), at the Qatar World Cup (2022) and at the European Championship (2021). Domestically, he whistled 2 FA Cup finals (2021 and 2018) and a League Cup final (2016).