2016 UEFA Europa League Final

Venue

The St. Jakob-Park was announced as the venue of the final at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, on 18 September 2014. This was the first European club final hosted at the stadium, although the previous stadium of the same name, the St. Jakob Stadium, which opened in 1954 for the 1954 FIFA World Cup and closed in 1998, hosted four European Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1969, 1975, 1979 and 1984.

The current St. Jakob-Park, nicknamed "Joggeli" by fans, was built in 1998 and opened in 2001, and is the home stadium of Basel. It hosted six matches at UEFA Euro 2008, including the opening match and a semi-final. Its current capacity is 38,512, but is reduced to nearly 36,000 seats for UEFA competitions.

After Basel got transferred to the Europa League after conceding to Maccabi Tel Aviv by away goals, Basel had the chance to become the first team to win the competition in home ground since Feyenoord in 2002, and the first to win it under the Europa League banner. This possibility ended after Basel was eliminated in the round of 16 by Sevilla.

Background

Before the final, Sevilla were the most successful team in the history of the UEFA Cup/Europa League, with four titles, while Liverpool were joint second, tied with Internazionale and Juventus, with three titles. Neither side had lost in a UEFA Cup/Europa League final before. This was their first meeting in a European competition.

Liverpool previously won finals in 1973, 1976, and 2001. Overall, this was their 12th final in a European competition, with five wins in the European Cup (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, and 2005) and two defeats in the European Cup (1985 and 2007) and one in the European Cup Winners' Cup (1966). This was the second European club final for their manager Jürgen Klopp, who lost in the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final with Borussia Dortmund, who were eliminated by Liverpool in this season's quarter-finals.

Sevilla previously won finals in 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2015. They were the first team to reach five overall finals and three consecutive finals, and had a chance to win an unprecedented five overall and three consecutive titles. Spain was aiming to become the most successful country in the competition's history, with them tied with Italy with nine wins apiece. Sevilla's manager Unai Emery, who led them to the previous two titles, had a chance to win his third title, to tie him with record holder Giovanni Trapattoni. José Antonio Reyes, who was in the squad of four previous Europa League winners (although he only played in three finals), was aiming to collect a record fifth Europa League winner's medal.

Road to the final

Note: In the table, the score of the finalist is given first (H = home; A = away).

Ambassador

Former Switzerland and Basel striker Alexander Frei was named the ambassador for the final.

Logo

UEFA unveiled the brand identity of the final on 28 August 2015 in Monaco ahead of the group stage draw. The logo features the Basel landmark Marktplatz.

Ticketing

With a stadium capacity of 35,000, a total amount of 27,000 tickets were available to fans and the general public, with the two finalist teams receiving 9,000 tickets each and with 9,000 tickets being available for sale to fans worldwide via UEFA.com from 23 February to 21 March 2016 in four price categories: CHF 180, CHF 120, CHF 90, and CHF 50. The remaining tickets were allocated to the local organising committee, UEFA and national associations, commercial partners and broadcasters, and to serve the corporate hospitality programme.

UEFA was forced to defend the choice of St. Jakob-Park, which is the second smallest venue to host the competition's final, as the final competition venue after Liverpool and Sevilla were confirmed as the finalists. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who initially told the supporters to travel to Basel even without a ticket, later backtracked from his suggestion.

Officials

Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson was announced as the final referee by UEFA on 10 May 2016.

Goal-line technology

The goal-line technology system Hawk-Eye was used for the match. This was the first UEFA competition match to employ goal-line technology, following approval by the UEFA Executive Committee in January 2016.

Summary

In the 35th minute Daniel Sturridge scored with a shot using the outside of his right foot from out on the left after a pass from Philippe Coutinho. Seventeen seconds into the second half Kévin Gameiro made it 1–1 when he scored three yards out after a cross from the right by Mariano who got past Alberto Moreno by putting the ball between his legs. Sevilla missed two more chances to score before they went in front in the 64th minute when Coke scored with a low right foot shot to the corner of the net from twenty yards. Coke got his second in the 70th minute with a right foot shot from six yards out on the right after the ball broke to him via a deflection off a Liverpool player.

Details

The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw, which was held on 15 April 2016 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.