Introducing the finalists of the Conference League in Wroclaw: Chelsea London and Real Betis

The Conference League is the third level of UEFA's club competition (behind the Champions League and Europa League) and a young tournament played since 2021. The first edition was won by Italian club AS Roma. The second one was won by London’s West Ham United. The winner of the third edition was Greek club Olympiakos Piraeus.

Who will lift the cup as the fourth winner? Chelsea London or Seville’s Real Betis. The teams from England and Spain will face each other in the final in Wroclaw at Tarczyński Arena on Wednesday 28^th May at 9:00 p.m. The match will be officiated by a trio of referees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main one is Irfan Peljto.

Introducing the finalists – Chelsea London

Chelsea London is a big brand in England (including 6 league titles, 8 English Cups) and a very big brand in Europe (including two Champions League titles). However, it has not been so successful in recent years. In the 2022/2023 season, it finished the Premier League in 12^th place, so it failed to qualify for the European cups, which must have been an extremely upsetting experience for the whole club and all the fans accustomed to regular appearances in the Champions League.

It was sad in London in 2023 also after a clear loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final – 4-0 in aggregate.

After the completely unsuccessful 2022/2023 campaign in their domestic backyard, the team from Stamford Bridge improved in the following season, finishing the 2023/2024 Premier League in 6^th place and making it to the Conference League qualification phase. Still below expectations, but at least with high hopes of success on the European stage.

Coach Enzo Maresci's team went like a storm through the league phase. They won all of her six matches in it, but these were just ordinary days in the office for them – after all, their opponents were teams from a completely different football world: Gent, Panathinaikos, Noah (won 8-0), Heidemheim, FC Astana and Shamrock Rovers.

Having stormed through the league phase, Chelsea eliminated FC Copenhagen – 3-1 in aggregate. In the quarter-finals, they faced Polish club Legia Warsaw. In Warsaw, Chelsea won smoothly 3-0, but made an upset on their home pitch – 1-2. Coach Maresca said the result was a big setback. It has been the only match lost by his team in the tournament so far.

In the semi-finals, nothing special happened. The Blues faced Stockholm’s Djurgarden – 5-1 in aggregate.

Chelsea London: two finals in three days

The London side is back for real. They are in the Conference League final and will be favourites in it. In the coming days, they have another task, probably even more important, ahead of them. They need to secure promotion to next year's Champions League in the last round of the Premier League on 25^th May, three days before the Wroclaw final. To do that without looking at others, they should win an away match against Nottingham Forest. If they draw or lose, they may have another season without CL.

Before the final round, Chelsea are 5^th in the table and have the same number of points as Newcastle (4^th) and Aston Villa (6^th). Right behind them, with one point less, is Nottingham Forest. Manchester City (3^rd) must also make an effort.

Arsenal London is unthreatened as the new runner-up. The champion is Liverpool, with a gap of 17 points between it and Chelsea.

It is safe to say that The Blues will play two finals in three days:

• on 25^th May in Nottingham for promotion to the 2025/2026 Champions League,
• on 28^th May in Wroclaw against Real Betis for triumph in the 2025 Conference League – apart from the satisfaction of winning the tournament, the winner will get EUR 3 million. Each of the finalists will receive EUR 4 million for their participation (the clubs also earned money in the previous stages of the competition).

Defender Marc Cucurella after the 1-0 win against Manchester United, quoted after the club's official website: ‘A very important victory. We are now in the situation we have worked all season long for. There are two matches to go. Everything depends on us

Chelsea London: Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke

Chelsea’s starting line-up against Manchester United was: Robert Sanchez (goalkeeper), captain Reece James (right defender), Tosin Adarabioyo (central defender), Levi Colwill (central defender), Marc Cucurella (left defender), Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo (central midfielders), Cole Palmer (attacking midfielder), Noni Madueke (left attacker) and Pedro Neto (right attacker), Tyrique George (striker).

Malo Gusto (defender) and Romeo Lavia (striker) came in from the bench.

The team's top scorer is Cole Palmer with 18 goals. The 23-year-old midfielder also has the most assists – 8 in all competitions.

Apart from him, the following players stand out in the statistics: Enzo Fernandez (6 goals and 7 assists), Nicolas Jackson (10 goals and 5 assists), Noni Madueke (7 goals and 3 assists), and Pedro Neto (4 goals and 5 assists).

Chelsea's recent triumphs in Europe: Champions League in 2021 and Europa League in 2019. Last Premier League title: 2017.

Introducing the finalists – Real Betis Balompie

Real Betis have been knocking at the forefront of La Liga for the last few years, but have finished outside the top 5 so far. In the 2022/2023 season, they finished 6^th, securing promotion to the Europa League. There they underperformed in the group with Rangers and Sparta Prague, so they continued their European campaign in the Conference League. There they dropped out straight away after losing a two-legged tie against Dinamo Zagreb.

Real Betis finished La Liga in 7^th place in 2024 and again had to settle for the Conference League, this time from the beginning of this competition. After three victories (against Petrocub, HJK and Celje), a draw (against FC Copenhagen) and two defeats (against Mlada Boleslav and Legia Warsaw), they advanced to the play-off stage, where:

• 3-1 on aggregate against Belgium's Gent,
• 6-2 on aggregate against Portugal's Vitoria Guimaraes,
• 3-1 in the quarter-finals against Jagiellonia Białystok,
• 4-3 in the semi-finals against AC Fiorentina, after the decisive goal in extra time of the second leg in Italy.

Real Betis: for the first cup in history

The final against Chelsea in Wroclaw is a chance to win the first European Cup in the history of the Seville club. For coach Manuel Pellegrini's players, this would be a major achievement.

They have only won La Liga once – a long, long time ago, in 1935. Instead, they have won the Copa del Rey three times: 1977, 2005 and 2022. In this year's Copa del Rey, they fell in the match for the quarter-final against Barcelona – 1-5.

In the Spanish league, they will remain in 6^th place giving them direct promotion to the 2025/2026 Europa League, regardless of the result of the final round, in which they take on Valencia at home. Ahead of them in the table are: Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and champions FC Barcelona.

Real Betis: Spain’s Isco and Brazil's Antony

Real Betis started their previous match in La Liga – a 1-4 away loss to Atletico – in the following line-up: Adrian (goalkeeper), Romain Perraud (left defender), Nobel Mendy and Natan (central defenders), Aitor Ruibal (right defender), Sergi Altimira and Johnny Cardoso (central midfielders), Giovani Lo Celso (attacking midfielder), Abde Ezzalzouli (left attacker), Pablo Fornals (right attacker) and Cedric Bakambu (striker).

The following players came in from the bench: Angel Ortiz (striker), Cucho Hernandez (striker), William Carvalho (midfielder), and Antony (winger).

The team's top scorer is midfielder Isco, with 12 goals in all competitions and 9 assists. Cedric Bakambu scored 10 goals. Giovani Lo Celso has 9 goals. Antony (5 assists) and Abde Ezzalzouli (4 assists) collected 8 goals.

Brazil’s Antony, who made a name for himself as an Ajax Amsterdam player, came to Seville during the season as a player on loan from Manchester United and is regaining top form in Spain.

First Conference League final in Poland

It is historically interesting to look at the previous European Cup finals in Poland – all three of them were won by Spanish teams:

• In the 2015 Europa League final in Warsaw, FC Sevilla won 3-2 against FK Dnipro,
• In the 2021 Europa League final in Gdansk, Villarreal beat Manchester United after a penalty shootout,
• In the 2024 Super Cup in Warsaw, Real Madrid beat Atalanta Bergamo 2-0.

The Conference League final will be held in Poland (Wroclaw) for the first time. The previous editions ended in Albania (Tirana), the Czech Republic (Prague) and Greece (Athens).

Tickets for the Tarczyński Arena final are no longer available, but it is possible to watch the match together in the evening of 28^th May, e.g. in the fan zone open to everyone at Wolności Square.