2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final

2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final
The 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final was the final match of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, the second season of Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The match was played at the Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, on 7 June 2023, between Italian club Fiorentina and English club West Ham United.
West Ham United won the match 2–1 for their first UEFA Europa Conference League title. As winners, they qualified for the group stage of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League.
Teams
Venue
The Fortuna Arena previously hosted the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, as well as four matches at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, including the final.
Host selection
A bidding process was launched by UEFA to select the venues of the finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League for both 2022 and 2023. Associations interested in hosting one of the finals had until 20 February 2020 to submit bid dossiers.
The decision was originally scheduled to be made by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting on 3 December 2020. However, UEFA later decided to reopen the bidding process after appointing the host for the 2022 final only. Member associations had until 30 September 2021 to confirm their intention to submit a bid, while the bids must be submitted by 23 February 2022. Six associations expressed interest in hosting the final.
The UEFA Executive Committee appointed the Fortuna Arena as the host during their meeting in Vienna, Austria, on 10 May 2022.
Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
Pre-match
Identity
The original identity of the 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League Final was unveiled at the group stage draw on 26 August 2022.
Ambassador
The ambassador for the final was former Czech international Vladimír Šmicer, who won the 2000–01 UEFA Cup and 2004–05 UEFA Champions League titles with Liverpool.
Ticketing
With a stadium capacity of 18,000 for the final, a total amount of 13,000 tickets were available to fans and the general public, with the two finalist teams receiving 5,000 tickets each, and with the other tickets being available for sale to fans worldwide via UEFA.com from 21 to 28 April 2023 in four price categories: €125, €85, €45, and €25. Accessibility tickets for disabled spectators cost €25. The remaining tickets were allocated to the local organising committee, national associations, commercial partners, and broadcasters, and to serve the corporate hospitality programme.
Violence
Police arrested more than 30 people after a group of West Ham fans were attacked by Italian Ultras dressed in black. The violence erupted in the morning of 7 June 2023 in the Old Town Square area of Prague. Police said the men were wearing face coverings and carrying chains and other weapons.
Match
Summary
First half
West Ham started quickly as Lucas Paquetá played a pass into Michail Antonio, but his shot was easily saved by Pietro Terracciano. Shortly after, Fiorentina's Rolando Mandragora unleashed a shot from distance that was well wide. Fiorentina caught a break after Declan Rice's shot was just wide of the post following a long throw that the Italians failed to clear. Fiorentina began to control the tempo from this point, and had a chance when Nikola Milenković's header went over the bar from a corner. Saïd Benrahma went down near the edge of the Fiorentina box, but instead of drawing a free kick for the Hammers, he received the first yellow card of the match for simulation.
Ten minutes before the halftime whistle, the match was halted when Fiorentina captain Cristiano Biraghi was hit by cups and other objects thrown by the West Ham fans. Biraghi was bleeding from the back of his head, but after receiving medical treatment he continued to play. Fiorentina won successive corners, but West Ham dealt with them and prevented Fiorentina from capitalizing. Tomáš Souček had a header in the box cleared by Luca Ranieri near the end of the half. Fiorentina had the best chance of the half right before the halftime whistle. Alphonse Areola pushed a header from Christian Kouamé onto the post, where it fell to Luka Jović, who got enough on his header from the rebound and Areola could not prevent it going over the line. However, Jović was in an offside position when Kouamé touched the ball, and the goal was quickly disallowed. Both teams went into halftime having created few chances, but Fiorentina had dominated possession, looked the better team, and very nearly secured the lead.
Second half
Fiorentina made the first substitution a minute into the second half, with Jovic leaving the pitch and being replaced by Arthur Cabral. Nayef Aguerd became the second player booked after a high challenge on Mandragora in the 53rd minute. The Italians got their first shot on target, but Areola easily claimed the shot from Kouamé. West Ham broke the game open in the 60th minute, when a long throw into the box was controlled by Jarrod Bowen before going out for a goal kick amid strong penalty appeals from Bowen and other West Ham players. After a VAR check by referee Carlos del Cerro Grande showed that Biraghi had flicked his hand on to the ball, the penalty was given to the Hammers. Benrahma's penalty into the top right corner sent Terracciano the wrong way, and gave West Ham a 1–0 lead. Both teams made changes shortly after; West Ham replaced Kurt Zouma with Thilo Kehrer, and Fiorentina's Kouamé was replaced by Riccardo Saponara.
West Ham's lead was short lived. Nicolás González won an aerial duel against Emerson, and headed the ball down for Giacomo Bonaventura who controlled it well with one foot and fired past Areola with the other into the far corner to equalise for Fiorentina. West Ham nearly responded to retake the lead, as Antonio was slipped in by Paquetá, but could not finish the chance, and the flag went up for offside. Benrahma was subbed off for Pablo Fornals shortly after. Milenkovic was booked after bringing down Paqueta, joining Mandragora as a cautioned Fiorentina player. Ranieri was replaced by Igor Julio in the 80th minute. West Ham had another chance that was ruled offside, this time it was Soucek who failed to beat Terracciano. Sofyan Amrabat received a yellow card for his tackle on Emerson in the 85th minute. Amrabat had a chance from a West Ham turnover, but he failed to beat Areola. In the 90th minute of the game, with stoppage time imminent, Paquetá intercepted a ball in midfield, and played a through ball to Bowen who had only Terracciano in the Fiorentina goal to beat. Bowen lifted the ball over the leg of Terracciano and although the goalkeeper got a slight touch to the ball, the shot went into the net, reclaiming the lead for West Ham in the final moments of normal time. This was enough to give the Hammers a 2–1 victory and their first UEFA Europa Conference League title.
Details
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.
Statistics
Aftermath
After the game Fiorentina president, Rocco Commisso described West Ham as treating Fiorentina players "like animals" after Luka Jović came off at half-time with a broken nose and Cristiano Biraghi received a bloodied face after being hit by an object thrown from the crowd.
UEFA later charged both clubs with "throwing of objects" with West Ham being charged with "invasion of the field of play" and Fiorentina being charged with the "lighting of fireworks". West Ham supporters were banned from attending the club’s first away fixture of their 2023-24 Europa League campaign. The club was also fined €50,000 after supporters threw objects onto the pitch and a further €8,000 euros for a pitch invasion following the game. Fiorentina were given a one-match ban for away supporters and were fined €30,000.
On 8 June thousands lined a route from the Champions Statue to Stratford Town Hall as West Ham players took part in an open top bus parade to show the trophy and celebrate the win.
See also
2023 UEFA Champions League final
2023 UEFA Europa League final
2023 UEFA Women's Champions League final
2023 UEFA Super Cup
Notes
References
External links
2023
Final
June 2023 sports events in the Czech Republic
ACF Fiorentina matches
2022–23 in Italian football
West Ham United F.C. matches
2022–23 in English football
International club association football competitions hosted by the Czech Republic
2022–23 in Czech football
Sports competitions in Prague
2020s in Prague
Football hooliganism in the Czech Republic