Fiorentina and West Ham seek this Wednesday, many years later, to triumph again in a European competition, with the two emblems playing the final of the Europa Conference Football League at the Arena Fortuna in Prague.
The second edition of UEFA’s third competition pits the Italians against the English and two clubs that triumphed in European competitions in the now-defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, won by Fiorentina in 1960/61 and West Ham in 1964/65 .
In Prague, the two teams seek many years later to be happy again in UEFA, in what will be only the second edition of the recently created Conference League Europe and with today’s winner succeeding José Mourinho’s Roma, champions in 2021 /22.
This will be the fifth final for Fiorentina, who have also been in the 1961/62 European Cup Winners’ Cup final, the 1989/90 UEFA Cup and the 1956/57 European Cup, all lost, while by West Ham will be the third final.
Having won in 1965, the English were through to a second European Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1975/6, when they were beaten by Anderlecht.
To reach today’s final, West Ham won their group and eliminated, successively, AEK Larnaca, Gent and AZ Alkmaar, while Fiorentina finished second in their group, therefore having to play a play-off, in which they eliminated Sporting de Braga, from the Europa League, and then Sivasspor, Lech Poznan and Basel.
Today’s final will be refereed by the Spanish Carlos del Cerro Grande, and will have the Portuguese Tiago Martins as the second video assistant referee (VAR).
Source: TSF
