Nottingham Forest will face Midtjylland in the Europa League round of 16 and look to gain revenge for a humbling defeat at the City Ground in October.
Ange Postecoglou was in charge of Forest at the time and was unable to prevent the Danish side from winning 3-2 in the competition’s league phase.
Forest reached this stage after staving off a Fenerbahce fightback last night.
Aston Villa made much smoother progress, qualifying automatically, and their reward is a two-legged tie with Ligue 1 side Lille.
more to follow
The draw for the Europa League round of 16 is:
Ferencvaros v Braga
Genk v Freiburg
Stuttgart v Porto
Bologna v Roma
Panathinaikos v Real Betis
Celta Vigo v Lyon
Nottingham Forest v Midtjylland
Lille v Aston Villa
The draw for the Europa League quarter-finals is:
to follow
The draw for the Europa League semi-finals is:
to follow
Europa League schedule 2025/26
In a change from the previous group stage held until 2023/24, each team played eight matches in the league phase of the Europa League, all against different opponents.
The top eight sides in the table qualified automatically for the round of 16. The teams finishing in ninth to 24th competed in a two-legged knockout phase play-off to reach the last 16.
Teams finishing 25th or lower were out of Europe for the season.
| Stage | Dates |
| Round of 16 | March 12 & 19 |
| Quarter-finals | April 9 & 16 |
| Semi-finals | April 30 and May 7 |
| Final | May 20 2026 |
Who will win the 2025/26 Europa League?
Before the last-16 draw, Villa were warm favourites with bookmakers to add to the European Cup – now the Champions League – title they won in 1981/82.
Roma were second-favourites, and the Italian heavyweights reached the final of the UEFA Cup – now the Europa League – during the 1990/91 and 2022/23 seasons.
Porto, Lyon, Real Betis, Nottingham Forest and Bologna were also among the contenders according to the odds, but there are certain to be plenty of surprises during the rest of the knockout stage.
Bodo/Glimt, who knocked Inter out of this season’s Champions League, beat Lazio on penalties to reach the semi-finals last time out.
Lyon also shared an extraordinary quarter-final with 2016/17 champions Manchester United, drawing their home first leg 2-2 before going out 7-6 on aggregate after the Red Devils won the return match 5-4 following extra time.
Holders Tottenham, who are in the Champions League this season, also showed that domestic troubles need not act as a form guide in Europe.
Spurs finished a place above the Premier League relegation zone but beat United in the final, winning their first European title since 1983/84.
Where is the Europa League final 2026 being staged?
The final will be staged at Istanbul’s Besiktas Park with the game scheduled for May 20.
All hope of a local representative ended last night with Fenerbahce’s elimination by Nottingham Forest.
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