Europa League: The five most recent winners (before Villarreal)

Ziyad Jamal
26 May 2021

A look at the competition's most recent winners, including Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid.

Ahead of this year's Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United here is a look at the previous five winners of European soccer's secondary competition, formerly known as the UEFA Cup.

2015/16 - Sevilla

Like Man United and Arsenal in future years, Liverpool had extra incentive for winning the Europa League final as they finished outside the top four places in the Premier League. It seemed to be going Liverpool's way early on as Daniel Sturridge gave them a first half lead.

However, Liverpool would collapse just 17 seconds in the second half as Kevin Gameiro levelled the game. Sevilla captain Coke eventually took control of the game in Basel, Switzerland, as he netted two goals in six minutes to put them up 3-1.

This win by Sevilla was their fifth in the competition and even more remarkably was their third in a row after wins over Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Benfica in the last two finals.

Sevilla triumphant in 2016 after defeating Liverpool 3-1

2016/17 - Manchester United

Man United won their first ever Europa League title in 2016/17 after a 2-0 win over Dutch giants Ajax in the final in Stockholm, Sweden.

After finishing outside of the top four in the Premier League, Jose Mournho's Man United needed a win over Ajax to secure Champions League for next season.

Ajax had a very talented but inexperienced group of players including Matthijs de Ligt, Kasper Dolberg, Donny van de Beek and Frenkie de Jong.

Paul Pogba got Man United off to a flyer thanks to a deflected strike, which beat Andre Onana in the Ajax net to make it 1-0 after 18 minutes.

Mourinho's men appeared to have too much experience and physicality for Ajax to deal with and the win was near assured when Henrikh Mkhitaryan made it 2-0 just four minutes after half time.

Man United defeated Ajax 2-0 in 2017

This marked more silverware for Mourinho in the opening year of his managerial tenure at Man United after success in the Community Shield and League Cup.

2017/18 - Atletico Madrid

After two final defeats in previous years in soccer's elite competition, the Champions League, Atletico found European success again in the Europa League as they dismantled Marseille at Parc Olympique Lyonnais.

Antoine Griezmann, playing in his home country, put two goals in either side of the break before captain Gabi netted a late goal to give Atletico a 3-0 win.

Man of the Match Antoine Griezmann celebrating after beating Marseille 3-0 in 2018

This was the third Europa League title in Atletico's history after previous triumphs over Fulham and Athletic Bilbao in the 2010 and 2012 finals, respectively.

2018/19 - Chelsea

Six years after defeating Benfica 2-1 to win the Europa League, Chelsea were back in the final of Europe's second-tier tournament.

This time they faced London rivals Arsenal, who were arguably in greater need of a victory due to finishing outside of the top four in the Premier League.

Despite the added incentive of success, Arsenal failed to put up any real fight and were dominated by the Blues.

Oliver Giroud came back to haunt Arsenal and scored the opener four minutes into the second-half.

Eden Hazard, in his last game, scored a brace either side of Pedro's goal to ensure Maurizio Sarri lifted his first major trophy as manager.

Chelsea defeated London rivals Arsenal 4-1 in 2019

2019/20 - Sevilla

Europa League's most successful side in the history of the competition, Sevilla, earned their sixth triumph after outscoring Inter Milan 3-2 in a back and forth contest in Cologne, Germany.

Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring with a penalty early on before a Luuk de Jong double put Sevilla 2-1 in front.

Diego Godin equalised for Antonio Conte's side but a Lukaku own goal in the 76th minute sealed a 3-2 win for Sevilla. It gave the Spanish club a remarkable 100% record of winning in every Europa League final (6) they had contested in.

Most recent winners Sevilla in 2020 after beating Inter Milan 3-2

Can Ole win his first trophy at United?

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has the chance of winning his first piece of silverware as Manchester United manager tonight but must come through three-time winner Unai Emery.

The Man United boss has insisted he has not thought about achieving success on a personal level going into the encounter.

"I don't even think about that," he said. "I'm always looking forward and thinking about the next decision, making the right decision for the club.

"I never think about my CV, never. I think about making sure the players are ready. If you have to make decisions tomorrow, then you do it.

"I'll speak to the subs and tell them they might have to play a big part. Players can be disappointed, they can be angry with me but they should enjoy it because you don't play too many finals in your life."