Match Pack: Fenerbahçe SK vs Athletic Club (Europa League MD6)

Athletic Club head to Türkiye unbeaten in the 2024/25 Europa League. With three League Phase fixtures left, the Lions are on course to qualify for the knockout rounds.

Nevertheless, Ernesto Valverde's side will have two consecutive trips to Istanbul. First, they take on Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahçe SK on Wednesday and then they face Besiktas in January.

These are two vital matches in Athletic's bid to be one of the eight teams that advances straight to the last 16 of the competition.

Match Info
Fenerbahçe SK vs Athletic Club

Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Istanbul

Europa League 24/25 (League Phase Matchday 6)

Wednesday December 11, 16:30 CET

How to Watch 
Check out our global TV guide to make sure you don't miss the match 
 

 

Matchday Squad

Ernesto Valverde has named a 25-man team for the clash in Istanbul. 

Ander Herrera, who has a hamstring injury, is the only major injury absence.
 

 

The Opponents

A multi-sports club with 10 sections (football, basketball, boxing, eSports, rowing, sailing, swimming, table tennis, volleyball and athletics), Fenerbahçe was founded in 1907. A year later, it became part of the Istanbul League, before the creation of the Turkish League in 1959.

Fenerbahçe are one of the most successful clubs in the country, alongside Galatasaray and Besiktas. Sarı Kanaryalar (The Yellow Canaries) has lengthy trophy list with 19 Turkish league titles, seven Turkish cups and nine Turkish super cups. Besides that they are also a regular presence in European competitions. 

They play their matches at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. Opened in 1908, it was the first purpose-built football stadium in Turkey and currently has a capacity of 50,530 spectators.

The club represents the Kadıköy neighbourhood of Turkey's capital Istanbul, one of the most populated cities in the world with over 15 million inhabitants.

At the time of writing, Fenerbahçe are second in the Turkish Süper Lig, six points behind eternal rivals Galatasaray. From their first 14 fixtures of the campaign, Mourinho's side have registered 10 wins, two draws and two defeats. Their current top scorer in all competitions is Bosnian forward Edin Dzeko, who has 13 goals in 23 appearances.

 

Head coach: Jose Mourinho

The famously self-dubbed 'Special One', is one of the best known and most succesful football coaches in the world.

After a long-stint working as a coach and translator for Bobby Robson and Louis Van Gaal, he got his first managerial job at Benfica, taking over from Jupp Heynckes in September 2000. It was a short-lived job with Mourinho leaving in December 2000 before going to União de Leiria in July 2001.

His achievements at the club turned heads and it didn't take long for FC Porto to come calling. He joined the Dragões in January 2002 and immediately set about turning them into a major European force. In two years at Porto he won two Portuguese league titles, a Portuguese Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Champions League.

He has managed clubs in major European leagues such as Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and AS Roma. His remarkable honours list includes: two Portuguese league titles, one Portuguese cup, three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three English League Cups, two Serie A titles, one Italian Cup, one LaLiga title, one Copa del Rey, two Champions Leagues, two UEFA Europa Leagues and one UEFA Conference League. 
 

Standout players:

Naturally, Fenerbahçe's squad includes a large number of Turkish internationals, such as: Caglar Soyunçu, Samet Akaydin, Ismal Yuksek, Mert Hakan Yandas, Mert Muldur, Irfan Kahveçi, Cengiz Under, Cenk Tosun and Oguz Aydin.

In addition, several foreign players with extensive experience in European football stand out: Alexander Djiku (Ghana), Edin Dzeko (Bosnia), Dusan Tadic (Serbia), Fred (Brazil), Filip Kostic (Serbia), Youssef En-Nesiry (Morocco), Bright Oyasi-Samuel (Nigeria), Jayden Oosterwelde (Netherlands), Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco), Dominic Livakovic (Croatia), Rodrigo Becao (Brazil), Stefan Szymanski (Poland) and Allan Saint-Maximin (France). 
 

Europa League form:

The Yellow Canaries are among the pack chasing a spot in the top eight of the League Phase. They are currently in 15th place with eight points (two off eighth and three points from the elimination zone) after two wins, two draws and a defeat. 

Their Europa League results leading up to this clash are as such: 2-1 win against Union Saint-Gilloise (H), 1-1 against FC Twente (A), 1-1 against Manchester United (H), 3-1 loss against AZ Alkmaar (A) and a 1-2 win over Slavia Prague (A).
 

Athletic Club-Turkey connections

This will be the first official encounter between Fenerbahçe and Athletic Club in Europe. However, the two sides did meet in a 2017/18 pre-season friendly in Switzerland, with the match ending 0-0.