Europe and Conference League – Freiburg and Mainz win the quarter-final ticket

Thanks to a furious comeback, SC Freiburg has fulfilled its dream of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in its European Cup history. Coach Julian Schuster’s team beat KRC Genk 5-1 (2-1) in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League, more than making up for the 1-0 defeat in the first leg. “There’s always a feeling like that over the course of the week. You just noticed with the boys, they were totally there,” said Schuster on RTL: “We are very, very happy and very, very proud of what we have achieved and that we can continue with all of them great fans are allowed to travel.”

Matthias Ginter (19th), Igor Matanovic (25th), Vincenzo Grifo (53rd), who became Breisgauer’s sole record goalscorer with his 106th competitive goal in a Freiburg jersey, Yuito Suzuki (57th) and Maximilian Eggestein (79th) provided offensive fireworks. In the meantime, Matte Smets (39th) had brought Genk back into the game – but Freiburg didn’t miss out on their quarter-final ticket.

After the fifth win in the fifth home game, the Breisgau team can now continue their European adventure in April against Celta Vigo in the round of the top eight.

“We are convinced that we can catch up,” Schuster emphasized before the game. The SCF coach was able to rely on the driver Eggestein, who was sorely missed in the first leg, and who was in the starting line-up after his red card suspension.

Mainz don’t let anything go wrong against Olomouc

March 19, 2026 will go down in Mainz club history: For the first time, the Bundesliga club reached a quarter-final in the European Cup. In the round of 16 second leg of the Conference League on Thursday evening, the Zero Fives defeated the Czech cup winners Sigma Olomouc 2-0 (0-0) and moved into the next round after the 0-0 draw in the first leg.

“It feels very good,” said defender Danny da Costa after the game, “the team did a lot right. I think we deserved to get through to the next round.” With a view to the final in Leipzig, everyone can dream, da Costa added, “but we would do well to approach it from game to game.”

Stefan Posch with his header (46th) and Armindo Sieb (82nd) ​​ensured a historic evening for Mainz 05, Olomouc ended the game with ten men after the yellow-red card for Peter Barath (76th). While the Rheinhessen are fighting against relegation in the Bundesliga, the dream of the Conference League final in Leipzig on May 28th continues. The quarter-finals will take place on April 9th ​​and 16th, with Mainz initially having home advantage.