Europa Conference League Winners Odds

European football makes its return, with all three of UEFA’s competitions seeing action over the course of three nights.

The Champions League sees its round-of-16 stage begin, while the Europa League has its knockout stage play-off ties taking place. So does the Conference League, UEFA’s newest competition, which debuted last season.

Just like in the Europa League, the teams involved in these play-off ties will all be playing for a spot in the round-of-16. But the actual round-of-16 ties themselves will give us a better indicator of who might win the Conference League this year, with the likes of Villarreal, Lazio and Braga all contenders for the prize.

Any of those teams could be crowned victors come the 7th of June – here, we take a look at them and a few extra teams who could also be lifting the trophy in the Czech Republic’s Eden Arena in just a little over four months’ time…

Spanish side Villarreal are the favourites to win this year’s edition of UEFA’s newest creation in the Conference League, and based on their performances in European competition, it is not hard to understand why.

The Yellow Submarine won the Europa League in 2021 after defeating Manchester United on penalties, making if the first time that the Spaniards had won a major piece of silverware, and the first time that their fans saw silverware since the club's success in the Intertoto Cup in 2004.

Their triumph in Poland saw them rewarded them with qualification for the following season’s Champions League, and they performed admirably in that competition. They made it all the way to the semi-final stage, beating Juventus and Bayern Munich along the way, before being dumped out by eventual runners-up Liverpool. A small and unfancied club from eastern Spain had shown that they could mix it with the big boys in Europe, and they can further build on that notion with success in this year’s Conference League, which they are well placed to win.

Villarreal qualified straight to the round-of-16 by topping their group, scoring 14 goals in the process. Under new manager Quique Setien, Villarreal are currently sixth in La Liga and are on course to have yet another impressive season, and in key men such as forwards Gerard Moreno and Alex Baena, they have the firepower to make it all the way to what would be their second European final in three years.

The Hammers are struggling domestically this season, currently residing in 17th place in the Premier League as a result of poor performances for the majority of this campaign. But, they have found respite in this competition, with the lesser quality of the teams in the Conference League meaning that the Hammers have been able to pick up wins relatively easily.

West Ham’s six wins in the group stage are indicative of this, with the Hammers qualifying directly for the round-of-16 stage after dispatching of Anderlecht, FCSB and Silkeborg in Group B.

Now even if West Ham manage to survive a Premier League relegation battle this season, it will almost likely be a season that Hammers fans will forget almost instantly. However, if they can carry on their group-stage form into the knockouts, then it may not be a season to forget.

In European knockout football, we know that anything can happen, and the Hammers just need a few moments of magic to make it far in this tournament. As evidenced by their memorable run to the semi-finals of the Europa League last year, West Ham have got it in them to pull results out of the bag in Europe, but David Moyes will need his key men to step up.

In new big-money signings Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca, Moyes will need them to step up after both failing to make any real impression so far this season, while also hoping that Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio can replicate some of their performances from their Europa League campaign last year.

Lazio come into his competition after failing to make any of the top two spots in their Europa League group, with Feyenoord and FC Midtjylland ultimately finishing ahead of the Italian side in Europe’s second-tier competition.

Their third-place finish was not as a result of any seriously poor showings form themselves however, with Lazio finishing third on goal difference after all four teams in Group F with identical records on eight points (2W, 2D, 2L). In a competition such as the Conference League, in which many more weaker teams participate in than in the other two European competitions, Lazio will fancy themselves as potential winners.

Lazio faces Romanian side CFR Cluj in the knockout round play-offs, and will almost certainly make it to the round-of-16 and further on. And so under the management of Maurizio Sarri, Lazio will fancy themselves to win their first European trophy since 1999, when they won that year’s UEFA Super Cup.

Sarri has some top players to call on as Lazio begin their voyage into this competition next week, with Pedro, Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic all available.

AZ Alkmaar are the third side on this list, and one of eight teams who directly qualified for this competition’s round-of-16 stage after topping their group.

Group E saw the Dutch side finish top after they won five of their six matches and scored 12 goals. They have also been impressive domestically, as they currently sit second in the Eredivisie, just two points off leaders Feyenoord. Now Alkmaar did make it to the round-of-16 stage of this competition last season, but they were knocked out by Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt. But could they go further this season?

Their much improved domestic performances this season and the fact that they topped their group suggests that they could. The Kaaskoppen have added to their squad this season after losing key man Myron Boadu to Monaco last season, with the signing of Danish forward Jens Odgaard an inspired decision – the Dane has ten goals so far this season, and alongside fellow dangermen Vangelis Pavlidis and Dani de Wit, could he inspire his new club to their first trophy since 2013?

Fiorentina will have warmly welcomed the debut of the UEFA Conference League, with it being several years since the club’s last foray into European football.

I Viola participated in the Europa League European back in the 2016/17 season, and that venture into Europe ended in embarrassment, with a 4-2 defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach in their second-leg tie knocking Fiorentina out at the round-of-32 stage.

Fiorentina now have the chance to make up for that embarrassing exit by performing strongly in the Conference League this year, but it will be a tough road ahead. Their win over FC Twente in the competition’s play-off round got them through to the group stages, where they ultimately would finish second in Group A, which meant that they would have to face Portuguese side Braga in a play-off tie for a place in the round-of-16.

The Portuguese side will be a tough test for the Italians, who have had an up-and-down season so far. Strong performances from their key men and top-scorers this season in Luka Jovic (four goals in this competition so far), Nicolas Gonzalez and Arthur Cabral will be key in progressing further in this competition and potentially bring some glory and success to a long-suffering fanbase.

Nice are the final side on this list who directly qualified for the competition’s round-of-16 stage, with their performances in Group D enough to ensure that they made it to the round-of-16 and would miss out on having to play a play-off tie.

Nice have had a relatively average season so far, however, and their performances so far will not have inspired confidence in their fans as the competition nears its return. Even their story of qualification will not exactly inspire hope, with the French side only beating Partizan Belgrade to top spot on head-to-head points. And their current manager-less status also does not help – however, this should hopefully be resolved by the time of their next Conference League game.

The key to Nice having a chance of potentially winning some silverware this season will be their attackers - Arsenal loanee Nicolas Pepe is the side’s top scorer so far this season with eight. Not far behind is the centre-forward duo of Andy Delort and Gaetan Laborde, who both have seven to their name.

Braga will play Italian side Fiorentina in their knockout stage play-off tie, and the perennial Europa League participants will be eager to get a win here and try and make a run deep into this competition, with there being a chance that they could emerge as the competition’s winners.

After finishing third in Europa League Group D behind Union Berlin and Union Saint-Gilloise, Braga were unfortunately forced to drop down to Europe’s third-tier competition, but it does present a chance for the club to add to their small trophy cabinet. Key to this will be forwards Ricardo Horta and Vitinha, who have 11 and 13 goals respectively so far this season, and the former did score five goals last season in European competition.