SC Freiburg has qualified for the Conference League group stage and will face notable opponents like AS Monaco with superstar Mo Salah. The Welt sports department reported this on Friday following the draw. The Breisgau club secured their place with a 4:1 victory in the playoff second leg against FC Motherwell on Thursday evening, having won the first leg 3:1 a week earlier. Goalkeeper Mio Backhaus made a notable error during the match.
This qualification follows a sensational international season where the team, managed by coach Julian Schuster, reached the Europa League final. SC Freiburg lost that final 0:3 to Aston Villa on May 20 in Istanbul. In the completed 2025 Bundesliga season, the club finished seventh with 47 points from 13 wins, eight draws and 13 defeats. The record of 51 goals scored and 57 conceded shows room for improvement.
Which opponents will SC Freiburg face?
The draw on Friday presented SC Freiburg with a demanding six-team group in the Conference League. The team will play its home matches against Panathinaikos Athens, Twente Enschede and the Czech side Jablonec. The away trips will take them to AS Monaco, Trabzonspor and FK Kauno Zalgiris from Lithuania. The clash with Monaco and their new signing Mo Salah promises particular excitement. The Egyptian striker moved from Liverpool in the summer, where he scored 255 goals in 435 games over nine years.
The first matchday of the new league phase is on October 15. The Conference League final will be held on June 2 next year, again in Istanbul. Before that, SC Freiburg first faces a Bundesliga home game against 15th-placed Werder Bremen on August 30. The team's recent form curve according to the final standings of last season is WLDLW.
How are the other Bundesliga clubs faring?
Alongside SC Freiburg, two other German clubs, Bayer Leverkusen and 1899 Hoffenheim, are starting in the European group phases. Leverkusen, seeded in Pot 1 of the Europa League as last season's sixth-placed team, will face the likes of Olympique Marseille, RB Salzburg and Besiktas Istanbul with national team goalkeeper Alexander Nübel. Hoffenheim will contend with Austrian champions Sturm Graz, whose coach Christian Ilzer broke Salzburg's dominance in 2024, Olympique Lyon and Ferencvaros Budapest in their Europa League group.
What does qualification mean for the club?
Securing a place in a European competition for another season solidifies SC Freiburg's status as an established force in continental football. Following last season's final run, participation this term is a key step for further development. The upcoming matches against international top teams will be a major challenge for the squad and coaching staff. Detailed statistics for the season start and the European duels can be found on our stats page. The exact dates of all encounters are listed in the fixtures calendar.
For planning the demanding weeks ahead, the current squad overview provides a good basis. The team must now manage the dual burden of league and Europa Conference League, with the first group match not until October. The competition offers the chance to build on the strong European performances of the last campaign.
