AZ Alkmaar vs West Ham facts

AZ Alkmaar will need to make it nine home wins out of nine in this season's UEFA Europa Conference League if they are to reach a first European final in 42 years at the expense of West Ham United, whose 2-1 first-leg win in London maintained their unbeaten run in the competition and put them on the verge of their first major UEFA final appearance since 1976.

AZ won their UEFA Europa Conference League group for the second successive season – the only club to do so – and with one point more than in 2021/22 as they recorded five victories in six matches in Group E to qualify directly for the round of 16. There they made impressive further progress at the expense of Lazio, coming from behind to win both legs 2-1, the first in Rome, with Vangelis Pavlidis on target in each game. The Greek striker then struck both goals in Alkmaar as AZ reversed their 2-0 first-leg defeat at Anderlecht in the quarter-final before triumphing 4-1 on penalties.

West Ham became the first team to gain maximum points in a UEFA Europa Conference League group when they won all six matches against FCSB, Silkeborg and Anderlecht to top Group B, having also previously won both qualifying play-off matches against Viborg. The London side prolonged that perfect sequence against AEK Larnaca in the round of 16 (2-0 a, 4-0 h), and although they were held 1-1 at Gent in the first leg of the quarter-final, they came from behind to win 4-1 at home and reach a European semi-final for the second season in a row.

Previous meetings

It was the visitors who struck first at the London Stadium on 11 May as Tijjani Reijnders, a midfield ever-present for AZ in this season's UEFA Europa Conference League proper, marked his 11th outing with his first goal, rifling the Dutch side ahead from distance four minutes before the interval. West Ham, however, levelled the scores with a Saïd Benrahma penalty midway through the second half before Michail Antonio's 76th-minute close-range finish – his sixth goal of the competition and fifth in three knockout phase starts – completed the turnaround. The 2-1 final scoreline made it six European home wins out of six this season for the Hammers and seven defeats out of seven in England for AZ.

AZ's all-time record against English clubs is now W2 D5 L8, though in the Netherlands it is W2 D5 L1, the first of those two victories proving in vain as they defeated Ipswich Town 4-2 in Amsterdam in the second leg of the 1980/81 UEFA Cup final having lost the away leg 3-0 in what remains their only major European final. The Dutch club's most recent home game against English visitors was a goalless draw in The Hague against Manchester United in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League group stage.

AZ lost their first three two-legged knockout ties against English sides, including that 1980/81 UEFA Cup final, but won the fourth and most recent, on away goals against Newcastle United in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 16 (2-4 a, 2-0 h), the second leg of that tie providing their sole victory against an English side in Alkmaar.

West Ham have won their only two previous ties against Dutch opponents in UEFA competition, overcoming Den Haag on away goals in the quarter-finals of the 1975/76 European Cup Winners' Cup (2-4 a, 3-1 h) – in which they reached the second of their two major European finals – and winning both legs 1-0 against Heerenveen in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-finals.

Form guide

AZ 

AZ finished fifth in the Dutch Eredivisie last season, 22 points adrift of champions Ajax. They also featured as one of three clubs from the Netherlands in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage, topping their section unbeaten ahead of Randers, Jablonec and CFR Cluj before losing after extra time to Bodø/Glimt in the round of 16 (1-2 a, 2-2 h).

The Alkmaar side, led since December 2020 by Pascal Jansen in his first head coach role, negotiated three qualifying rounds this season, comprehensively beating Tuzla City, Dundee United and Gil Vicente to become one of only seven teams appearing in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage for the second straight season. They then became the only side to top their group twice, doing the double over Dnipro-1 (1-0 a, 2-1) and Vaduz (4-1 h, 2-1 a), while trading home wins with Apollon Limassol (3-2 h, 0-1 a). Then came the wins against Lazio and – on penalties – Anderlecht to put AZ into their third major European semi-final and leave them as the Netherlands' last team standing in Europe this season.

AZ won their first European semi-final, beating French club Sochaux 4-3 on aggregate (1-1 a, 3-2 h) in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup, but lost the second, on away goals to Sporting CP in the same competition 24 years later after conceding at home in the last minute of extra time (1-2 a, 3-2 h).

AZ are unbeaten in 25 European home matches (W17 D8), winning all eight games this season with 25 goals scored and just five conceded. They also won all three of their UEFA Europa Conference League group fixtures in Alkmaar last season with clean sheets, and ended the 90 minutes of their round of 16 second leg against Bodø/Glimt leading 2-1 before conceding a tie-clinching equaliser in extra time. The last visiting European side to deny them victory in regulation time were Napoli with a 1-1 draw in the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League group stage.

AZ's record in UEFA ties after losing the first leg away is W6 L7, with wins in two UEFA Europa Conference League ties already this season – against Dundee United in the third qualifying round (0-1 a, 7-0 h) and Anderlecht in the quarter-finals. Three times in the past they have lost the first away leg 2-1, dramatically going out to Sporting in that 2004/05 UEFA Cup semi-final, comfortably winning a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League qualifying play-off against Aalesund (6-0 h), but losing to another Norwegian side, Bodø/Glimt, last season.

West Ham

Seventh in the 2021/22 Premier League, West Ham therefore ensured a second successive European campaign after going all the way to the semi-finals of last season's UEFA Europa League, a journey that took David Moyes' side past Sevilla and Lyon in the knockout phase before they were eliminated by eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt (1-2 h, 0-1 a).

The Hammers had never played in a European group stage until last season, but they made it two in a row this term with that UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying play-off win against Viborg (3-1 h, 3-0 a) before again cruising through their section as they twice overcame FCSB (3-1 h, 3-0 a), Silkeborg (3-2 a, 1-0 h) and Anderlecht (1-0 a, 2-1 h) to end up ten points clear of the Belgian club. Cypriot side AEK Larnaca then provided further easy pickings in the round of 16 before they eventually proved too strong for Gent in the quarter-finals, two goals from Antonio and one each from Lucas Paquetá and Declan Rice getting the job done in the second leg at the London Stadium.

Last season's defeat by Frankfurt made West Ham's record in major European semi-finals W2 L2. They reached the 1964/65 European Cup Winners' Cup final, which they won 2-0 against 1860 München, by defeating Real Zaragoza (2-1 h, 1-1 a) in the last four, then, as holders, lost to Borussia Dortmund in the following season's semi-final (1-2 h, 1-3 a). Ten years later they were successful at the same stage of the same competition, defeating Frankfurt (1-2 a, 3-1 h), before going on to lose the final 4-2 to Anderlecht.

West Ham have been defeated just twice in their last 13 European away matches (W8 D3) – both in last season's UEFA Europa League knockout phase, against Sevilla (0-1) and Frankfurt. The draw at Gent last time out ended a run of five successive away wins in the UEFA Europa Conference League, four of those with clean sheets.

The Hammers have won all 11 previous UEFA ties in which they posted a victory at home in the first leg, most recently overcoming Viborg in this season's UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying play-off. The only previous contest in which they were 2-1 winners at home in the first leg was that 1964/65 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final success against Zaragoza.

Links and trivia 

AZ's Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan played in the English Premier League for Brighton from 2017 to 2021, making 123 appearances in all competitions for the club. He also had a loan spell in 2020/21 with West Ham's London rivals Arsenal.

AZ's Jordy Clasie made 49 appearances and scored two goals for Southampton from 2015 to 2017, while captain Bruno Martins Indi was a Stoke City player from 2016 to 2020, appearing 137 times, before moving to Alkmaar.

Martins Indi was a central defensive team-mate of West Ham's Kurt Zouma at Stoke in 2017/18, the Frenchman spending that season there on loan from Chelsea.

Hammers manager Moyes was in charge of the Everton side that beat Louis van Gaal's AZ 3-2 in Alkmaar on the fourth and final matchday of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage – still the Dutch side's only home defeat against English opposition.

AZ and West Ham are the only UEFA Europa Conference League group winners to have reached the semi-finals. The other two teams in the last four, Fiorentina and Basel, were both runners-up in their section.

AZ are one of two clubs, along with Basel, who were eliminated in last season's UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 but have made it through to the semi-finals this term. None of the 2021/22 semi-finalists are involved again this season.

England and the Netherlands were, however, also represented in last season's UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals, Leicester City losing to Roma and Feyenoord knocking out Marseille.

While West Ham were beaten in the Premier League on Sunday, going down 2-0 at London rivals Brentford to remain 15th in the table, AZ strengthened their European ambitions for next season with a 5-1 home win against Eredivisie strugglers Emmen.

The winners of this tie will face Fiorentina or Basel in the final in Prague on 7 June.

Penalty shoot-outs

West Ham's record in one UEFA penalty shoot-out is W1 L0:
5-3 v Birkirkara, 2015/16 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round

AZ's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L1:
4-5 v Barcelona, 1977/78 UEFA Cup second round
4-1 v Anderlecht, 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final