Fiorentina vs Basel facts

Fiorentina's quest to succeed Roma as Italian winners of the UEFA Europa Conference League continues with a semi-final against Basel, who are bidding to become the first Swiss club to reach the final of a major European competition.

During the autumn Fiorentina were edged out of top spot in Group A by İstanbul Başakşehir on head-to-head goal difference, with both teams finding the net 14 times. The Viola added seven more goals in their knockout play-off as they eased past Braga (4-0 a, 3-2 h), another five against Sivasspor in the round of 16 (1-0 h, 4-1 a) and six more in the quarter-finals against Lech Poznań (4-1 a, 2-3 h) to set a new record total of 32 for one season in the competition proper, surpassing the previous high of 28 managed by both of last season's finalists, Roma and Feyenoord.

Basel were also denied top spot in Group H on head-to-head record, by Slovan Bratislava, but, with coach Alexander Frei subsequently replaced by technical director Heiko Vogel, they went on to eliminate the Slovakian champions 4-1 on penalties in the round of 16 after two 2-2 draws following a knockout play-off success against Turkish title holders Trabzonspor (0-1 a, 2-0 h). Their run of success continued in the quarter-finals as they eliminated Nice, a 2-1 victory in France – courtesy of Jean-Kévin Augustin's late equaliser and Kasim Nuhu's extra-time winner – following another 2-2 draw at home.

Previous meetings

The clubs' only previous UEFA encounters came in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League group stage. Urs Fischer's Basel won 2-1 in Florence on Matchday 1, coming from behind to snatch victory with Mohamed Elneny's 79th-minute winner after Birkir Bjarnason (71) had equalised Nikola Kalinic's fourth-minute strike. It was Elneny again who scored Basel's second goal (74) to earn a 2-2 draw in the home return after a Federico Bernardeschi double had given Paulo Sousa's Fiorentina a 2-0 lead that was halved just before the interval by Marek Suchý. Sousa had left Basel for Fiorentina the previous summer.

Both teams would go through to the knockout phase, Basel as group winners, Fiorentina as runners-up. The Swiss side, who hosted the final at St. Jakob-Park that season, reached the round of 16, where they fell to eventual winners Sevilla, while the Viola were defeated in the round of 32 by Tottenham Hotspur.

Fiorentina's ten previous matches against Swiss clubs have yielded five wins, two draws and three defeats. While unbeaten in Switzerland, they have lost the last three encounters in Italy, the most recent against Basel, having won the first two. In two-legged ties against Swiss clubs their record is W3 L1, the last of those successes on away goals against Grasshoppers in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League qualifying play-offs (2-1 a, 0-1 h).

Basel have not met Italian opposition since those matches with Fiorentina seven seasons ago. Their all-time record against Italian clubs is W4 D2 L5, all but two of those 11 matches having been group stage encounters. The exception was a 2004/05 UEFA Champions League qualifier against Inter Milan that they lost 5-2 on aggregate (1-1 h, 1-4 a). Defeated on each of their first four visits to Italy, Basel have won the last two games there, the victory against Fiorentina in 2014 preceded by a 3-1 defeat of Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Form guide

Fiorentina

Fiorentina claimed seventh place in Serie A last season under new head coach Vincenzo Italiano to make a first appearance in Europe since 2016/17. When they last returned to UEFA competition after an equally lengthy break, in 2007/08, they also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

UEFA Europa League knockout phase participants four seasons running from 2013/14 to 2016/17, Fiorentina returned to the continental stage last summer in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying play-offs, edging past Twente to reach the group stage, where they recovered from a poor start to win their last four matches, including back-to-back wins against Hearts (3-0 a, 5-1 h), and qualify as runners-up. Braga, Sivasspor and – after an edgy second leg in Florence – Lech were then overcome in their first three knockout ties as the Viola kept alive their bid to keep the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy in Italy.

This is Fiorentina's eighth appearance in a major UEFA semi-final. They won the first four of the previous seven ties but have lost the last three, most recently going down to Sevilla in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League (0-3 a, 0-2 h). They have not scored in their last five semi-final matches or their last four at home, their most recent aggregate success having come on the away goals rule against Werder Bremen in the 1989/90 UEFA Cup (1-1 a, 0-0 h), the final of which they lost to Juventus (1-3 a, 0-0 h).

Fiorentina were unbeaten in their first six European home games this season (W5 D1), winning four in a row, before losing to Lech last time out. They have found the net at least once in the last 15 continental fixtures at their own stadium, scoring 28 goals in the last 11. The last European home game in which they failed to score was that 2014/15 UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg against Sevilla.

Basel

Runners-up in the 2021/22 Swiss Super League, 12 points behind champions FC Zürich, Basel also had a lengthy run in the UEFA Europa Conference League last season, progressing from the second qualifying round to the round of 16, where, having topped their group to bypass the knockout play-offs, they fell to Marseille (1-2 a, 1-2 h).

This season, newly led by former Switzerland striker Frei, Basel booked a return ticket to the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage by successfully coming through three qualifying ties for the second successive campaign, Crusaders, Brøndby – on penalties – and CSKA-Sofia all being defeated as the Swiss side secured an 18th European group campaign. They made it through their section for the 12th time – and fourth in a row – by taking six points off Pyunik (3-1 h, 2-1 a), four off Žalgiris Vilnius (1-0 a, 2-2 h) and one off Slovan (0-2 h, 3-3 a) to finish second. Then came the knockout phase wins against Trabzonspor, Slovan and Nice under new boss Vogel that have earned the club just a second appearance in a major European semi-final.

Basel's only previous last-four tie in Europe came ten years ago when, having eliminated Tottenham on penalties in the UEFA Europa League to become Switzerland's first European semi-finalists for 35 years, they fell to another London club. Murat Yakin's side lost both legs against eventual winners Chelsea (1-2 h, 1-3 a) to complete a 20-match European campaign that had begun with current coach Vogel at the helm.

Basel ended a four-game winless run in European away games (D1 L3) with that 1-0 victory in Lithuania at Žalgiris on Matchday 2. They are unbeaten on the road in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage (W3 D3) but, excluding penalty shoot-outs, had not won away in the knockout phase of the competition (D1 L2) until their extra-time victory last time out in Nice.

Links and trivia 

Fiorentina's Brazilian striker Arthur Cabral joined from Basel in January last year. During his two-and-a-half-years with the Swiss club he scored 65 goals in 106 matches and was the Super League's joint top scorer with 18 – as well as its player of the year – in 2020/21.

Basel have an Italian player, Riccardo Calafiori, in their ranks. The left-back, a former Italy youth and Under-21 international, played in Serie A for Roma (2020–22) and Genoa (2022 loan) before joining the Swiss side last summer.

Basel's Andi Zeqiri (2016/17) and Kaly Sène (2019/20) both spent time in the Juventus youth system.

Darian Males is on loan at Basel from Inter Milan. He appeared in one Coppa Italia game with Genoa in 2021 while on loan from the Nerazzurri.

Fiorentina's Jonathan Ikoné was a team-mate of Basel's Augustin at Paris Saint-Germain in 2016/17.

Nuhu is a Ghana national team colleague of Fiorentina's Alfred Duncan.

Fiorentina are the highest scorers in this season's UEFA Europa Conference League, group stage to final, their 32 goals in 12 matches eight more than West Ham.

Cabral and fellow Fiorentina striker Luka Jović are the UEFA Europa Conference League's joint top scorers with six goals apiece, level with Hugo Cuypers of eliminated Gent. Another Viola player, Christian Kouamé, also still leads the way in the assists charts with five – all during the group stage.

This is Basel's 33rd match in all rounds of the UEFA Europa Conference League – a competition record.

Basel are one of two clubs, along with AZ Alkmaar, 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.

While Basel are the only Swiss side left in Europe, Fiorentina are one of five Italian clubs competing in the semi-finals across the three competitions – along with AC Milan and Inter in the UEFA Champions League, and Juventus and Roma in the UEFA Europa League.

Basel are the only one of the four UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finalists to have never reached a major UEFA final.

Both clubs were defeated in domestic league matches on Sunday, Fiorentina going down 1-0 at newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli while Basel lost 0-2 at home to FC Zürich.

The winners of this tie will face West Ham or AZ in the final in Prague on 7 June.