Hannover aim to protect unbeaten record against FCK

Hannover 96 will aim to protect their unbeaten record in the UEFA Europa League as FC København go in search of a goalscoring milestone in Germany.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, in what is Hannover's first UEFA game against Danish opponents.

• FCK's four contests against German sides ended W0 D1 L3 (W0 D1 L1 in Germany).

• Hannover beat a Danish side, B1909 Odense, 3-2 at home and 1-0 away in a 1969 tie in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the non-UEFA affiliated predecessor of the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League.

• The clubs that merged to form FCK both played German teams in UEFA competition. Kjøbenhavns BK took on FC Schalke 04 in the preliminary round of the 1958/59 European Champion Clubs' Cup, winning 3-0 at home, losing 5-2 in Gelsenkirchen and then going down 3-1 in a replay at the Diekman Stadion in Enschede, the Netherlands.

• B 1903 København, meanwhile, lost 2-0 away and 3-2 at home against 1. FC Köln in the 1975/76 UEFA Cup first round. However, they eliminated FC Bayern München in a 1991/92 UEFA Cup second round tie, beating them 6-2 at home on 22 October 1991 – just shy of 20 years before this encounter with Hannover – and losing 1-0 away.

Match background
• Hannover's 2-1 win at FC Vorskla Poltava on matchday two was their first victory on the road in UEFA competition at the third attempt.

• Hannover are the only team in this season's group stage who have never lost a UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League game; this is their fifth outing in the competition.

• København have won only one of their last five European away games, beating Shamrock Rovers FC 2-0 in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Team facts
• Both of FCK's group stage goals in this season's competition have come between the 31st and 45th minutes.

• FCK's next goal will be their 200th in UEFA club competition. This is their 135th UEFA game. Their first was scored by Jens Koch during a 1983 UEFA Cup game at home to FC Baník Ostrava. The match finished 1-1.

• Hannover coach Mirko Slomka led the club he had previously served as a player and assistant coach into Europe with a fourth-placed Bundesliga finish in his first season in charge.

• Slomka enjoyed success in the 2005/06 edition of the competition. He led Schalke from the round of 32 to the semi-finals, before succumbing to a 1-0 aggregate defeat by Sevilla FC, after replacing Ralf Rangnick as coach following the group stage.

• Roland Nilsson replaced Ståle Solbakken at the FCK helm this year, after winning the 2010 Swedish title with Malmö FF. This is his first European season as a coach, but the former Swedish international defender has extensive European experience, having been capped 116 times by his country.

• Nilsson twice took on Bayern in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League with Helsingborgs IF, losing 3-1 at home and drawing 0-0 in Germany.

• Nilsson started for hosts Sweden in the EURO '92 semi-final against Germany, his side losing 3-2.

• FCK's Christian Grindheim plays for the Norwegian national team alongside København's Mohammed Abdellaoue and Henning Hauger.