Fiorentina v Basel background

ACF Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa is up against the side he led to last season's Swiss title as the Viola play host to FC Basel 1893 in their opening UEFA Europa League Group I game.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition.

• Fiorentina's eight games against Swiss opponents have ended W5 D1 L2 (W2 D0 L2 at home – W3 D1 L0 in Switzerland). Unusually, the two defeats came in their last two home encounters – though the first of those was a 3-0 forfeit loss to Grasshopper-Club from back in 1998, the match abandoned with the Viola 2-1 up after an official was injured by a firework.

• Basel's statistics from nine games against Italian sides are W3 D1 L5 (W2 D1 L1 at home – W1 D0 L4). Their only previous win in Italy came on their last visit – a 3-1 win at AS Roma in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Form guide
• Fiorentina made it through to last season's UEFA Europa League semi-finals, bowing out to eventual winners Sevilla FC.

• Basel are unbeaten in Europe this season (W2 D2), but bowed out of the UEFA Champions League play-offs on away goals following 2-2 and 1-1 draws against Maccabi Tel Aviv FC – another side previously coached by Fiorentina boss Paulo Sousa.

• Fiorentina have made it through to the round of 32 in all three of their UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• Basel have featured in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage six times; they have made it to the knockout stage four times and been eliminated twice.

Trivia and links
• The 2016 UEFA Europa League final will be played at Basel's St. Jakob-Park on 18 May.

• The journey from Basel to Florence is just over 500km, meaning the Swiss side are facing the shortest journey of any of the sides on matchday one.

• Basel midfielder Zdravko Kuzmanović played for Fiorentina from 2007-09.

• Basel's Philipp Degen and Fiorentina's Jakub Błaszczykowski were team-mates at Borussia Dortmund from 2007-08.

• Basel defender Walter Samuel has extensive Serie A experience with AS Roma (2000-04) and FC Internazionale Milano (2005-14).

• Basel midfielder Birkir Bjarnason played in Italy with Pescara Calcio (2012-13, 2014-15) and UC Sampdoria (2013-14).

• Fiorentina striker Nikola Kalinić was a losing UEFA Europa League finalist with FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk last season.

• Basel are one of ten domestic champions in this season's group stage, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), FK Qarabağ (Albania), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), FK Partizan (Serbia), Molde FK (Norway) and Celtic FC (Scotland).

The coaches
• A European champion as a player with Juventus (1996) and Borussia Dortmund (1997), former Portugal midfielder Paulo Sousa joined Fiorentina in June, and is on the hunt for a third title in as many seasons, having won the 2013/14 Israeli crown with Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and last season's Swiss title with FC Basel 1893.

• Urs Fischer took charge of Basel this summer following Paulo Sousa's move to ACF Fiorentina. The one-time FC Zürich defender has already led both FC Zürich (2011/12) and FC Thun (2013/14) into the UEFA Europa League group stage, though neither side made it to the knockout phase.