Brighton finished 6th in the Premier League last season, earning them a place in the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League, which marks the first time in the club's history that they are competing in a European competition.
Football FanCast keeps you up to date with their exciting European journey so far. So here's everything you need to know as Roberto De Zerbi hopes to lead Brighton to Europa League glory this season.
How the Europa League works
Brighton supporters will now know all too well how the Europa League works, with the Seagulls benefiting from finishing top of their group to sail straight through to the round of 16 – avoiding the dreaded play-off round with demoted Champions League teams in the process.
However, they were handed a tricky-looking tie against Roma in the last 16, which proved to be the case following their recent first-leg drubbing at the Stadio Olimpico.
It's also worth noting that with the upcoming changes to UEFA's European competitions, this is the final year of this format. Things will start to look very different from 2024/25 onwards.
And they're still in the running for another slot next season, with De Zerbi's side just five points off sixth-placed Manchester United at the time of writing.
Brighton Europa League results
Brighton have enjoyed a superb journey in the Europa League thus far, topping a tough-looking group that involved Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens.
Things started slowly for the Seagulls with a home defeat to the Greek side on their European bow, before fighting back from 2-0 down to draw with Marseille in France. They followed that up with four successive victories to top the group – a run which included beating Ajax at the Johan Cruijff Arena.
Unfortunately, they have it all to do after losing 4-0 to Daniele De Rossi's Roma in the round of 16, where a raucous Amex Stadium will surely look to spur Brighton to an incredible comeback.
Date
Round
Match
21st September
Group B MD1
Brighton 2-3 AEK Athens
5th October
Group B MD2
Marseille 2-2 Brighton
26th October
Group B MD3
Brighton 2-0 Ajax
9th November
Group B MD4
Ajax 0-2 Brighton
30th November
Group B MD5
AEK Athens 0-1 Brighton
14th December
Group B MD6
Brighton 1-0 Marseille
7th March
Round of 16 1st leg
Roma 4-0 Brighton
14th March
Round of 16 2nd leg
Brighton v Roma
Europa League draw & dates
We're at that stage of the competition where anyone can face anyone – so no more national protection. Three English clubs remain in the Europa League, while the likes of runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen are among the best of the rest and what will be a stellar quarter-final lineup once the ties conclude next week.
Home team
vs
Away team
First leg
Second leg
Sparta Praha
vs
Liverpool
1-5
Marseille
vs
Villarreal
4-0
Roma
vs
Brighton
4-0
Benfica
vs
Rangers
2-2
Freiburg
vs
West Ham
1-0
Sporting CP
vs
Atalanta
1-1
Milan
vs
Slavia Praha
4-2
Qarabag
vs
Leverkusen
2-2
If Brighton do somehow claw back Roma's hefty lead at the Amex next week, they won't have too long to wait to find out their next opponents. The draw for the Europa League quarter-finals and semi-finals takes place on Friday 15th March at 12pm GMT.
The remaining fixture dates are as follows:
7th/14th March
11th/18th April
2nd/9th May
22nd May
2024 Europa League final
This year's UEFA Europa League final will be held at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. It's the second time it'll hold the event, having done so in 2011 when Porto met Braga.
They received the rights in unusual fashion, too. Ireland initially planned on hosting part of Euro 2020 but pulled out of the running during the pandemic. UEFA, wanting to recognise the efforts and financial investment already made, granted them the Europa League final in 2024 as a sort of compensation.
What happens if you win the Europa League?
Well, for starters, you get one of the best trophies in the game. It's the second most prestigious prize under the UEFA banner and while it's not quite the Champions League, winning the Europa League is an all-time achievement for the vast majority of clubs.
It also grants qualification for the following season's Champions League, of course. All in all, it's a fantastic competition to win and would mark a spectacular new high in Brighton's history.
Roberto De Zerbi's European record
Brighton might be new to European competition by manager Roberto De Zerbi does have some history of his own. He managed Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League back in 2021/22.
However, things didn't go particularly well. Shakhtar were incredibly unfortunate to get both Real Madrid and Inter in their group and struggled badly against both. Real, for instance, won 5-0 at Shakhtar. The Ukrainians were only able to get a single point against either side – a 0-0 draw with Inter at home.
More worryingly, Shakhtar finished bottom of their group, five points behind Moldovan minnows Sheriff Tiraspol. That certainly wasn't supposed to happen.
But Brighton fans will know that this has had very little bearing on their results so far, having found their feet after a slow start to the group stage. Regardless of whether they can edge past Roma to make the quarter-finals, you can count on the Seagulls heading into their next European campaign with more positivity.
Games
17
Wins
7
Draws
4
Losses
6
Goals scored
19
Goals conceded
25
Win percentage
41%