How our Red Bulls can make the knockout stages

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FC Red Bull Salzburg

·23. Januar 2026

How our Red Bulls can make the knockout stages

UEFA Europa League permutations

It can't get much more exciting than this! With our youngest UEFA Europa League starting XI ever (and the third youngest overall!), we not only secured a well-deserved 3-1 victory against FC Basel, but also kept alive our chance of clinching a spot in the knockout stages. To make it into the top 24, however, we need another win next Thursday away against Aston Villa, who have already qualified for the top eight – and even then, we'll need help from a few other teams elsewhere.

At least FOUR OF THESE SCENARIOS need to happen for us to secure a place in the UEFA Europa League knockout stage with a win against Aston Villa:

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OSC Lille (9 points, +2 goal difference) vs. SC Freiburg The French side would have to leave Freiburg empty-handed. At the same time, our victory, or Lille's defeat, would have to be by a large enough margin for us to improve our goal difference by a total of six goals.
SK Brann Bergen (9 points, -1 GD) vs. SK Sturm Graz SK Sturm Graz really need to do us a favour! The Norwegians, who we beat in the Champions League qualifiers, are visiting Styria. We need to hope for a Bergen defeat. We also need to make up our goal difference. In the event of an identical goal difference, goals scored would be the next decisive element, and SK Brann currently have a one-goal advantage here. If that's level, things will get complicated. You can find an overview of all possible tiebreakers below.
Young Boys Bern (9 points, -5 GD) vs. VfB Stuttgart If the Swiss side fail to take points against Stuttgart, a win would guarantee us overtaking Bern.
Celtic (8 points, -4 GD) vs. FC Utrecht The Scots would have to fail to win against the already eliminated FC Utrecht. In the event of a tie on points if they draw, we would definitely have the better goal difference.
Ludogorets Razgrad (7 points, -4 GD) vs. OGC Nice The Bulgarians also have an opponent who is already eliminated. However, it would be enough for us if Ludogorets simply didn't win.
Feyenoord (6 points, -3 GD) vs. Real Betis Ideally, Feyenoord would drop points with a loss or a draw against Real Betis (who are fighting for a top-eight spot). Should the Dutch team win against the Andalusians, our victory against Aston Villa would have to be by at least two goals more than Feyenoord's win.
FC Basel (6 Punkte, -3 GD) vs. Viktoria Plzeň Same scenario as with Feyenoord: If Basel lose or draw, we would overtake the Swiss team. If Basel wins against the Czechs, we would have to win against Aston Villa by two goals or more.

Watch out

These teams are currently behind us in the table, but could theoretically overtake us with a big win on goal difference.

FCS Bucharest (6 points, -7 GD) vs. Fenerbahce The Romanians currently have a goal difference that is three goals worse than our Red Bulls. Fenerbahce are still in contention for a top-eight finish, however.
Go Ahead Eagles (6 points, -8 GD) vs. SC Braga The Dutch side we beat in the autumn currently have a goal difference that is four goals worse. Braga are also in the mix for a top-eight spot.

UEFA Europa League table tiebreakers if points are level

Goal difference
Goals scored
Away goals scored
Wins
Away wins
Most points total of opponents in the league stage
Better goal difference of opponents in the league stage
Higher number of goals scored by opponents in the league stage
Lower total number of penalty points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point)
UEFA club coefficient