What has happened to Fulham’s 2009/10 Europa League opponents in the past 15 years?
Written by George Rossiter on 22nd October 2024
After a strong start to a third consecutive Premier League season, Fulham find themselves comfortably in the top half and the most optimistic of fans have already begun to dream of another European adventure. 15 years ago today (October 22nd 2009), Fulham found themselves held to a home draw against Roma in the group stages. While the Whites have had their ups and downs in those years since, with relegations, promotions and cheese healing methods a plenty, the clubs Fulham faced in that run have also had their own tales of joy and despair, as we look at here…
FK Vetra (Third qualifying round)
Fulham’s Europa League journey started in late July of 2009 against Lithuanian side FK Vetra, located in the capital city of Vilnius. Fulham made fairly comfortable work of this opening tie, with 3-0 wins both home and away, thanks to goals from Bobby Zamora, Danny Murphy and Seol Ki-Hyeon in Lithuania, followed by one from Dickson Etuhu and two from Andy Johnson at the Cottage. While Fulham were delighted to get through so comfortably, Vetra were also still riding the crest of a wave in 2009 having finished 4th and 2nd in consecutive league seasons in the ‘A Lyga’.
A historic win over HJK Helsinki had set up the tie with Fulham, and despite the loss over two legs, it still seemed like this club, formed as late as 1997, were one continuing to progress. However, despite a run to the Lithuanian cup final a year later, this was ultimately where the club’s life came to an end. This club, who in the space of the last decade had played the likes of Hibernian, Legia Warsaw, Blackburn and CFR Cluj in various European competitions, would never play a European fixture again. 17 games in to their 2010 league season, FK Vetra were expelled from league by the country’s Football Federation for financial issues, with players, coaches and various club staff all owed long overdue wages.
Amkar Perm (Play-off round)
Russian side Amkar Perm were a much trickier affair. Fulham took a two goal lead back to Russia for the second leg and thankfully, despite a narrow defeat in Perm, managed to make it through to the group stages. Amkar were often just mid table fodder in the Russian Premier League, but an unexpected European finish in the 2008 season helped them to pursue a European dream.
However, sadly like FK Vetra, the story of Amkar Perm did not go on for much longer. Just 18 months on from this tie, Perm would also face financial issues. Thankfully, after originally volunteering to retract their own First Division playing licence in December 2010, a new club President retracted that decision and Amkar lived to fight another day. Sadly, after nearly a decade of prioritizing youth players over spending money and continuous financial struggles, the Russian Football Union took away Amkar Perm’s licence for the 2018/19 season and the club was dissolved. A reformed club named simply ‘Amkar’ were recently reformed and play in the lower divisions of Russia’s pyramid.
CSKA Sofia (Group stage)
Worth saying that, thankfully, this is a club still in existence. Fulham took four points off the Bulgarian side in the group stages, with a useful point in the opening game and a vital win back at the Cottage. While Sofia would ultimately finish bottom of that group, they have frequently qualified for European competition since. Competing in seven editions of the Europa League since, CSKA have only made the group stages a further two times, finishing bottom of their group again on both occasions. In their singular Conference League campaign in 2021 they faced a similar situation, finishing bottom of their group in Europe once more.
Thankfully for the record Bulgarian champions, while CSKA haven’t quite added to their tally of 31 league titles in the 15 years since we played them, they have had their fair share of domestic success. Three Bulgarian cups have been added to the trophy cabinet, the most recent being in 2021, plus the 2011 Bulgarian Supercup. Hilariously, in April 2022 CSKA would appoint Alan Pardew of all people, who lasted just 46 days before leaving the club. The Sofia club’s playing staff now boasts of former Leeds captain Liam Cooper, amongst a range of Bulgarian internationals.
FC Basel (Group stage)
Perhaps the most important of all Fulham’s wins in Europe that season came on a snowy evening in Switzerland late in 2009. Fulham’s 3-2 victory away to Swiss giants Basel was vital, with any other result resulting in Fulham exiting the competition before the new year came around. Following the 09/10 Europa League campaign, Basel went onto win eight Swiss League titles in a row, stopped by the current dominance of Young Boys, who have won six of the last seven titles, as well as a further four Swiss cups.
Unlike CSKA Sofia, Basel have done fairly well in European competition since facing the Whites. The 20 time Swiss champions have had a variety of success across all three UEFA competitions in the past 15 years. In 2013, Basel got past the likes of Sporting Club, Zenit and Tottenham before falling to eventual champions Chelsea in the semi-finals. A further semi final came a decade later in the Conference League, where Basel were beaten in extra time by Fiorentina.
AS Roma (Group stage)
Italian giants Roma were undoubtedly Fulham’s most difficult opponents in the group stages, with two fiery affairs ultimately resulting in just a single point for Fulham. That year Roma possessed the likes of Francesco Totti, Luca Toni, Daniele De Rossi, Doni and Juan in their squad, so ultimately those results were no failure. Unlike the previously mentioned sides, Roma have faced slightly less adversity, relatively (unless you count the times when they had to deal with the management of a certain Claudio Ranieri). Roma have recently won the 2022 Conference League and came runners up in the following year’s Europa League, with Jose Mourinho putting a huge team’s name back on the map.
Shakhtar Donetsk (Round of 32)
What can we say about Shakhtar? There’s a reason that generations of Fulham fans, along with members of the coaching and playing staff in 2010, often claim that that Donetsk side was up there with the greatest Fulham have ever played. This was a team that dominated in Ukraine and had won the previous year’s competition, then called the UEFA Cup. Their side boasted some of the best Brazilian talent in the land, including the likes of Willian, Fernandinho and Douglas Costa.
It could be argued that of any team on this list, Donetsk have had the widest variety of highs and lows. Since 2010, they’ve won all but three of the available Ukrainian Premier League titles on top of eight Ukrainian cups and six Ukrainian super cups. In Europe, they have had some incredible wins, including against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Napoli, Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, like with any Ukrainian club right now, we have to mention the war following the Russian invasion. Shakhtar already had experience of playing away from their home stadium due to the war in Donbas in 2014, however this was a whole other kettle of fish. As a result, Shakhtar are currently playing their European fixtures in Hamburg (more on them later…) after a spell playing such fixtures in Warsaw, Poland.
Juventus (Round of 16)
When you consider the success of Juventus since the incredible scenes at Craven Cottage in March 2010, it almost makes what happened that season all the more incredible. There are rarely and negatives to speak about regarding the Old Lady since then, just long spells of Italian dominance and big runs in Europe. Following that 2009/10 season, Juve won nine Scudettos in a row between 2011 and 2020, as well as six Coppa Italias and five Supercoppas. Juventus also made two Champions League finals in 2015 and 2017, losing to Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively.
Wolfsburg (Quarter-finals)
Wolfsburg won the Bundesliga title the year before they faced Fulham, with Dzeko and Granite famously putting together one of Europe’s great strike forces at the time. That title was under a certain Felix Magath, the less said about that man the better. Hilariously, two years after that title win, and just over a year after defeat to the Whites in Europe, the German side had gone back to Magath after less successful spells under managers such as, *checks notes*, Steve McClaren.
While Wolfsburg haven’t kept up a pedigree of challenging for Bundesliga titles (in fairness nobody really has in Bayern Munich’s era of dominance), they did come runners-up in 2014/15, a season in which they also won the DFB Pokal, followed by a win in the German Supercup just months later. Various appearances in the Champions League and Europa League have come around in the time that has passed since this particular quarter-final tie, including wins over Real Madrid and Manchester United and a run to the Champions League last eight in 2016 under the guidance of their best manager in the last decade, Dieter Hecking.
Hamburger SV (Semi-finals)
Make no mistake about it, since this famous Fulham win (cue memories of ‘Hamburg will host the final, Fulham will play in it’), Hamburg have become one of European football’s true sleeping giants. For almost every year for nearly a decade after the 2009/10 season, Hamburg would find themselves fighting at the wrong end of the Bundesliga considering the club’s history, fan base and prestige. Hamburg haven’t even played a European fixture since defeat to Fulham in 2010, but what happened in 2018 was almost unthinkable, when the German giants were relegated to 2.Bundesliga.
It’s May, 2018. Fulham have finally won promotion back to the promised land, but in Germany, Hamburg’s fans are either rioting or simply inconsolable. Relegation for such a huge club should not happen, but years of poor recruitment and managerial appointments led to the unthinkable happening. Since then, Hamburg have almost become the epitome of ‘the nearly men’, finishing either 3rd or 4th in every single season in Germany’s second division, never achieving promotion back to the top tier. Maybe this year will be their year, let’s check where they sit as of writing this article shall we. Ah, they’re 3rd are they, of course they are.
Atletico Madrid (Final)
Like Juventus, it’s hard to argue that Diego Simeone and Atletico have done anything other than go from strength to strength since winning the Europa League final of 2010. They have won the Europa League on a further two occasions, winning the UEFA Super Cup both times in the following season. Add to that multiple Champions League finals and Atleti have undoubtedly been a powerhouse on the continent for a generation now. Simeoene has also delivered four domestic trophies, including two La Liga titles ahead of Barcelona and city rivals Real. When you think of the players in that 2010 squad had done and gone onto do, the likes of Aguero, De Gea, Forlan, Reyes, Koke, Salvio etc, it was no disgrace to lose to such a side after running them so close.
