Anderlecht vs Ferencvaros

On Wednesday night, the 2024–25 Europa League campaigns of Anderlecht, a formidable team from Belgium, and Ferencvaros, a champion team from Hungary, will kick off at Lotto Park in Brussels.

This is the first meeting between the two teams since Ferencvaros' 2-1 aggregate victory in the Champions League qualifying round in 1985.

Anderlecht is playing in the Europa League for the first time since 2018–19 after missing out on a year of action due to a 2-0 aggregate victory over Dinamo Minsk in the playoff round last month.

The Mauves have lost all four of their Belgian Pro League games since defeating the Belarusian team. Head coach Brian Riemer was fired last Thursday after almost two years in charge due to "insufficient" team performances. The Mauves' 2-0 home loss to Genk served as the last straw for Riemer.

Since then, thirty-six-year-old David Hubert has taken over as interim manager, replacing his position as Under-18s manager. He was in the dugout for Saturday's goalless draw between the senior team and Charleroi.

Anderlecht, who placed third in the Belgian Pro League Champions playoffs the previous season, is currently three points behind league leaders Genk despite holding 13 points from eight games and sitting sixth in the current top flight rankings.

Hubert will have his work cut out for him as Anderlecht plays four games in four different leagues—two domestic and two Europa League. The Mauves have lost four and drawn four of their previous eight Europa League games going into their matchup with Ferencvaros on Wednesday.

With a commanding 16-point lead over their closest rivals, Ferencvaros won their sixth consecutive Nemzeti Bajnoksag I title last season—their 35th in club history. Since then, they have started the new season flawlessly, winning each of their first five top-flight games in Hungary.

Last weekend, the Greens faced MTK Budapest and had to fight their way back to win all three points; goals from Barnabas Varga, Raul Gustavo, and Matheus Saldanha secured the win on the road, 3-1.

The team led by Pascal Jansen will undoubtedly be focused on their third Europa League campaign in the last four seasons, but they must first focus on their matchup with Puskas Akademia at the top of the table this coming weekend. The previous season, they advanced to the Europa Conference League knockout phase playoffs, however they were defeated 2-0 on aggregate by Olympiacos, the eventual champions.

After losing to FC Midtjylland 3-1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round of the season, Ferencvaros was unable to advance to the Champions League. However, they were able to secure a spot in the newly expanded Europa League by defeating FK Borac Banja Luka 3-2 on penalties in the playoff round, which followed a 1-1 draw over two legs.

The Greens will enjoy their chances of winning against Anderlecht on Wednesday because they have never lost a significant European match against a Belgian team, having won two and drawn four; also, they have never met Belgian teams more frequently without dropping a game.