UEFA Europa Conference League Futures 2022/23

The semi finals for the UEFA Europa Conference League have been set to start on May 11 with the finals set for June 7 and we are finally down to the final four teams where someone is going home with the Conference League trophy. The 2 semi finals of this competition will both be 2-leg rounds, each team getting a home match, while the finals will be a single leg match on a neutral site in Prague, Czechia. Now that the competition has been whittled down to 4 contenders, it is time to see who has the best chance of winning the title by picking an outright winner here.

West Ham +175: West Ham is coming into this semi final as the favorite to win the entire tournament. They have been a very bad team in the Premier League all season as they have been struggling just to stay above relegation all year, but they have been a very dominant team in this competition in every single match they have played in, even when they were in awful form in the Premier League they were still great in the Conference League. They have also started to turn their form around in the Premier League recently as they are making a push to get away from relegation but they have been in much better form overall over the last few weeks. They have a lot of good talent on their team and should be much higher in the Premier League table than the way they have performed this year but they are starting to perform well now and that makes them a very dangerous threat in this tournament. Their form in this competition has been great all year but if they are playing better now in the Premier League as well, then they are going to have a lot of confidence here as they are in the best form they have been in all season. All that being said, they still have a very tough road ahead of them to winning this competition as they will have to face either Fiorentina or Basel in the finals who are both very good, but also this AZ Alkmaar side is no push over either. AZ Alkmaar is currently sitting in 4th place in their domestic league in the Netherlands and they have already taken out some quality teams in this competition like Anderlecht in the last round and Lazio in the round prior. West Ham may be the best team left in this competition but getting through the semi finals in a 2 leg round is going to be very tough and they still have to win the finals in a neutral location after that.

Fiorentina +187: Fiorentina is coming into this semi final as the next biggest favorite to win the entire competition. They have been very strong in this competition all year as they went 4-1-1 in the group stage and they were even better once the knockouts started as they won 5 of their 6 matches. They have also held nothing back in this tournament as they have won matches in the 2nd leg of their rounds even when they had a big lead from the 1st leg and they have also been getting better as a team overall. They have performed well in the Conference League all year but they have also been very good in their domestic league recently as they have easily been the hottest team in Italy over the last few weeks. Their defense has been good all year but their attack has been on fire with scoring goals recently and they have already been playing with the mentality of going for the win and holding nothing back in their matches. Fiorentina also plays in a very good Serie A league as the Italian league is on its way back to the top being one of the best leagues in Europe as they have 2 teams in the Champions League semi finals, 2 teams in the Europa League semi finals, and Fiorentina in the Conference League semi finals. Fiorentina also has a lot of good teams in front of them in Italy as they are in 10th place right now and might not make it into a European spot for next year so they are only going to be more motivated to win this competition as it will secure them a spot for next year in Europa League at least. Fiorentina is also facing Basel in the semi finals which is the weakest of the 4 teams left by far so they have a much easier road to the trophy as they should get by Basel with no issues and will only have the finals to worry about.

AZ Alkmaar +333: AZ Alkmaar is coming into this semi final as the team with the 3rd best chance of winning this competition but they are currently sitting in 4th place in their domestic league in the Netherlands and they are no push over team. They have already kicked out some good teams in this competition, most notably their win over Lazio in the knockout round which they won both legs 2-1 and have won 3 of their 4 matches in the knockout stages while also going 5-0-1 in the group stage. AZ Alkmaar has shown they can win matches against good teams away from home, they are going to have a much tougher match against West Ham here but, they have also shown how good they are at home and will use their home leg as a way to get a big advantage in this series. Their home leg is also going to be the 2nd leg so if they can manage a result or even a 1 goal loss in England, they will be in a very good position to win it in the 2nd leg back at home. AZ Alkmaar has a chance to get by in this round but they still have to take out the best team in this competition who has been playing in much better form recently and even if they do somehow get past West Ham here, they still have a big finals match to win against another good team. 

Basel +500: Basel is coming into this semi final as the team with the least chance to win the entire competition and that is a very fair evaluation of this team. Basel used to be a very dominant team in Switzerland for years but they have really fallen off over the last few years and have been struggling to win matches in their own domestic league all season as they currently sit in 6th place out of 10 teams in their league. Not only have they struggled in their own domestic league this year, but they have also struggled a lot in the Conference League every step of the way. They were only 3-2-1 in the group stage of the Conference League and finished 2nd place in their group which caused them to play 2 extra playoff matches against Trabzonspor to get into the knockout stages and now they have scraped and clawed their way into the semi finals by getting through the knockout stages with only 1 win in their 6 matches. Basel is lucky to have made it this far in the tournament but the reality is that this is not a very good team and they are going to show it here when they are eliminated from the semi finals. Basel has no chance to go on and win the Conference League title. 

After looking at everything with these 4 clubs left in the competition, West Ham may be the best team when it comes to talent left in the tournament, but they have a much tougher road to the finals and Fiorentina has been playing very well in this competition like West Ham but have also performed much better as a team overall in these last few weeks. Fiorentina at +187 will win the UEFA Europa Conference League Title this year.