After the Europa Conference League group-stage draw, Aston Villa are the 9/2 favourites to follow in West Ham's footsteps by winning European club football's third-tier prize.

Europa Conference League winner odds:

The Villans, who have serial Europa League winner Unai Emery in charge, are warm favourites to lift the trophy ahead of last season's runners-up in the competition, Fiorentina.

View all Europa Conference League Outright Odds

Aston Villa are back in European football for the first time in 13 years and they are expected to emulate the success of fellow Premier League side, West Ham, who lifted the trophy in June.

The joyful scenes that followed in the aftermath of the Hammers' trophy will only serve to spur on Villa, who won the European Cup in 1982 and followed it by winning the European Super Cup the same year.

An Intertoto Cup was won in 2001 but the Birmingham side have gone empty-handed since winning the English League Cup in the 1995/96 campaign.

Villa were one of the form sides in the closing months of last season's Premier League, losing just two of their final 15 league matches, and they were rewarded for their seventh-placed finish with a spot in the Europa Conference League Play-Offs where they brushed aside Scottish raiders Hibernian 8-0 on aggregate.

That meant a place in the group stage where they are joined in their section by Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, Polish outfit Legia Warsaw and Bosnian outsiders Zrinjski, and Villa will be expected to qualify for the knockout stage with the minimum of fuss - that despite succumbing to a 3-2 loss against Warsaw on matchday one.

Only last season's semi-finalists AZ should offer Vila much of a threat in terms of qualification, but in Emery, they have the perfect man to ensure they bounce back from their disappointing start and steer them deep into the competition.

Emery has won the Europa League on four occasions - three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal - and Villa fans will be hoping he can sprinkle some of his European stardust on their side and end their long wait for a trophy.

They are 9/2 favourites to replicate West Ham's heroics but last season's beaten finalists, Fiorentina, are next in the betting at 7/1 and they were agonisingly close to lifting the trophy in June.

The final in Prague looked to be heading into extra-time with the game poised at 1-1 but Jarrod Bowen broke free in added time and coolly slotted home to hand the victory to the Hammers.

It was agony for the Italian side, but they are back for another bite at the competition and they will expect to progress from a group also featuring Ferencvaros of Hungary, Belgian battlers, Genk and Serbian minnows Cukaricki.

Fiorentina are one of a number of big clubs in contention, with 2022 Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt also in the running. The German side needed a penalty shootout to beat Rangers on that occasion and they are 10/1 shots to lift the Europa Conference League trophy at the Agia Sofia Stadium in Athens on 29th May, 2024.

Odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.

bet365 News Team

• Aston Villa F.C.
• ACF Fiorentina
• Eintracht Frankfurt
• • 
  •