The reward for Helsinki is, incredibly, a Europa League finalist. Motherwell host SC Freiburg at Fir Park on Thursday 20 August, kick-off 19:30, with the return at the Europa-Park Stadion a week later.
Make no mistake about it, Motherwell are, by far, the underdogs. Freiburg were 90 minutes from a European trophy in May. They finished seventh in the Bundesliga and reached the German Cup semi-finals. Transfermarkt estimates value their squad at around €242.55m against Motherwell’s €15.73m, a ratio of roughly 15:1.
And yet the calendar has done something strange. The Fir Park leg will be Freiburg’s first competitive match of 2026/27. Their Bundesliga season does not begin until 30 August, at home to Werder Bremen. Between the two legs they travel to Fortuna Düsseldorf in the DFB-Pokal. Motherwell have four competitive matches in their legs, a European tie already won and a Fir Park crowd that has now seen two European nights. Freiburg have a pre-season. That does not make the sides equal. It does decide where hope is allowed to sit.
Who Freiburg are It would be easy, and wrong, to file this under rich German club versus small Scottish one. Freiburg are one of European football’s genuine oddities: a member-owned, academy-led club from a university and wine city on the edge of the Black Forest,
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