Freiburg aim to secure UEFA Conference League qualification against Motherwell

Freiburg host Motherwell in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off tie on Thursday (kick-off: 6.45pm CEST) aiming to secure their spot in the league phase and also continue their winning start to the campaign.

Freiburg put themselves in control of the two-legged fixture at Motherwell's Fir Park stadium last Thursday. While Regan Charles-Cook gave the Scottish side the lead inside two minutes, a brace from Matthias Ginter and an injury-time strike from Keisuke Gotō gave Freiburg a 3-1 lead to take back to Europa-Park Stadion.

Whoever prevails from this tie will enter the league phase draw, which will take place on Friday 28 August (1.00pm CEST) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

Follow the second leg below!

VS

Freiburg

Thu, 27.08 16:45

Motherwell

Conference League
Play-off, second leg Play-off, second leg Europa-Park Stadion

Proud recent record

Reaching the UEFA Europa League final last season was just the tip of the iceberg for Freiburg in recent times in Europe. The Black Forest club are enjoying a real golden era on the continental stage. Should they progress on Thursday night, they will be in the league phase/group stage of a UEFA competition for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

© IMAGO/Grant Hubbs

Grifo's warning

"We want to show at home what we're capable of. It was an important win for us [in the first leg] to get into a good position, but we know from last year that defeat in the first leg means nothing."

© IMAGO/DeFodi.de

1:14

Julian Schuster on facing Motherwell

"They play out well from the back. That starts from the goalkeeper. They have players up front with speed who look to run in behind. Our goal is to reach the league phase, which will take a good team performance from us tomorrow. Football always comes up with unexpected stories, so we've been warned."

Alfred Johansson on facing Freiburg

"When we do our thing, that's when we are the best. But I would say that the main thing is that we need to stay true to ourselves as much as possible. Obviously we want to do well, we want to do great results, but we know what we can control is our performances and our behaviours on the pitch."

© IMAGO/Raymond Davies

Missing Motherwell men?

Martin Moormann was sent off in the first leg, so is unavailable here. Regan Charles-Cook, Stephen O'Donnell, Tom Sparrow, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Dylan Williams have travelled and are in contention to feature.

Players back

Julian Schuster has confirmed that centre-back Max Rosenfelder (pictured) is fit after suffering cramp in the first leg and sitting out the Düsseldorf game. Left-back Berkay Yilmaz has also trained again after missing the cup tie with illness.

© IMAGO/Arne Amberg

Games under their belt

This second leg will be Motherwell's ninth competitive game of 2026/27. They began in the second round of Conference League qualifying with a 5-0 aggregate win over HB of the Faroe Islands before kicking off the Scottish Premiership with a 2-1 victory at Hibernian. Two legs against HJK of Helsinki sandwiched a goalless draw at home to Falkirk, before an extra-time defeat to Senhousemuir in the Scottish League Cup prior to the Freiburg first leg.

Freiburg win again

The Black Forest club also won their second competitive fixture of the season as they entered the DFB Cup, knocking out Fortuna Düsseldorf with a 5-1 victory away from home. Igor Matanović scored two goals on Sunday, with more from Jordy Makengo, Lukas Kübler and Lucas Höler.

© IMAGO/UWE KRAFT

First-leg recap

Freiburg put themselves in control of this two-legged at Motherwell's Fir Park stadium last Thursday. While Regan Charles-Cook gave the Scottish side the lead inside two minutes, a brace from Matthias Ginter and an injury-time strike from Keisuke Gotō gave Freiburg a 3-1 lead to take back to Europa-Park Stadion. Motherwell also had Martin Moormann sent off.

© IMAGO/Arne Amberg

Welcome!

Thanks for joining us for build-up and live coverage of Freiburg game against Motherwell in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off tie on Thursday (kick-off: 6.45pm CEST).

About the clubs

Freiburg

Europa-Park Stadion