West Ham set astonishing new European record with Freiburg result

  • West Ham are on the longest unbeaten run in Europe of any English team
  • Hammers are competing in their third successive European campaign
  • Previous record was set by Don Revie's legendary Leeds way back in 1968
West Ham won 2-1 in Germany in the Europa League on Thursday
West Ham won 2-1 in Germany in the Europa League on Thursday / West Ham United FC/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

West Ham United made a bit of history on Thursday with their Europa League win over Freiburg, extending their unbeaten run in UEFA competitions to 17 games.

After Lucas Paqueta's early strike in Germany had been cancelled out, centre-back Nayef Aguerd scored the decisive goal that sealed the win and all three points for David Moyes' team.

The Hammers had started their Europa League campaign with a win over Serbian minnows Backa Topola last week, having qualified for the continent’' secondary club competition by virtue of winning last season's Europa Conference League.

In Declan Rice's final act before securing the club a £105m payday by joining Arsenal, he became the first West Ham captain since Bobby Moore in 1965 to lift a major European trophy.

West Ham are becoming used to playing in Europe and, frankly, they seem very good at it.

Their 17-game unbeaten run, which includes a Europa Conference League qualifying round last season to kick things off, is actually a record for English teams – no one, not even the great Liverpool or Manchester United teams of the past have put together such a streak. Even Manchester City's current unbeaten stretch in Europe is only 15 games by comparison.

The previous record had stood since 1968 when Don Revie’s Leeds were 16 games unbeaten in European competition. It was also equalled by Tottenham in the early 1970s.

West Ham's last defeat came almost 18 months ago when they were beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League semi-finals, actually losing both legs to the eventual champions. Of the 17 games since then, 15 of which were in last season's Europa Conference League, the Hammers have won as many as 16 of them. The only game in that time they haven't won was the first leg of the quarter-final against Belgin side Gent – they promptly won the return leg 4-1 at home.

However, West Ham face one of the toughest tests yet to keep their record going as they travel to Greece to face Olympiacos in their next Europa League group game on 26 October. The Greeks then return the favour by heading to London in early November, before further matches against Backa Topola and Freiburg leading to Christmas. Remaining unbeaten could see the record inflate to 21.


West Ham's record unbeaten run in European competition

Date

Result

Scorers

Competition

18 Aug 2022

West Ham 3-1 Viborg (PO)

Europa Conference League

Scamacca, Bowen, Antonio

25 Aug 2022

Viborg 0-3 West Ham (PO)

Europa Conference League

Scamacca, Benrahma, Soucek

8 Sep 2022

West Ham 3-1 FCSB (GS)

Europa Conference League

Emerson, Bowen, Antonio

15 Sep 2022

Silkeborg 2-3 West Ham (GS)

Europa Conference League

Lanzini, Scamacca, Dawson

6 Oct 2022

Anderlecht 0-1 West Ham (GS)

Europa Conference League

Scamacca

13 Oct 2022

West Ham 2-1 Anderlecht (GS)

Europa Conference League

Benrahma, Bowen

27 Oct 2022

West Ham 1-0 Silkeborg (GS)

Europa Conference League

Lanzini

3 Nov 2022

FCSB 0-3 West Ham (GS)

Europa Conference League

Fornals (2), Own Goal

9 Mar 2023

AEK Larnaca 0-2 West Ham (R16)

Europa Conference League

Antonio (2)

16 Mar 2023

West Ham 4-0 AEK Larnaca (R16)

Europa Conference League

Scamacca, Bowen (2), Mubama

13 Apr 2023

Gent 1-1 West Ham (QF)

Europa Conference League

Ings

20 Apr 2023

West Ham 4-1 Gent (QF)

Europa Conference League

Antonio (2), Paqueta, Rice

11 May 2023

West Ham 2-1 AZ (SF)

Europa Conference League

Benrahma, Antonio

18 May 2023

AZ 0-1 West Ham (SF)

Europa Conference League

Fornals

7 Jun 2023

Fiorentina 1-2 West Ham (F)

Europa Conference League

Benrahma, Bowen

21 Sep 2023

West Ham 3-1 Backa Topola (GS)

Europa League

Kudus (2), Soucek

5 Oct 2023

Freiburg 1-2 West Ham (GS)

Europa League

Paqueta, Aguerd


READ THE LATEST WEST HAM NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP

feed