NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Nottingham Forest hosts Aston Villa in the first leg of an all-English Europa League semifinal on Thursday with both clubs trying to revive former European glory.
Forest has returned to Europe after 30 years and the relegation-threatened club eliminated Porto to reach its fourth semifinal, but first since the 1984 UEFA Cup.
That was after Nottingham dominated the European Cup, the predecessor of the Champions League, and won the trophy in 1979 and 1980.
Villa became the European champion only two years later. Villa has reached its second European semifinal in three seasons after a 7-1 aggregate victory over Bologna.
Villa made the last four two years ago in the third-tier Conference League. It sits fifth in the Premier League and stands a good chance of qualifying for the Champions League again after advancing to the quarterfinals last season.
Ahead of their clash at the City Ground, the English clubs faced each other twice in the Premier League: Villa won 3-1 at home in January, and they drew 1-1 in Nottingham this month.
English clubs have met in the final twice but this is the first all-English semifinal since 1973 when Liverpool eliminated Tottenham in the UEFA Cup, the previous version of the Europa League.
In the other semifinal, the Bundesliga’s Freiburg takes its best European campaign to Braga. The Portuguese side hopes to advance to the final again after it lost to domestic rival Porto 1-0 in 2011.
The second legs are next Thursday and the final is in Istanbul on May 20.
In the Conference League, Crystal Palace travels to Krakow in Poland, a temporary exile for Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk due to the Russian invasion, and Rayo Vallecano faces Strasbourg in Madrid.
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Aston Villa's manager Unai Emery speaks during a press conference in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, ahead of the Europa League semi-final first leg soccer match against Nottingham Forest. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)
Nottingham Forest manager Vitor Pereira attends a press conference in Nottingham, England, Wednesday April 29, 2026, a day ahead of the Europa League semifinal between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)
Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, second left, and John McGinn, second right, attend a training session in Birmingham, England, Wednesday April 29, 2026. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)
For Wrexham’s growing global fanbase it’s set to be another heart-stopping end to the season.
This time, a place in the Premier League is at stake.
“I think a defibrillator is the traditional fifth season gift? Would make sense for this show,” Ryan Reynolds, the Hollywood celebrity who is a co-owner of the club, wrote on X in a nod to the “Welcome to Wrexham” series that has documented the team’s unprecedented journey up English soccer’s league pyramid.
The final step is the biggest one, though.
On Saturday, Wrexham heads into the final round of regular-season games in the second-tier Championship aiming to secure a place in the playoffs that will determine the last promotion spot to the Premier League.
The top two teams go up automatically — one of them is Coventry, which will finish first — and the teams finishing third to sixth will advance to the playoffs. With one match left, Wrexham is in sixth place.
That last playoff spot is a three-way contest between Wrexham, Hull (in seventh place, behind Wrexham on goal difference) and Derby (in eighth place, one point further back).
Wrexham has the toughest game — at home to fourth-place Middlesbrough, which needs to win to stand a chance of finishing in second spot.
Hull hosts ninth-placed Norwich and Derby is at home to 15th-placed Sheffield United.
Wrexham is already assured of the highest finish in its 162-year history — its previous best was 15th in the second tier in the 1978–79 season — but still possible is a fourth straight promotion that would be beyond the owners’ wildest dreams.
Three promotions in a row had never been done before in English soccer. So Wrexham, a club on so many people’s lips owing to its remarkable rise since being bought by Reynolds and Rob Mac (formerly McElhenney) in 2021, is well ahead of schedule.
“At the start of the season,” Wrexham midfielder Ollie Rathbone said, “everyone would have taken this scenario.”
All 12 of the matches in the Championship’s last round kick off at the same time.
It's also a huge, if not decisive, round in the Premier League for both the title race and battle to avoid relegation.
Arsenal — seeking to be English champion for the first time since 2004 — leads by three points from second-placed Manchester City, which has a game in hand. Arsenal hosts Fulham on Saturday and City visits Everton on Monday night.
At the other end of the standings, third-from-last Tottenham — a top-flight team since 1978 — is in the relegation zone with four games left. Its next match is at Aston Villa on Sunday. Tottenham is two points behind West Ham, which visits Brentford on Saturday, and five points behind Nottingham Forest, which visits Chelsea on Monday.
Also notable is Manchester United's home game against rival Liverpool on Sunday. They are in third and fourth place, respectively, and both are bidding to tie up Champions League qualification.
It remains to be seen for how long Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah, who is leaving the club at the end of the season after nine years, will be sidelined after sustaining a hamstring injury last weekend.
Man City hopes Rodri is available to return from a muscle injury after missing the team's last two games.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Wrexham's Josh Windass gets away from Oxford United's Yunus Konak before scoring their first goal during the EFL Championship soccer match between Oxford United and Wrexham, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Oxford, England. (David Davies/PA via AP)
Wrexham's Josh Windass, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring their first goal during the EFL Championship soccer match between Oxford United and Wrexham, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Oxford, England. (David Davies/PA via AP)
Rob Mac, left, and Ryan Reynolds arrive at an FYC event for "Welcome to Wrexham" on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at Chloe's at Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
