2013 UEFA Europa League final
The 2013 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The match was played at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 15 May 2013, between Portuguese side Benfica and English side Chelsea. Chelsea won 2–1 to secure their first title in this competition.
Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2012–13 UEFA Europa League | ||||||
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| Date | 15 May 2013 | ||||||
| Venue | Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Branislav Ivanović (Chelsea) | ||||||
| Referee | Björn Kuipers (Netherlands) | ||||||
| Attendance | 46,163 | ||||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy 13 °C (55 °F) 54% humidity | ||||||
Chelsea were the first UEFA Champions League title holders to play in the following season's Europa League, after becoming the first Champions League holders to be eliminated in the group stage. With this triumph, they became the first Champions League holders to win the Europa League, since the 2013 Champions League Final had not been played then. Chelsea also became the fourth club, and first in England, to win all three major UEFA club titles, having won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 and 1998, and still held the Champions League title won for the first time the previous year. Chelsea were also the first team since Manchester United in the 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup Final to win a major European final without making any substitutions.
As a result of winning this competition, Chelsea secured a place in the 2013 UEFA Super Cup against the winners of the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich.