Background
Atlético Madrid and Fulham had never played against each other before this match, and Atlético were Fulham's first ever Spanish opponents. Atlético, on the other hand, had played 19 previous matches against English opposition, winning six and losing five; the most recent of these was against Liverpool in the semi-finals.
Fulham were playing in only their second season of European football; in 2002–03, they negotiated the Intertoto Cup and reached the third round of the UEFA Cup before being knocked out by Hertha BSC. Atlético, however, had played in four previous European finals, including the 1974 European Cup Final, which they lost to Bayern Munich, and three Cup Winners' Cup finals. Their only European title came in 1962, when they beat Fiorentina 3–0 in a replay at Neckarstadion, Stuttgart, after the original match at Hampden Park, Glasgow, finished as a 1–1 draw.
The final was Fulham's last chance at qualification for European football in the following season. The Premier League season had finished the previous weekend with Fulham finishing in 12th place, 17 points away from the Europa League places. Earlier in the season, they had been knocked out of the League Cup in the third round and in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Atlético were also unable to qualify for Europe via the league; they went into the match in ninth place in the Priméra División, eight points away from the league's Europa League places with one game left to play. However, they had a chance at qualification through the Copa del Rey; they played against Sevilla in the final on 19 May, but lost 2–0.
Before 2010, no European final had ever been played in the city of Hamburg, although six European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals and three UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals have been played in German cities, as well as one UEFA Cup final since it became a single-legged match.
The HSH Nordbank Arena was opened in 2000 on the site of Hamburg's previous stadia: the Bahrenfelder Stadium and the Volksparkstadion (English: the People's Park Stadium). The Bahrenfelder Stadium was built in 1925, but after a two-year renovation, it was replaced by the 75,000-capacity Volksparkstadion in 1953. Hamburger SV moved into the Volksparkstadion from their previous home at Rothenbaum in 1963. The stadium then played host to three Group 1 matches at the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. 14 years later, UEFA Euro 1988 was held in West Germany and the Volksparkstadion was chosen to host the semi-final between West Germany and the Netherlands. By the late 1990s, plans were laid down for a complete renovation of the stadium; the playing surface was rotated by 90 degrees to take advantage of the natural angle of sunlight and the stadium was rebuilt to hold more than 57,000 spectators. Building work began in 1998 and Hamburger SV returned to the ground in 2000. The stadium was used as a venue for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, playing host to four group stage matches and the quarter-final between Italy and Ukraine.
The 'hosts' for the final, Hamburger SV were only eliminated from the tournament by Fulham at the semi-final stage. The disappointment of coming so close to playing a final at home was doubled for the Hamburg fans as this was the second consecutive year in which they had been knocked out at the same stage in the UEFA Cup/Europa League - in 2008/09, they lost out to local rivals Werder Bremen. Two recent finals had involved a team playing at their usual stadium: Feyenoord defeated Borussia Dortmund in Rotterdam in 2002, while Sporting Club de Portugal lost to CSKA Moscow in Lisbon in 2005.
Read more about this topic: 2010 UEFA Europa League Final
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