As Getafe prepare to storm the gates of Europe for the fourth time, here’s a look at their previous adventures on the continent and what we can expect from The Azulones in this season’s UEFA Conference League.
2007/08 UEFA Cup – the King’s heroes
At the height of Getamania and barely three years into the club’s unlikely adventure among Spain’s elite, Bernd Schuster’s beaten Copa del Rey finalists could console themselves with the reward of European football.
Under Michael Laudrup, the following season, EuroGeta, as they became known, overcame FC Twente to progress to the UEFA Cup group stage, where they faced Tottenham Hotspur, Anderlecht, Aalborg BK and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
When Jermain Defoe headed Spurs in front at White Hart Lane, many expected a routine win for Martin Jol’s side. However, the Spanish minnows levelled through Ruben de la Red, before Braulio Nobrega’s late backheel clinched a 2-1 win. Victories over Aalborg BK in Denmark (1-2) and Belgian giants Anderlecht (2-1) meant Getafe finished as group winners.
Their attractive, easy-on-the-eye football and remarkable run in the UEFA Cup were beginning to endear The Azulones to fans well beyond Getafe. In the round of 32, they saw off an AEK Athens side featuring a 35-year-old Rivaldo with a thumping 3-0 win in the return leg at the Coliseum.
Next up, Laudrup’s charges met Jose Antonio Camacho’s Benfica in the round of 16. Goals from De la Red and Pablo Hernandez secured a 2-1 victory for the Spaniards at the Estadio da Luz before Juan Albin’s sublime lob finished off the Portuguese (1-0) in the return leg to keep the Cinderella dream alive in their maiden European campaign.
The modest club from the outskirts of the Spanish capital then faced tournament favourites Bayern Munich. After the quarter-final draw ceremony, Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer belittled the matchup, admitting he knew nothing about Getafe and adding, ‘We don’t even know where Getafe is.’
The Emperor’s comments only served as extra motivation for the European underdogs, who grabbed a late equaliser at the Allianz Arena, courtesy of Cosmin Contra’s nonchalant dink over Oliver Kahn (1-1).
A magical night of European football was in store for the return leg in Getafe, where over 16,000 fans packed out a buzzing Coliseum, dreaming of the grand prize: a place in the UEFA Cup semi-finals. Such was the magnitude of the occasion that millions tuned in across the country to back the Spanish upstarts against the German juggernauts, while a host of big names, including King Juan Carlos I and Prince Felipe – the future king of Spain – filled the modest stadium’s presidential box.
Just six minutes in, Laudrup’s side were dealt a huge blow when De la Red lived up to his name by seeing red for a professional foul on Miroslav Klose, but first-leg hero Contra fired ten-man Getafe ahead moments before half-time. With normal time ebbing away, Franck Ribery volleyed in the equaliser to take the tie to extra-time.
Los Azulones stormed into a 3-1 lead in the first half of extra-time, with Javi Casquero and Braulio Nobrega firing home. But then the theatre villain, Luca Toni, took to the stage to strike twice in the last five minutes and shatter Getafe hearts, sending Bayern through to the semi-finals on the away-goals rule.
In the dressing room, Laudrup told his dejected players, ‘Perhaps tomorrow you’ll realise you’ve done something incredible.’ He was right. Despite crashing out, they were hailed as heroes, and the following morning, Diario Marca ran the headline: ‘Bayern, This is Getafe!’
Club president Angel Torres proudly declared after the game that Beckenbauer would ‘remember where Getafe is for the rest of his life’.
The sense of injustice lingered long after the final whistle. Six days later, Getafe had to dust themselves down for their second successive Copa del Rey final, with King Juan Carlos breaking royal protocol by declaring that he wanted ‘the team that lost the other day’ to lift the cup.
2010/11 Europa League – Struggles on frosty European nights hinder Michel’s Getafe
Michel Gonzalez’s enterprising Getafe qualified for the newly rebranded UEFA Europa League after an incredible sixth-place finish in the 2009/10 Primera Division. The club did so despite operating on a minimal budget and recording the league’s lowest average attendance (11,347), punching well above their weight to secure European football for the second time in three years.
Getafe, sporting the glaring Burger King logo, had to overcome Cypriot outfit APOEL Nicosia in a two-legged play-off tie. Dani Parejo – a protege of Alfredo Di Stefano who was beginning to attract widespread attention with his dazzling displays – hit the winner at the Coliseum (1-0) and Cata Diaz clinched the tie in extra-time in Cyprus, as Los Azulones navigated their way through to the group stage (1-1).
Michel’s men were drawn in Group H alongside Denmark’s Odense BK, Swiss side Young Boys and German club VfB Stuttgart, with the group winners and runners-up progressing to the round of 32.
Getafe made a winning start at home against Odense (2-1). However, they struggled on the road, losing to Young Boys (2-0) in Bern and in Stuttgart (1-0), before the Germans handed the Spaniards a humbling home defeat (0-3). This meant Michel’s charges had to put things right in the penultimate group game on a frosty winter evening in Denmark.
EuroGeta were up against Odense BK, with both sides needing a win to keep their Europa League hopes alive. Despite the sub-zero temperatures at the Odense Stadion, Getafe stuck admirably to their passing game and went ahead when Pedro Rios headed past former Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll. But just when the visitors seemed destined to take all three points, they were pegged back by a sucker-punch stoppage-time equaliser.
Young Boys’ dramatic win over Stuttgart meant the draw was not enough for Getafe to qualify for the knockout stages. Though nothing was riding on the final group game against Young Boys, the sparse crowd at the Coliseum – just over 1,000 spectators – was treated to an end-to-end spectacle, as Los Azulones rounded off their Europa League campaign with a narrow 1-0 victory.
2019/20 Europa League – Bordalas-ball ruffles a few feathers
After inheriting a side languishing in the Segunda Division drop zone, Jose Bordalas steered Getafe to a remarkable fifth-place Primera Division finish in less than three years. EuroGeta 3.0 marched into the 2019/20 Europa League.
Los Azulones began in Group C with Basel, Krasnodar and Trabzonspor. They saw off their Turkish and Russian opponents home and away, but Basel got the better of Bordalas’ men twice, with the Swiss team topping the group. However, Geta’s tally of 12 points saw them progress to the knockout phase in second place.
The more direct Bordalas-ball, or The Bordaletamay have contrasted with that of the tactician’s European predecessors, Laudrup and Michel, but it proved just as effective in Europe as it was in La Liga. But it did so by ruffling a few feathers along the way, most notably in the round of 32.
Bordalas, by his own admission an admirer of Total Football and Johan Cruyff, was up against Ajax, who had narrowly missed out on a place in the Champions League final the previous year and were the firm favourites. But Ajax, one of the world’s great academies and early proponents of an attractive, fluid style of attacking football, were taught a lesson they were unlikely to forget.
At the Coliseum Alfonso Perez, Brazilians Deyverson and Kenedy struck to secure a 2-0 first-leg victory for Getafe. Despite enjoying 65% possession, Erik ten Hag’s side failed to register a single shot on target and the Dutch coach was angered by Getafe’s approach, to put it mildly.
The clash at the Johan Cruyff Arena was billed as ‘Total Football vs Anti-football’ in the Dutch press. Jaime Mata slotted the Madrileños ahead early on, and although Los Azulones lost 2-1 on the night, they clinched the tie 3-2 on aggregate to reach the Europa League last 16, as the Spanish press claimed the Dutch giants had been given a lesson from ‘the Bordalas school of football’.
Getafe were handed a mouthwatering last-16 showdown with Inter Milan, but the global Covid-19 pandemic tightened its grip, Spain entered a strict lockdown and football was put on the back burner.
The Europa League eventually resumed in August 2020, with the competition adopting a single-match knockout format. Getafe were denied the chance to step out in front of 76,000 at San Siro and instead faced Inter in the sterile surroundings of Gelsenkirchen’s Arena AufSchalke, where they lost 2-0 to Antonio Conte’s team, the eventual finalists.
2026/27 Conference League – Fourth time lucky for EuroGeta?
Getafe pipped Rayo Vallecano, Valencia, Real Sociedad and Espanyol to finish seventh in La Liga on the final day of the 2025/26 campaign to take their seat at this season’s Conference League table. This means there will be another serving of Bordalas-ball on the European menu – the coach is in his second stint and gets another taste of continental football.
Geta overcame a testing two-legged play-off against Partizan in August. Goals from three summer signings – Enes Unal, Andres Garcia and Johan Mojica – secured a 3-1 first-leg victory at the Coliseum, while Unal, in his second spell in a blue shirt after re-signing from Bournemouth, struck late on in Belgrade to send Getafe through despite a 2-1 defeat on the night.
Los Azulones kick off the league phase in mid-October against Romanian side Universitatea Craiova (A), followed by Swiss outfit Lugano (H), competition favourites Brighton and Hove Albion (H), Georgia’s Iberia Tbilisi (A) and Andorran side Inter Escaldes (H), before taking on Ajax (A).
It seems fitting that Getafe’s final fixture sees them return to the Johan Cruyff Arena for a rematch of the tie six years ago, with Spaniard Michel Sanchez now at the Ajax helm in what could be a pivotal clash in their push for a place in the last 16.
Naturally, Bordalas’ men are expected to progress to the knockout stage, but few expect them to go all the way and lift their first major piece of silverware.
Brighton, Ajax and the likes of Atalanta, Monaco and Freiburg are all ahead of Geta in the outright betting, with Getafe priced at 28/1 to win the 2026/27 UEFA Conference League. But given how well La Bordaleta performed last time around, perhaps EuroGeta 4.0 should not be discounted.
Read more about Getafe’s European adventures and remarkable rise from out-of-town nobodies to La Liga mainstays in David Pugh’s new book The Blue Side of Madrid: Getafe Club de Fútbol, the Rise of Los Azulones.