The Europa League ignites a very British love affair with Fulham

When Fulham walk out onto the Nordbank Arena pitch for the Europa League final, it'll be a journey that scarcely anyone, let alone the players or fans, could have believed when the West London club started their campaign back in July against Lithuanian side FK Vetra. For the supporters, the European tour they sang of at Craven Cottage in the summer now reaches its climax.

Thousands of Fulham fans will have made the journey to Hamburg in the hope of seeing the Cottagers lifting a piece of European silverware and while those decked in white will be using all their energy to cheer for Roy Hodgson's men, they'll also be in the unusual situation of being supported by the majority of this country as well, QPR fans possibly excepted.

Support for a Fulham victory in a modern European cup competition is more of a throwback to the days of Nottingham Forest and Ipswich, as opposed to an extension of the recent Champions League successes of the Big Four.

Fulham feel like a club representing England, applying typical characteristics of the underdog coupled with a never-say-die attitude and it's this breath of fresh air that's endeared them to the nation.

The modern Champions League has skewed English perception of European knockout competitions somewhat. Before its current inception, English teams in the European Cup and the UEFA Cup truly felt like they were representing the country.

Rivalries were still in place, but there was a sense that the victor that season had won the league or qualified the UEFA Cup or Cup Winners Cup and earned the right for a crack at proving that the champions of England could be champions of Europe too.

This sense was amplified when a smaller, provincial club like Forest or Ipswich took the English challenge into Europe. Victory was hard fought over unpredictable and challenging foreign trips, and often unexpected. Even as recently as 1998, Chelsea's European Cup Winners Cup triumph could have fallen into this category.

But the modern-era Champions League has changed this. No longer is qualification a hard-fought battle or the title a prerequisite, with Arsenal not lifting the league trophy since 2003 and Liverpool since the pre-Premier League days. Both are still competitive within Europe.

This dominance of English clubs in the knockout stages over recent years, putting to one side this season, has brought with it the rivalries of club competitions. No Liverpool supporter will grudgingly accept that Manchester United have won the right to fight for the European Cup, as both teams are in the same competition. All four fans of the regular qualifiers will, as likely, feel the same. Loyalties are split.

And as the same old faces populate European competition, the resentment grows elsewhere. Manchester United and Liverpool may be two of the most globally popular clubs but in England you're as likely to find fans of other clubs who would rather see them fail because they're part of the big four. ABUs and ABCs (Anybody but United/Chelsea) are just as prevalent as fans of these clubs.

Against this backdrop comes Fulham. Granted, they may not be from the provinces, but they are a smaller team in comparison to the Big Four, along with Spurs and Manchester City and they've almost single-handedly revived the flagging Europa League in Britain.

It helps that in Roy Hodgson they have one of the most popular and well-respected managers in the Premier League, while Fulham's incredible run has treated the knockout competition with the respect it deserves, unlike Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa, who shamelessly threw away their best hope of silverware in pursuit of a fourth place they were always unlikely to get and wouldn't have guaranteed Champions League group stage football anyway.

And there have been some memorable moments, the type that only European football can deliver. A tactically brilliant victory over holders Shakhtar Donetsk and stunning comebacks against both Hamburg and European giants Juventus. The type of hard-fought underdog victory that can endear you to a nation.

Some may grumble and point to Fulham's rise through the lower leagues on the back of Al-Fayed's cash but compared to fellow Premier League teams Fulham's budget is modest and their squad consists of well-known players as opposed to superstars. It's also hard to dislike a club that retains a neutral end.

Had this been Liverpool who were playing Hamburg the reaction may not have been the same. Their European successes have been more illustrious and more recent, and Rafael Benitez only gave the impression of getting interest in the Trophy when it was clear fourth place in the Premier League was beyond them. At least he kept his side in the competition, unlike O'Neill.

Fulham inspire something different, something of the collective well-wishing that Forest and Ipswich enjoyed. When Danny Murphy leads the Cottagers out in Germany, bar the odd pockets around QPR and Brentford, the nation will be willing Hodgson's men on.

The West Londoners have never won a major domestic or European trophy and, fifteen years ago, were in danger of losing their league status altogether. You'd have to have a heart of stone, no matter what your allegiance, not to will them to one final victory of the season on Wednesday night.

(Pic via This Is London)