The 2023–24 season was the 122nd season in the history of Brighton & Hove Albion and their seventh consecutive season in the Premier League. The club also competed in the Premier League, the FA Cup, the EFL Cup and a debut appearance in UEFA Europa League, playing European football for the first time in the club's history.
Summary
Brighton hosted Luton Town in the opening game of the season on 12 August, with this fixture being the Hatters Premier League debut. The Albion came out superior winning 4–1, with several players making their Brighton debuts including goalscorers João Pedro and Simon Adingra.[1] The Albion followed their previous result with another 4–1 win this time away at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the second weekend of the season.[2] However, they could not repeat this in their third, a 3–1 home loss against West Ham where Pascal Groß became Brighton's all time Premier League top scorer with his consolation strike in the match taking his tally to 27 top flight goals.[3]
A week later on 2 September, Brighton beat Champions League participants Newcastle United 3–1 on Sussex soil with Evan Ferguson scoring his first career hat-trick. He became only the second non-English player with 10 Premier League goal involvements aged 18 or under, an achievement he shares with Cesc Fàbregas.[4]
On Brighton's European debut on 21 September, Brighton fell to a 3–2 home defeat to Greek championsAEK Athens, with both of Brighton's goals coming from João Pedro's spot kicks.[5] At the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 5 October, in their first ever away game in Europe, Brighton came from two down to draw 2–2 with Pascal Groß scoring his first European goal. Pedro scored the equaliser, hitting home his third penalty in two Europa League matches.[6] On 26 October, Brighton would win their first-ever match in Europe, after defeating six-time European champions, Ajax at home in a 2-0 victory.
After more positive results, Brighton would finish at the top of their group and were set to play Roma in the Round of 16. In the first of the two legs, the Albion would be thrashed 4-0 at Stadio Olimpico, but would defeat Roma in a 1-0 win at home at Falmer Stadium. Still, between the two games, Brighton would end up losing 4-1 on aggregate to I Giallorossi and were inevitably eliminated from the Europa League.
Being plagued with injuries throughout the season, and more so in the latter half, the squad saw many players from the academy make their debuts or take more important roles such as Benicio Baker-Boaitey and Odel Offiah. After competing in the 2024 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, new signing, Valentín Barco from Boca Juniors in Argentina, would also come to the South Coast and make his debut as a substitute against Wolverhampton in the FA Cup.
On 18 May, before Brighton's final match against Manchester United, the club announced that Head Coach Roberto De Zerbi would be leaving the club at the conclusion of the season.[7] De Zerbi's final match with Brighton would come to be a 2-0 defeat to the Red Devils, resulting in the Seagulls finishing in eleventh place after the final day of the 2023-24 Premier League season.
Source: Premier League Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) If the champions, relegated teams or qualified teams for UEFA competitions cannot be determined by rules 1 to 3, rules 4.1 to 4.3 are applied – 4.1) Points gained in head-to-head record between such teams; 4.2) Away goals scored in head-to-head record between such teams; 4.3) Play-offs[84]
