The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League is the 54th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 16th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. This is the first season played under a new format, which replaces the 32-team group stage with a 36-team league phase.[1] This increases the total number of matches played in the competition (excluding qualifying rounds) from 141 to 189. The new format also does not allow teams to transfer from the Champions League league or knockout phase to the Europa League knockout phase, and thus Europa League winners (Atalanta in the 2023–24 edition) can no longer defend their title as the winner of the Europa League automatically qualifies for the Champions League league phase.
A total of 76 teams from 41 of the 55 UEFA member associations are set to participate in the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 32 associations had teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 23 associations that did not have any teams directly qualifying, 9 of them had teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[3]
The title holders of the Europa Conference League were given an entry in the Europa League (if they did not qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via league position).
Associations 1–12 each have two teams.
Associations 13–33 (except Russia[Note RUS]) each have one team.
31 teams eliminated from the 2024–25 Champions League were transferred to the Europa League.
Association ranking
For the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2023 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2018–19 to 2022–23.[4]
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:
(UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
5 domestic cup winners from association 16–21 (except Russia)[Note RUS]
6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12
1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6
6 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round (26 teams)
Champions path (12 teams)
12 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (Champions path)
League path (14 teams)
3 domestic cup winners from associations 13–15
9 winners from second qualifying round
2 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (League path)
Play-off round (24 teams)
5 domestic cup winners from associations 8–12
13 winners from third qualifying round
6 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (Champions path)
League phase (36 teams)
Europa Conference League title holders
7 domestic cup winners from associations 1–7
5 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–5
12 winners from play-off round
5 losers from Champions League play-off round (Champions path)
4 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (League path)
2 losers from Champions League play-off round (League path)
The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access were made:
The cup winners of association 16 (Norway) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
As the Europa League title holders (Atalanta) qualified for the Champions League via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made:
The cup winners of associations 17 to 21 (except Russia)[Note RUS] (Denmark, Croatia, Greece and Israel) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
UECL: Europa Conference League title holders
CW: Cup winners
3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season
UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
CH/LP PO: Losers from the play-off round (Champions/League path)
CH/LP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/League path)
CH/LP Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round (Champions/League path)
The third qualifying round was divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).
Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[5] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[6]
Slovenia (SVN): Cup winners Rogaška failed to obtain a UEFA licence, so the berth reserved for the cup winners was transferred to the second-placed team in the league, Maribor.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[7] Matches are scheduled for Thursdays, apart from the final, which takes place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally can take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts. Compared to past seasons, one exclusive week will be introduced where both Wednesday and Thursdays are matchdays, held on September 25 and 26.[8][9][10]
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2024.
The first legs were played on 11 July, and the second legs were played on 18 July 2024.
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2024.
The first legs were played on 25 July, and the second legs were played on 1 August 2024.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 22 July 2024.
The first legs were played on 6 and 8 August, and the second legs were played on 13, 14 and 15 August 2024.
Location of Benelux teams of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League league phase.
The league phase draw for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 30 August 2024, 13:00 CEST.[11][12] The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each based on their UEFA club coefficient.
The 36 teams were manually drawn and then automated software digitally drew their eight different opponents at random, determining which of their matches were at home and which ones away. Each team will face two opponents from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association.[13][14]
RFS made their debut appearance since the introduction of the group stage.
A total of 23 national associations are represented in the league phase.
Table
The top eight ranked teams will receive a bye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th are eliminated from all competitions, with no access to the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.
Updated to match(es) played on 12 December 2024. Source: UEFA Rules for classification: League phase tiebreakers (E) Eliminated; (W) Assured of at least the play-offs (seeded), but may still advance to the round of 16 automatically; (X) Assured of at least the play-offs (unseeded), but may still advance to the round of 16 automatically; (Y) Cannot advance to round of 16 automatically, but may still qualify via the play-offs (seeded); (Z) Cannot advance to round of 16 automatically, but may still qualify via the play-offs (unseeded)
In the knockout phase, teams will play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The bracket structure for the knockout phase is partially fixed in advance using seeding, with teams' positions in the bracket determined by the final standings in the league phase.
In the knockout phase, there is no country protection, with teams from the same association able to face each other in any round. Teams can also face opponents they played during the league phase.
The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:[3]
In the draw for the knockout phase play-offs, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 9–16 are seeded, and the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 17–24 are unseeded. The draw is split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams host the second leg.
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 1–8 are seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout phase play-offs are unseeded. Again, the draw is split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams host the second leg.
In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the exact match pairings are predetermined based on the tournament bracket. A draw is conducted only to determine which team plays the first leg at home. A draw is also held to determine which semi-final winner is designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it is played at a neutral venue).
Qualified teams
The following teams have secured a place in the knockout phase:
Guaranteed to finish 1–16 (round TBD, guaranteed seeded)
† While the ties are predetermined, a draw will determine the order of the legs for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, as well as the administrative "home" team for the final.
Knockout phase play-offs
The draw for the knockout phase play-offs will be held on 31 January 2025.
The first legs will be played on 13 February, and the second legs will be played on 20 February 2025.
The draw for the round of 16 will be held on 21 February 2025.
The first legs will be played on 6 March, and the second legs will be played on 13 March 2025.
The draw for the order of the quarter-final legs will be held on 21 February 2025, after the round of 16 draw.
The first legs will be played on 10 April, and the second legs will be played on 17 April 2025.
^ abcdWhile the ties are predetermined, the order of the legs will be determined by a draw.
Semi-finals
The draw for the order of the semi-final legs will be held on 21 February 2025, after the round of 16 and quarter-final draws.
The first legs will be played on 1 May, and the second legs will be played on 8 May 2025.
The final will be played on 21 May 2025 at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao. A draw will be held on 21 February 2025 (after the round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draws) to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.
