The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
Manchester United qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League as winners of the Europa League.[3] They were unable to defend their title as they qualified for the Champions League knockout phase.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[4][5]
CW: Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
LC: League Cup winners
RW: Regular season winners
PW: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
Notably two teams take part in the competition that are not playing in their national top division, Tirana (2nd tier) and Vaduz (representing Liechtenstein, playing in Swiss 2nd tier).
Notes
^Bulgaria (BUL): On 29 May 2017 a UEFA letter to the Bulgarian Football Union declared that CSKA Sofia, the runners-up of the 2016–17 First Professional Football League, were not allowed to compete in the Europa League as they were considered to have been re-formed as a new club and thus did not pass the "three-year rule".[6] As this decision was appealed by CSKA Sofia, the Bulgarian Football Union granted a license to them subject to legal proceedings.[7][8][9] A few hours prior to the Europa League first qualifying round draw, UEFA replaced them with Dunav Ruse, the fourth-placed team of the league.[10]
^Malta (MLT):Birkirkara would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the third-placed team of the 2016–17 Maltese Premier League, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[12] As a result, the berth was given to the fourth-placed team of the league, Valletta.
^Republic of Ireland (IRL):Derry City are a club based in Northern Ireland, but will participate in the Europa League through one of the berths for the Republic of Ireland (any coefficient points they earn count toward Republic of Ireland and not Northern Ireland).
^Romania (ROU):Voluntari would have qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round as the winners of 2016–17 Cupa României, and CFR Cluj would have qualified for the second qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2016–17 Liga I, but both failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[13] As a result, the third qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Universitatea Craiova, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the sixth-placed team of the league, Astra Giurgiu.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[14][15]
Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
The draw for the group stage was held on 25 August 2017, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.[16] The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 32, where they were joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays were 14 September, 28 September, 19 October, 2 November, 23 November, and 7 December 2017.
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 16.01):[17]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 11 December 2017, 13:00 CET.[18]
The first legs were played on 13 and 15 February, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 February 2018.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 23 February 2018, 13:00 CET.[19]
The first legs were played on 8 March, and the second legs were played on 15 March 2018.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 16 March 2018, 13:00 CET.[20]
The first legs were played on 5 April, and the second legs were played on 12 April 2018.
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 13 April 2018, 12:00 CEST.[21]
The first legs were played on 26 April, and the second legs were played on 3 May 2018.
The final was played at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu on 16 May 2018. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.[21]
