The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
A total of 213 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[5]
Associations 1–51 (except Liechtenstein) each had three teams qualify.
Associations 52–54 each had two teams qualify.
Liechtenstein and Kosovo (association 55) each had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organised only a domestic cup and no domestic league; Kosovo as per decision by the UEFA Executive Committee).[6]
Moreover, 55 teams eliminated from the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League (default number was 57, but 2 fewer teams competed in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League).
Association ranking
For the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2018 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2013–14 to 2017–18.[7]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
(UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
Association ranking for 2019–20 UEFA Europa League
The following is the access list for this season.[8]
Access list for 2019–20 UEFA Europa League
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
Teams transferred from Champions League
Preliminary round (14 teams)
4 domestic cup winners from associations 52–55
6 domestic league runners-up from associations 49–54
4 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 48–51
First qualifying round (94 teams)
26 domestic cup winners from associations 26–51
30 domestic league runners-up from associations 18–48 (except Liechtenstein)
31 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–47 (except Liechtenstein)
7 winners from preliminary round
Second qualifying round
Champions Path (18 teams)
15 losers from Champions League first qualifying round
3 losers from Champions League preliminary round
Main Path (74 teams)
7 domestic cup winners from associations 19–25
2 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–17
3 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–15
9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15
2 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 5–6 (League Cup winners for France)
4 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (League Cup winners for England)
47 winners from first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Champions Path (20 teams)
9 winners from second qualifying round (Champions Path)
10 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path)
1 losers from Champions League first qualifying round (Champions Path)
Main Path (52 teams)
6 domestic cup winners from associations 13–18
6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12
1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6
37 winners from second qualifying round (Main Path)
2 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (League Path)
Play-off round
Champions Path (16 teams)
10 winners from third qualifying round (Champions Path)
6 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path)
Main Path (26 teams)
26 winners from third qualifying round (Main Path)
Group stage (48 teams)
12 domestic cup winners from associations 1–12
1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 5
4 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–4
8 winners from play-off round (Champions Path)
13 winners from play-off round (Main Path)
4 losers from Champions League play-off round (Champions Path)
2 losers from Champions League play-off round (League Path)
4 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (League Path)
Knockout phase (32 teams)
12 group winners from group stage
12 group runners-up from group stage
8 third-placed teams from Champions League group stage
Changes were made to the default access list, if any of the teams that qualified for the Europa League via their domestic competitions also qualified for the Champions League as the Champions League or Europa League title holders, or if there were fewer teams transferred from the Champions League due to changes in the Champions League access list. In any case where a spot in the Europa League was vacated, cup winners of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds were promoted accordingly.
In the default access list, originally 17 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path). However, since the Champions League title holders (Liverpool) qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, only 16 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path). As a result, only 19 teams entered the Champions Path second qualifying round (one of the losers from the Champions League first qualifying round would be drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round).
In the default access list, originally three losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). However, since the Europa League title holders (Chelsea) qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, only two losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). As a result, the following changes to the access list were made:
The cup winners of association 18 (Israel) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
The cup winners of association 25 (Serbia) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
The cup winners of associations 50 (Wales) and 51 (Faroe Islands) entered the first qualifying round instead of the preliminary round.
Redistribution rules
A Europa League place was vacated when a team qualified for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualified for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place was vacated, it was redistributed within the national association by the following rules:
When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moving up one "place".
When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moving up one "place" if possible.
For associations where a Europa League place was reserved for either the League Cup or end-of-season European competition play-offs winners, they always qualified for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners had already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place was taken by the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[8]
CW: Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
LC: League Cup winners
RW: Regular season winners
PW: End-of-season Europa League play-offs winners
UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
PO: Losers from the play-off round
Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round
Q1: Losers from the first qualifying round
PR: Losers from the preliminary round (F: final; SF: semi-finals)
Qualified teams for 2019–20 UEFA Europa League (by entry round) Round of 32
One team not playing a national top division took part in the competition; Vaduz (representing Liechtenstein) played in 2019–20 Swiss Challenge League, which is Switzerland's 2nd tier.
Albania (ALB):Skënderbeu would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2018–19 Albanian Superliga, but were banned from entering UEFA competitions.[9] As a result, the berth was given to the sixth-placed team of the league, Laçi, since the fifth-placed team of the league, Flamurtari, failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[10]
Belgium (BEL):Mechelen would have qualified for the Europa League group stage as the winners of the 2018–19 Belgian Cup, but were found guilty on match-fixing as part of the 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal, and thus prohibited by the Royal Belgian Football Association to take part in the 2019–20 European competitions. Mechelen appealed the decision,[11] but the final ruling was announced on 17 July 2019 by the Belgian Arbitration Court for Sports, and Mechelen remained banned,[12] and were subsequently replaced by UEFA.[13] As a result, the third-placed team of the 2018–19 Belgian First Division A, Standard Liège, entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round, the Europa League play-off winners of the league, Antwerp, entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Gent.[14]
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH):Željezničar would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth placed team of the 2018–19 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[15] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Radnik Bijeljina.
Italy (ITA):Milan qualified for the Europa League group stage as the fifth-placed of the 2018–19 Serie A, but were found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play rules and were excluded from competing in European competitions in 2019–20.[16] As a result, the sixth-placed team of the 2018–19 Serie A, Roma, entered the group stage instead of the second qualifying round, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the seventh-placed team of the league, Torino.
Lithuania (LTU):Stumbras would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth placed team of the 2018 A Lyga, but had their UEFA licence stripped.[17] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Kauno Žalgiris.[18]
North Macedonia (MKD):Vardar would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the runners-up of the 2018–19 Macedonian First Football League, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[19] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Makedonija GP.
Republic of Ireland (IRL):Waterford would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2018 League of Ireland Premier Division, but were ruled by UEFA to have not passed the "three-year rule" as the club were reformed in 2016.[20] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, St Patrick's Athletic.
Champions League (UCL Q1):Sarajevo were drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round, as one fewer loser from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path), due to a Champions League group stage berth vacated by the Champions League title holders.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[21] Matches could also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
The competition was suspended on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[22] A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season.[23] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced the revised schedule for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the competition, to be played in single-leg matches.[3]
Due to the varying rates of transmission of COVID-19 across European countries during the time of the Round of 16 first leg ties, different matches were affected in different ways. Because of this severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy at the time, the games involving Inter Milan and A.S. Roma were postponed,[24] whereas games hosted in Greece, Germany, and Austria went ahead but behind closed doors.[25] Games hosted in Turkey and Scotland went ahead as normal. On 15 March, UEFA announced that none of the Round of 16 second leg ties would go ahead in the following week, postponing them indefinitely,[26] with a taskforce convened to reschedule the rest of the season.[23] On 23 March, it was announced that the Stadion Energa Gdańsk in Gdańsk, Poland would no longer host the competition Final, originally scheduled for 27 May, but would host the 2021 Final instead.[27]
On 17 June it was announced that the Europa League would return on 5 August and conclude on 21 August,[3] with a last-eight tournament to be held across four venues in Germany.[28] The remainder of the competition would be played in a mini-tournament style with remaining fixture to be played as single legged ties except for the Round of 16 fixtures where the first leg had already been played.[29] All remaining ties of the competition were played behind closed doors due to the remaining presence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[25]
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients,[30] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
Preliminary round
In the preliminary round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients,[30] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
The draw for the preliminary round was held on 11 June 2019.[31]
The first legs were played on 27 June, and the second legs on 2 and 4 July 2019.
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2019.[32]
The first legs were played on 9, 10 and 11 July, and the second legs on 16, 17 and 18 July 2019.
^ abcdefghijOrder of legs reversed after original draw.
Second qualifying round
The second qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for cup winners and league non-champions).
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2019.[33]
The first legs were played on 23, 24 and 25 July, and the second legs on 30, 31 July and 1 August 2019.
The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for cup winners and league non-champions).
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 22 July 2019.[34]
The first legs were played on 6, 7 and 8 August, and the second legs on 13, 14 and 15 August 2019.
The play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for cup winners and league non-champions).
The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2019.[35]
The first legs were played on 22 August, and the second legs will be played on 29 August 2019.
Location of teams of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage. Brown: Group A; Green: Group B; Deep Pink: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Red: Group E; Cyan: Group F; Blue: Group G; Purple: Group H; Pink: Group I; Turquoise: Group J; Spring Green: Group K; Orange: Group L.
The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2019, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.[36] The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients.[30]
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 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays were 19 September, 3 October, 24 October, 7 November, 28 November, and 12 December 2019.
Location of Benelux teams of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage. Brown: Group A; Yellow: Group D; Cyan: Group F; Blue: Group G; Pink: Group I; Orange: Group L.
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):[5]
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 were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were 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);
In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the round of 32, the twelve group winners and the four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage with the better group records were seeded, and the twelve group runners-up and the other four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the round of 16 onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the final stages of the competition would feature a format change. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final would be played in a single-leg format from 10 to 21 August 2020 in the German cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen. The matches were tentatively played behind closed doors, though spectators could be allowed subject to a review of the situation and the decisions of the national and local government.
Following the competition restarts in August 2020, a maximum of five substitutions were allowed, with a sixth allowed in extra time. However, each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time, and at half-time in extra time. This followed a proposal from FIFA and approval by IFAB to lessen the impact of fixture congestion.[37]
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 16 December 2019, 13:00 CET.[38]
The first legs were played on 20 February, and the second legs were played on 26, 27 and 28 February 2020.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 28 February 2020, 13:00 CET.[39]
Six of the eight first leg matches were played on 12 March, while the remaining first legs and all second leg fixtures were postponed by UEFA due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[40] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that the second legs would be played on 5–6 August 2020. In July 2020, they confirmed that the second legs would be played at the home team's stadium as normal. For the two ties that had not played their first legs, the matches were instead played in a single-leg format, at neutral venues in Germany.[41][42]
The final was played at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.[43]
Votes were cast by coaches of the 48 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players was announced on 17 September 2020.[48] The award winner was announced during the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage draw in Switzerland on 2 October 2020.
Braga
Vitória de Guimarães
Celtic
Rangers
İstanbul Başakşehir
Brown: Group A; 
Green: Group B; 
Deep Pink: Group C; 
Yellow: Group D; 
Purple: Group H; 
Pink: Group I; 
Orange: Group L.
