As a result of the suspension of competitive football in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club were unable to play any match for 3 months since the UEL match on 12 March.[1] A restart of the Premier League was made on 17 June,[2] with the club returning to action 3 days later.[3]
The team repeated their 7th-place finish of the previous Premier League season – with an improved points tally – but, as a result of Arsenal winning the FA Cup, this position was not sufficient to qualify for the UEFA Europa League again.[4] A top-6 position would only have been guaranteed with victory on the final day, but Wolves lost 0–2 at Chelsea.[5] Their continental campaign concluded at the quarter-final stage of a modified single-leg final tournament in Germany with defeat to the eventual winners Sevilla, lasting 383 days in total[6] and signified their best performance in a UEFA competition since reaching the inaugural UEFA Cup Final in 1972.
Competitions
Pre-season
Wolves were one of four teams invited to take part in the biennial Premier League Asia Trophy, which the team won. Owing to their participation in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, these were the only other games the club undertook before the start of the 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[7] Notes:
^Since the winners of the 2019–20 EFL Cup, Manchester City, qualified for the Champions League group stage by league position, the spot given to the EFL Cup winners (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed down to the sixth-placed team.
^Arsenal qualified for the Europa League group stage as the 2019–20 FA Cup winners.
Updated to match(es) played on 26 July 2020. Source: Premier League A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss
Results
The provisional fixture list was released on 13 June 2019, but was subject to change in the event of matches being selected for television coverage or police concerns.[8] The coronavirus pandemic caused the suspension of all fixtures scheduled between 11 March and the planned end of the season on 17 May. Revised fixture lists for the matchdays following the resumption of the league were published on 5 June and 18 June 2020.[9][10]
As a Premier League team, Wolves entered the competition at the third round proper stage in January 2020. The third round draw was made live on BBC Two from Etihad Stadium on 3 December 2019, Micah Richards and Tony Adams conducted the draw.[11]
As a Premier League team involved in European competition, Wolves enter the competition in the third round. The third round draw was confirmed on 28 August 2019, live on Sky Sports.[12] The draw for the fourth round was made on 25 September 2019.[13]
As a result of their seventh place league finish in the previous season as well as Manchester City winning all 3 domestic trophies on offer that season, Wolves entered the competition in the second round qualifying round whose draw was confirmed on 19 June 2019.[14] The draw for the third round qualifying round was made on 22 July 2019 prior to the second round qualifying-round matches.[15] The play-off round draw was announced on 5 August 2019.[16] Wolves were seeded in all three draws.
The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2019. The club were drawn from pot 3 into Group K to face Beşiktaş, Braga and Slovan Bratislava.[17]
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 16 December 2019. The club was unseeded due to finishing as runners-up in the group stage.[18] The round of 16 ties were determined by an open draw held on 28 February 2020.[19] The return leg of the team's round of 16 tie was postponed from its original date of 19 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] In order to conclude the competition as promptly as possible, UEFA decided to organise a single-leg mini tournament in Germany for the final eight teams.[21] An open draw was conducted to this end on 10 July 2020.[22]
Wolves were one of the sixteen teams from outside the bottom two divisions of the English Football League to be invited to field their academy team in the competition due to it holding Category 1 academy status. They were drawn into Group G in the Northern section, from which they advanced in second place. Note: In group stage matches which were level at the end of 90 minutes a penalty shoot-out was held, with the winner earning a bonus point.
^Jiménez was suspended vs Besiktas (h) due to accumulating two yellow cards in UEFA competitions.
^Boly was suspended vs Chelsea (h) due to receiving a second yellow card vs Everton (a).
^Jota was suspended vs Slovan Bratislava (h) due to receiving a second yellow card vs Slovan Bratislava (a).
^Saïss was suspended vs Reading (h) due to receiving a second yellow card vs Crystal Palace (a) and vs Sheffield United (h) due to accumulating a further five yellow cards.
^This was originally to be a season-long loan but Giles was recalled during the January transfer window.[69]
Kits
Home
Home alt.
Away
Away alt.1
Away alt.2
Third
Notes
^ abcdefghiPlayed behind closed doors due to social distancing restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
^All ties in the FA Cup third round begin a minute later than normal to encourage fans to "Take A Minute" to think about looking after their mental health as part of the Heads Up campaign.
^Bastian Dankert (Germany) was originally appointed to referee this match by UEFA but was replaced due to injury.
^This match was officially behind closed doors due to UEFA sanctions imposed against the home team arising from crowd disorder and unrest at their play-off round tie against PAOK. Under UEFA rules, children aged under 14 were still allowed to attend such games (free of charge), with one adult for every 10 children also allowed entry to act as a supervisor. Wolves were allowed a restricted allocation of 200 tickets.
^This match was played behind closed doors after the Greek authorities imposed a ban on public gatherings due to fears after the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
^This match was played behind closed doors after UEFA decided that all its competitions would continue in this manner due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
^This match was played behind closed doors after UEFA decided that all its competitions will continue in this manner due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
^"官方:狼队中国00后小将王佳豪加盟南通支云" [Official: Wolves Chinese teenager Wang Jiahao joins Nantong Zhiyun]. nb.sportscn.com (in Chinese). 25 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.