2023–24 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round

The 2023–24 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 8 August and ended on 31 August 2023.[1]

A total of 27 teams competed in the qualifying system which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round. The 10 winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage, to join the 12 teams that entered in the group stage, the six losers of the Champions League play-off round (four from Champions Path and two from League Path) and the four League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round.[2]

Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Teams

In the third qualifying round (which was the first round of the qualification for the Europa League), the teams were divided into two paths:

The winners of the third qualifying round were combined into a single path for the play-off round:

All teams eliminated from the qualifying phase and play-off round entered the Europa Conference League:

Below were the participating teams (with their 2023 UEFA club coefficients, not to be used as seeding for qualifying phase and play-off round, however),[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Key to colours
Winners of play-off round advanced to group stage
Losers of play-off round entered Europa Conference League group stage
Losers of third qualifying round entered Europa Conference League play-off round
Play-off round
Team Coeff.[3]
Netherlands Ajax 89.000
Croatia Dinamo Zagreb [CH Q3] 55.000
Austria LASK 36.000
Slovakia Slovan Bratislava [CH Q3] 24.500
Belgium Union Saint-Gilloise 19.000
Ukraine Zorya Luhansk 16.000
Czech Republic Sparta Prague [CH Q3] 14.000
Slovenia Olimpija Ljubljana [CH Q3] 9.000
Faroe Islands [CH Q3] 8.000
Scotland Aberdeen 8.000
Serbia Čukarički 6.475
Switzerland Lugano 6.335
Cyprus Aris Limassol [CH Q3] 4.895
Third qualifying round (Champions Path)
Team Coeff.[3]
Azerbaijan Qarabağ [CH Q2] 25.000
Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad [CH Q2] 21.000
Moldova Sheriff Tiraspol [CH Q2] 19.500
Belarus BATE Borisov [CH Q2] 15.000
Kazakhstan Astana [CH Q2] 14.000
Lithuania Žalgiris [CH Q2] 11.000
Finland HJK [CH Q2] 11.000
Bosnia and Herzegovina Zrinjski Mostar [CH Q2] 8.500
Iceland Breiðablik [CH Q2] 6.000
Sweden BK Häcken [CH Q2] 4.750
Third qualifying round (Main Path)
Team Coeff.[3]
Czech Republic Slavia Prague 52.000
Greece Olympiacos 39.000
Belgium Genk [LP Q2] 18.000
Ukraine Dnipro-1 [LP Q2] 8.000
Notes
  1. CH Q3 Losers of Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path).
  2. CH Q2 Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path).
  3. LP Q2 Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (League Path).

Format

Each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals was scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out.[4]

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[1][5] Matches were scheduled for Thursdays, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.

Schedule for the qualifying phase of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League
Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Third qualifying round 24 July 2023 10 August 2023 17 August 2023
Play-off round 7 August 2023 24 August 2023 31 August 2023

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 24 July 2023.

Seeding

A total of 14 teams played in the qualifying round. They were divided into two paths:

  • Champions Path (10 teams): 10 losers of the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path), whose identity was not known at the time of draw. There was no seeding.
  • Main Path (4 teams): The teams were seeded as follows:
    • Seeded: 2 teams which entered in this round.
    • Unseeded: 2 losers of the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round (League Path), whose identity was not known at the time of draw.

Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.

Since Olympiacos could not be drawn against Panathinaikos, they were drawn against the loser of the Servette/Genk match, and Slavia Prague were drawn against the loser of the Dnipro-1/Panathinaikos match.

Champions Path
Group 1 Group 2
Main Path
Seeded Unseeded
Notes
  1. Losers of the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw.

Summary

The first legs were played on 8 and 10 August, and the second legs were played on 17 August 2023.

The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League play-off round of their respective path.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Champions Path
Žalgiris Lithuania 1–8 Sweden BK Häcken 1–3 0–5
Qarabağ Azerbaijan 4–2 Finland HJK 2–1 2–1
Zrinjski Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina 6–3 Iceland Breiðablik 6–2 0–1
Sheriff Tiraspol Moldova 7–3 Belarus BATE Borisov 5–1 2–2
Astana Kazakhstan 3–6 Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad 2–1 1–5
Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Main Path
Olympiacos Greece 2–1 Belgium Genk 1–0 1–1
Slavia Prague Czech Republic 4–1 Ukraine Dnipro-1 3–0 1–1

Champions Path

Žalgiris Lithuania1–3Sweden BK Häcken
  • Hnid 85'
Report[7]
Attendance: 4,789[6]
BK Häcken Sweden5–0Lithuania Žalgiris
Report[9]

BK Häcken won 8–1 on aggregate.


Qarabağ Azerbaijan2–1Finland HJK
Report[11]
HJK Finland1–2Azerbaijan Qarabağ
Report[13]
Attendance: 7,612[12]

Qarabağ won 4–2 on aggregate.


Zrinjski Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina6–2Iceland Breiðablik
Report[15]
Breiðablik Iceland1–0Bosnia and Herzegovina Zrinjski Mostar
Report[17]

Zrinjski Mostar won 6–3 on aggregate.


Sheriff Tiraspol Moldova5–1Belarus BATE Borisov
Report[19]
BATE Borisov Belarus2–2Moldova Sheriff Tiraspol
Report[22]

Sheriff Tiraspol won 7–3 on aggregate.


Astana Kazakhstan2–1Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad
Report[24]
Attendance: 23,967[23]
Ludogorets Razgrad Bulgaria5–1Kazakhstan Astana
Report[26]

Ludogorets Razgrad won 6–3 on aggregate.

Main Path

Olympiacos Greece1–0Belgium Genk
Report[28]
Attendance: 24,123[27]
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Genk Belgium1–1Greece Olympiacos
Report[30]
Attendance: 11,998[29]

Olympiacos won 2–1 on aggregate.


Slavia Prague Czech Republic3–0Ukraine Dnipro-1
Report[32]
Attendance: 19,102[31]
Dnipro-1 Ukraine1–1Czech Republic Slavia Prague
Rubchynskyi 45+1' Report[35] Jurečka 52'

Slavia Prague won 4–1 on aggregate.

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 August 2023.

Seeding

A total of 20 teams played in the play-off round. The teams were seeded into four "priority groups":

  • Priority 1: The 6 teams from the higher ranking association which entered in this round
  • Priority 2: 6 losers of the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path), whose identity was not known at the time of the draw
  • Priority 3: 5 winners of the third qualifying round (Champions Path), whose identity was not known at the time of the draw
  • Priority 4: The remaining team which entered in this round and 2 winners of the third qualifying round (Main Path), whose identity was not known at the time of the draw

The procedure of the draw was as follows:

  1. Three teams from Pot 1 (Priority 1) were paired with the three teams in Pot 4 (Priority 4).
  2. The three remaining Pot 1 (Priority 1) teams would then be paired with teams from Pot 3 (Priority 3).
  3. The two remaining Pot 3 (Priority 3) teams work would then be paired with teams from Pot 2 (Priority 2).
  4. The four remaining Pot 2 (Priority 2) balls were then drawn one after another to complete the ninth and tenth pairings (open draw).

Association protection was not applied. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.

Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3 Priority 4
Notes
  1. Winners of the third qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw.
  2. †† Losers of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw.

Summary

The first legs were played on 24 August and the second legs were played on 31 August 2023.

The winners of the ties advanced to the group stage. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League group stage.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Slavia Prague Czech Republic 3–2 Ukraine Zorya Luhansk 2–0 1–2
Olympiacos Greece 6–1 Serbia Čukarički 3–1 3–0
Union Saint-Gilloise Belgium 3–0 Switzerland Lugano 2–0 1–0
Ludogorets Razgrad Bulgaria 2–4 Netherlands Ajax 1–4 1–0
BK Häcken Sweden 5–3 Scotland Aberdeen 2–2 3–1
LASK Austria 3–2 Bosnia and Herzegovina Zrinjski Mostar 2–1 1–1
Faroe Islands 2–3 Moldova Sheriff Tiraspol 1–1 1–2
Olimpija Ljubljana Slovenia 1–3 Azerbaijan Qarabağ 0–2 1–1
Slovan Bratislava Slovakia 4–7 Cyprus Aris Limassol 2–1 2–6
Dinamo Zagreb Croatia 4–5 Czech Republic Sparta Prague 3–1 1–4

Matches

Slavia Prague Czech Republic2–0Ukraine Zorya Luhansk
Report[37]
Attendance: 18,522[36]
Zorya Luhansk Ukraine2–1Czech Republic Slavia Prague
Report[39]
Attendance: 964[38]

Slavia Prague won 3–2 on aggregate.


Olympiacos Greece3–1Serbia Čukarički
Report[41]
Čukarički Serbia0–3Greece Olympiacos
Report[43]

Olympiacos won 6–1 on aggregate.


Union Saint-Gilloise Belgium2–0Switzerland Lugano
Report[46]
Lugano Switzerland0–1Belgium Union Saint-Gilloise
Report[48]

Union Saint-Gilloise won 3–0 on aggregate.


Ludogorets Razgrad Bulgaria1–4Netherlands Ajax
Report[50]
Attendance: 9,880[49]
Ajax Netherlands0–1Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad
Report[52]

Ajax won 4–2 on aggregate.


BK Häcken Sweden2–2Scotland Aberdeen
Report[54]
Attendance: 4,424[53]
Aberdeen Scotland1–3Sweden BK Häcken
Report[56]

BK Häcken won 5–3 on aggregate.


LASK Austria2–1Bosnia and Herzegovina Zrinjski Mostar
Report[58]
Attendance: 8,300[57]
Zrinjski Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina1–1Austria LASK
Report[60]

LASK won 3–2 on aggregate.


Faroe Islands1–1Moldova Sheriff Tiraspol
Report[62]
Sheriff Tiraspol Moldova2–1Faroe Islands
Report[64]

Sheriff Tiraspol won 3–2 on aggregate.


Olimpija Ljubljana Slovenia0–2Azerbaijan Qarabağ
Report[66]
Qarabağ Azerbaijan1–1Slovenia Olimpija Ljubljana
Report[68]

Qarabağ won 3–1 on aggregate.


Slovan Bratislava Slovakia2–1Cyprus Aris Limassol
Report[70] Mayambela 73'
Attendance: 17,564[69]
Aris Limassol Cyprus6–2Slovakia Slovan Bratislava
Report[72]

Aris Limassol won 7–4 on aggregate.


Dinamo Zagreb Croatia3–1Czech Republic Sparta Prague
Report[74]
Attendance: 12,170[73]
Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)
Sparta Prague Czech Republic4–1Croatia Dinamo Zagreb
Report[76]
Attendance: 17,953[75]

Sparta Prague won 5–4 on aggregate.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Due to the country's involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Belarusian teams were required to play their home matches at neutral venues and behind closed doors until further notice.[20]
  2. ^ a b Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian teams were required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.[33]
  3. ^ Čukarički played their home match at the Dubočica Stadium in Leskovac, instead of their regular stadium, Čukarički Stadium, in Belgrade, which did not meet UEFA requirements.
  4. ^ Union Saint-Gilloise played their home match at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Brussels, instead of their regular stadium, Joseph Marien Stadium, Brussels, which did not meet UEFA requirements.[44]
  5. ^ Lugano played their home match at the Stade de Genève in Geneva, instead of their regular stadium, the Cornaredo Stadium in Lugano, which did not meet UEFA requirements.[44]
  6. ^ KÍ played their home match at the Tórsvøllur in Tórshavn, instead of their regular stadium, Við Djúpumýrar, in Klaksvík, which did not meet UEFA requirements.

References

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