2025–26 UEFA Europa League

2025–26 UEFA Europa League
The Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul will host the final.
Tournament details
DatesQualifying:
10 July – 28 August 2025
Competition proper:
24 September 2025 – 20 May 2026
TeamsCompetition proper: 36
Total: 45+31 (from 33–42 associations)
2026–27 →

The 2025–26 UEFA Europa League will be the 55th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 17th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

The final will be played on 21 May 2025 at Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.[1]

Association team allocation

A total of 78 teams from between 33 and 40 of the 55 UEFA member associations are expected to participate in the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 33 associations have teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 12 associations that do not have any teams directly qualifying may have teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[2]

  • 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 2025–26 UEFA Europa League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2024 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2019–20 to 2024–25.[3]

Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:

  • (UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
  • (UECL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa Conference League title holders
Association ranking for 2025–26 UEFA Europa League
Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes
1  England 104.303 2
2  Italy 90.284
3  Spain 89.489
4  Germany 86.624
5  France 66.831
6  Netherlands 61.300
7  Portugal 56.316
8  Belgium 48.800
9  Turkey 38.600
10  Czech Republic 36.050
11  Scotland 36.050
12  Switzerland 32.975
13  Austria 32.600 1
14  Norway 31.625
15  Greece 31.525
16  Denmark 31.450
17  Israel 31.125
18  Ukraine 28.000
19  Serbia 27.780
Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes
20  Croatia 25.525 1
21  Poland 25.375
22  Russia 22.965 0 [Note RUS]
23  Cyprus 22.100 1
24  Hungary 21.875
25  Sweden 21.500
26  Romania 21.375
27  Bulgaria 20.375
28  Azerbaijan 20.125
29  Slovakia 19.625
30  Slovenia 13.250
31  Moldova 13.125
32  Kosovo 11.541
33  Kazakhstan 11.500
34  Finland 11.125 0
35  Republic of Ireland 10.875
36  Armenia 10.625
37  Latvia 10.625
38  Faroe Islands 10.375
Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes
39  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10.000 0
40  Liechtenstein 10.000
41  Iceland 9.583
42  Northern Ireland 9.208
43  Luxembourg 8.625
44  Lithuania 8.500
45  Malta 8.250
46  Georgia 7.625
47  Albania 7.375
48  Estonia 7.207
49  Belarus 6.625
50  North Macedonia 6.000
51  Andorra 5.998
52  Wales 5.791
53  Montenegro 5.708
54  Gibraltar 4.957
55  San Marino 1.832

Distribution

Teams entering in this round Teams advancing from the previous round Teams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round
(12 teams)
  • 12 domestic cup winners from associations 21–33 (except Russia)[Note RUS]
Second qualifying round
(18 teams)
  • 5 domestic cup winners from association 16–20
  • 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 list have been made:

  • The cup winners of association 16 (Denmark) will enter 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:

  • ECL: 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 is divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).

Qualified teams for 2025–26 UEFA Europa League
Entry round Teams
League stage (ECL) England (CW) England (5th) Italy (CW)
Italy (5th) Spain (CW) Spain (5th) Germany (CW)
Germany (5th) France (CW) France (5th) Netherlands (CW)
Portugal (CW) (UCL CH PO) (UCL CH PO) (UCL CH PO)
(UCL CH PO) (UCL CH PO) (UCL LP PO) (UCL LP PO)
(UCL LP Q3) (UCL LP Q3) (UCL LP Q3) (UCL LP Q3)
Play-off round Belgium (CW) Turkey (CW) Czech Republic (CW) Scotland (CW)
Switzerland (CW) (UCL CH Q3) (UCL CH Q3) (UCL CH Q3)
(UCL CH Q3) (UCL CH Q3) (UCL CH Q3)
Third qualifying round CH (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2)
(UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2)
(UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2) (UCL CH Q2)
MP Austria (CW) Norway Fredrikstad (CW) Greece (CW) (UCL LP Q2)
(UCL LP Q2) (UCL LP Q2)
Second qualifying round Netherlands (4th) Portugal (3rd) Belgium (3rd) Turkey (3rd)
Czech Republic (3rd) Scotland (3rd) Switzerland (3rd)
First qualifying round Denmark (CW) Israel (CW) Ukraine (CW) Serbia (CW)
Croatia (CW) Poland (CW) Cyprus (CW) Hungary (CW)
Sweden (CW) Romania (CW) Bulgaria (CW) Azerbaijan (CW)
Slovakia (CW) Slovenia (CW) Moldova (CW) Kosovo (CW)
Kazakhstan Aktobe (CW)
  1. ^
    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.[4] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[5]

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[6] 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 24 and 25.[7][8][9]

Schedule for 2025–26 UEFA Europa League
Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Qualifying First qualifying round 22 June 2025 10 July 2025 17 July 2025
Second qualifying round 23 June 2025 24 July 2025 31 July 2025
Third qualifying round 30 June 2025 7 August 2025 14 August 2025
Play-offs Play-off round 4 August 2025 21 August 2025 28 August 2025
League phase Matchday 1 29 August 2025 24–25 September 2025
Matchday 2 2 October 2025
Matchday 3 23 October 2025
Matchday 4 6 November 2025
Matchday 5 27 November 2025
Matchday 6 11 December 2025
Matchday 7 22 January 2026
Matchday 8 29 January 2026
Knockout phase Knockout round play-offs 30 January 2026 12 February 2026 19 February 2026
Round of 16 20 February 2026 5 March 2026 12 March 2026
Quarter-finals 9 April 2026 16 April 2026
Semi-finals 30 April 2026 7 May 2026
Final 20 May 2026 at Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul

See also

References

  1. ^ "Budapest to host UEFA Champions League Final 2026". Union of European Football Associations. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Regulations of the UEFA Champions League, 2024/25 Season". Nyon: UEFA. 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Association coefficients 2023/24". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Ukraine crisis: Fifa and Uefa suspend all Russian clubs and national teams". BBC.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  5. ^ "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs" (Press release). Nyon: UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  6. ^ "UEFA club competitions cycle 2024–27 ("Post 2024")". UEFA Circular Letter. No. 36/2023. Union of European Football Associations. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  7. ^ UEFA.com (25 October 2023). "New format for Champions League post-2024: Everything you need to know | UEFA Champions League". UEFA.com. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  8. ^ Sheldon, Dan. "How the new Champions League format works". The Athletic. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  9. ^ Dunbar, Graham (10 July 2023). "More national derby games possible when revamped Champions League starts next year". AP News. Retrieved 11 December 2023.