Europa League: all you need to know about 2021/22 season

Who enters the UEFA Europa Conference League?

In all, 184 teams will be involved over the course of the season including at least one from each of the 55 associations and 46 clubs transferring from either the CL & EL.

Which teams qualify ?

Out of 32 teams no one qualifies directly:

17 teams from the UEFA Europa Conference League main path
5 teams from the UEFA Europa Conference League champions path
10 teams eliminated in the UEFA Europa League play-offs

How will it work?

There will be eight groups of four teams, followed by knockout round play-offs, the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

The eight group winners automatically go through to the last 16. Additional knockout round play-offs will then be played before the round of 16 between the eight group runners-up and the third-ranked teams of the UEFA Europa League groups.

Europa League

EL is the annual football club competition that is organized for European Clubs based on on their performance in their national leagues and cups

When is the group stage? How will qualifying work? Where is the 2022 final?

Europa League undergoes major changes in its 51st season, the 13th since it was rebranded from UEFA Cup to UEFA Europa League.

What are the dates ?

It is scheduled to run from 5 August 2021 to 18 May 2022. As previously, the eventual winners will earn an automatic place in the following season’s UEFA Champions League group stage.

What are the big changes?

The introduction of the UEFA Europa Conference League means several major changes for the UEFA Europa League.

How many teams are in the group stages?

The group stage will be reduced from 48 to 32 teams – eight groups of four. The eight group winners progress automatically to the round of 16.

There will be additional knockout round play-offs prior to the round of 16; these will be between the eight UEFA Europa League group runners-up and the eight third-ranked teams of the UEFA Champions League groups.

Matches will continue to be played on Thursday (other than the final), now alongside UEFA Europa Conference League games. The matches of the two competitions will in principle be equally split between the two time slots: 18:45 CET (no longer 18:55) and 21:00 CET.

Who will be in the group stage?

12 teams automatic qualified
10 teams UEFA Europa League play-off winners
10 teams that will be transferred from the UEFA Champions League play-offs and third qualifying round.

ESP: Real Sociedad, Real Betis
ENG: Leicester, West Ham
GER: Eintracht Frankfurt, Leverkusen
ITA: Napoli, Lazio
FRA: Lyon, Marseille
POR: Braga
RUS: Lokomotiv Moskva

When is the Europa Conference League 2021 final?

The 2021 Europa League final will be played on Wednesday May 26. The kick-off time for the game is 8pm BST (3pm ET).

This year’s final takes place three days before the Champions League final, which is scheduled for Saturday May 29.

How does qualifying work?

Qualifying is much-changed, featuring 27 teams across two rounds: the third qualifying round and play-offs. It starts later than previously, in August.

The majority of teams involved in qualifying will have transferred from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa Conference League though some teams (in principle cup winners) from top 15-ranked associations begin directly in UEFA Europa League qualifying.

When will matches and draws take place?

Qualifying
5 & 12 August 2021: Third qualifying round
19 & 26 August 2021: Play-offs

Group stage
16 September 2021: Matchday 1
30 September 2021: Matchday 2
21 October 2021: Matchday 3
4 November 2021: Matchday 4
25 November 2021: Matchday 5
9 December 2021: Matchday 6

Knockout stages
17 & 24 February 2022: Knockout round play-offs
10 & 17 March 2022: Round of 16
7 & 14 April 2022: Quarter-finals
28 April & 5 May 2022: Semi-finals
18 May 2022: Final

Draws
19 July 2021, 13:30 CET: Third qualifying round
2 August 2021, 13:30 CET: Play-off round
27 August 2021, 13:00 CET: Group stage
13 December 2021, 13:30 CET: Knockout round play-offs
25 February 2022, 13:00 CET: Round of 16
18 March 2022, 13:30 CET: Quarter-finals & Semi-finals