2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League explained

Tourney Name:	UEFA Europa Conference League
Year:	2021–22
Size:	275
Dates:	Qualifying: 6 July – 26 August 2021 Competition proper: 14 September 2021 – 25 May 2022
Num Teams:	Competition proper: 32+8 Total: 136+45
Associations:	54
Champion Other:	Roma
Count:	1
Second Other:	Feyenoord
Matches:	140
Goals:	401
Top Scorer:	Cyriel Dessers (Feyenoord) 10 goals
Player:	Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)^[1]
Young Player:	^[2]
Nextseason:	2022–23

The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.

The final was played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania,^[3] with Roma defeating Feyenoord 1–0.^{[4] [5]} As winners, Roma automatically qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage, although they had already done so through their league position.^[6]

This season was the first since 1999–2000 (the first season after the dissolution of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) where three major European club competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Europa Conference League) took place.^[7]

On 24 June 2021, UEFA approved the proposal to abolish the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions, which had been used since 1965. Therefore, if in a two-legged tie, two teams scored the same number of aggregate goals, the winner was not decided by the number of away goals scored by each team, but always by 30 minutes of extra time, and if the two teams scored the same number of goals in extra time, the winner was decided by a penalty shoot-out.^[8]

Association team allocation

A total of 181 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League (the exception being Spain, as none of their teams finished third in the Europa League group stage). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:^[9]

• Associations 1–5 each had one team qualify.
  • Association 1 (Spain) did not have any team qualify for this season, as the team which would have participated, Villarreal, won the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League and earned a place in the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.^{[10] [11]}
• Associations 6–15 and 51–55 each had two teams qualify.
• Associations 16–50 (except Liechtenstein) each had three teams qualify.
  • As the UEFA Europa Conference League title holders' berth in the UEFA Europa League was vacant this season, association 16 (Cyprus) had their domestic cup winner promoted from the Europa Conference League to the Europa League, so they only had two teams qualify.
• Liechtenstein had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organised only a domestic cup and no domestic league).
• Moreover, 20 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League and 26 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League were transferred to the Europa Conference League.
  • For this season, only 19 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League were transferred, as there was one fewer team competing in the Champions Path qualifying of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.

Association ranking

For the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2020 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2015–16 to 2019–20.^[12]

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

• – Additional/vacated teams transferred from/to the UEFA Champions League
• – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Europa League

Association ranking for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 102.283 align=center rowspan=5 1 2 90.462 3 74.784 4 70.653 5 59.248 6 49.449 align=center rowspan=11 2 7 45.549 8 37.900 9 36.100 10 35.750 11 33.600 12 32.925 13 29.250 14 27.875 15 27.300 16 26.750 17 26.400 align=center rowspan=3 3 18 26.300 19 25.500

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 20 24.875 align=center rowspan=11 3 21 22.750 22 21.750 23 19.625 24 19.250 25 18.875 26 18.750 27 17.375 28 16.700 29 16.625 30 15.875 31 13.500 1 32 13.000 align=center rowspan=6 3 33 12.875 34 8.000 35 7.875 36 7.625 37 7.625

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 38 7.375 align=center rowspan=13 3 39 7.375 40 6.875 41 6.750 42 6.700 43 6.500 44 5.750 45 5.750 46 5.375 47 5.000 48 4.875 49 4.750 50 4.375 51 4.375 align=center rowspan=5 2 52 4.000 53 3.750 54 2.831 55 0.666

Distribution

The following is the access list for this season.^[13] In the default access list, the title holders of the Europa Conference League qualify for the Europa League group stage. However, since this berth was vacant this season, the following changes to the access list were made:

• The cup winners of association 16 (Cyprus) enter the Europa League third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
• The cup winners of associations 30 (Slovakia) and 31 (Liechtenstein) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.

As Villarreal, which otherwise would have qualified for the Europa Conference League play-off round via their domestic league, won the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, thereby earning an automatic spot in the Champions League group stage as the Europa League title holders, thus vacating a berth in the play-off round and not passed down to any other Spanish club. The following changes were confirmed by UEFA:^[14]

• The domestic cup winners of associations 17 (Switzerland) and 18 (Greece) enter the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
• The domestic cup winners of associations 32 to 35 (Slovenia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Lithuania) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.

Moreover, in the default access list, originally 17 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa Conference League second qualifying round (Champions Path). However, since the Champions League title holders, Chelsea, which were guaranteed a berth in the Champions League group stage, already qualified via their domestic league, only 16 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa Conference League second qualifying round (Champions Path) after the Champions League access list was rebalanced. As a result, only 19 teams entered the Champions Path second qualifying round (one of the losers from the Champions League first qualifying round was drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round).

Access list for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League

		Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from previous round	Teams transferred from Champions League or Europa League
First qualifying round (66 teams)		20 domestic cup winners from associations 36–55 25 domestic league runners-up from associations 30–55 (except Liechtenstein) 21 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 29–50 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round (108 teams)	Champions Path (18 teams)			3 teams eliminated from Champions League preliminary round 15 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
	Main Path (90 teams)	17 domestic cup winners from associations 19–35 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29 16 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–28 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6	33 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round (64 teams)	Champions Path (10 teams)		9 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)	1 team eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
	Main Path (54 teams)	2 domestic cup winners from associations 17–18 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6	45 winners from the second qualifying round (Main Path)
Play-off round (44 teams)	Champions Path (10 teams)		5 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)	5 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round (Champions Path)
	Main Path (34 teams)	1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 5 3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (EFL Cup winners for England) (except Europa League title holder)	27 winners from the third qualifying round (Main Path)	3 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path)
Group stage (32 teams)			5 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path) 17 winners from the play-off round (Main Path)	10 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round
Preliminary knockout round (16 teams)			8 group runners-up from the group stage	8 group third-placed teams from Europa League group stage
Knockout phase (16 teams)			8 group winners from the group stage 8 winners from the preliminary knockout round

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

• CW: Domestic cup winners
• 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position of the previous season
• LC: League cup winners
• RW: Regular season winners
• PW: End-of-season Europa Conference League play-offs winners
• UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
  • Q1: Losers from the first qualifying round
  • PR: Losers from the preliminary round (F: final; SF: semi-finals)
• UEL: Transferred from the Europa League
  • GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
  • PO: Losers from the play-off round
  • CH/MP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/Main Path)
• Abd-: League positions of abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as determined by the national association; all teams were subject to approval by UEFA as per the guidelines for entry to European competitions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[15]

The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).

CC: 2021 UEFA club coefficients.^[16]

Three teams not playing in a national top division took part in the competition: Gagra (2nd tier), Sileks (2nd tier) and Vaduz (2nd tier).

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.^[17] Matches were scheduled for Thursdays apart from the final, which took place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts (especially featuring teams from countries where there were very few sufficient stadiums, such as Gibraltar and Wales). Scheduled kick-off times starting from the group stage were 18:45 (instead of 18:55 previously) and 21:00 CEST/CET, though exceptionally could take place at 16:30 due to geographical reasons.^[18]

All draws started at 13:00 or 14:00 CEST/CET and were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. On 16 July 2021, UEFA announced that the group stage draw would be held in Istanbul, Turkey.^[19]

Schedule for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	15 June 2021	8 July 2021	15 July 2021
	Second qualifying round	16 June 2021	22 July 2021	29 July 2021
	Third qualifying round	19 July 2021	5 August 2021	12 August 2021
Play-offs	Play-off round	2 August 2021	19 August 2021	26 August 2021
Group stage	Matchday 1	27 August 2021	16 September 2021
	Matchday 2		30 September 2021
	Matchday 3		21 October 2021
	Matchday 4		4 November 2021
	Matchday 5		25 November 2021
	Matchday 6		9 December 2021
Knockout phase	Knockout round play-offs	13 December 2021	17 February 2022	24 February 2022
	Round of 16	25 February 2022	10 March 2022	17 March 2022
	Quarter-finals	18 March 2022	7 April 2022	14 April 2022
	Semi-finals		28 April 2022	5 May 2022
	Final		25 May 2022 at Arena Kombëtare, Tirana

Qualifying rounds

Third qualifying round

Group stage

See main article: 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage.

The draw for the group stage was held on 27 August 2021, 13:30 CEST (14:30 TRT), in Istanbul, Turkey.^{[19] [20]} The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.^[16] Teams from the same association, and due to political reasons, teams from Azerbaijan and Armenia, could not be drawn into the same group. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed pairings of teams from the same association, including those playing in the Europa League group stage (one pairing for associations with two or three teams, two pairings for associations with four or five teams), based on television audiences, where one team was drawn into Groups A–D and another team was drawn into Groups E–H, so that the two teams would have different kick-off times.^[21]

The matches were played on 14 and 16 September, 30 September, 21 October, 4 November, 25 November, and 9 December 2021. The winners of each group advanced to the round of 16, while the runners-up advanced to the knockout round play-offs. The third-placed and fourth-placed teams were eliminated from European competitions for the season.

All teams made their debut appearance in the group stage. Alashkert, Bodø/Glimt, Flora, Kairat, Lincoln Red Imps, Mura, Randers and Union Berlin made their debut appearances in a UEFA competition group stage. Alashkert, Flora and Lincoln Red Imps were the first teams from Armenia, Estonia and Gibraltar, respectively, to play in a UEFA competition group stage.

Group H

Knockout phase

See main article: 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League knockout phase.

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.

Final

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank^[22]	Player	Team	Goals	Minutes played
1	Cyriel Dessers	Feyenoord	10	761
2	Tammy Abraham	Roma	9	919
3	Yira Sor	Slavia Prague	6	509
	Ola Solbakken	Bodø/Glimt		983
	Luis Sinisterra	Feyenoord		1016
6	Gaëtan Laborde	Rennes	5	463
	Arthur Cabral	Basel		492
	Nicolò Zaniolo	Roma		601
	Amahl Pellegrino	Bodø/Glimt		925

Team of the Season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.^[23]

	Player	Team
	Rui Patrício	Roma
	Lutsharel Geertruida	Feyenoord
	Chris Smalling	Roma
	Gernot Trauner	Feyenoord
	Tyrell Malacia	Feyenoord
	Lorenzo Pellegrini	Roma
	Dimitri Payet	Marseille
	Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall	Leicester City
	Luis Sinisterra	Feyenoord
	Cyriel Dessers	Feyenoord
	Tammy Abraham	Roma

Player of the Season

• Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)^[1]

Young Player of the Season

• Luis Sinisterra (Feyenoord)^[24]

See also

• 2021–22 UEFA Champions League
• 2021–22 UEFA Europa League
• 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2021–22 UEFA Youth League

Notes and References

1. News: 27 May 2022. Lorenzo Pellegrini named UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season. 27 May 2022. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
2. News: 27 May 2022. Luis Sinisterra named UEFA Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season. 27 May 2022 . UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
3. News: Tirana to host first UEFA Europa Conference League Final . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 3 December 2020 . 3 December 2020 . 18 January 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210118130048/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/0264-11008e81d161-577edb45950b-1000/ . live .
4. News: Roma 1–0 Feyenoord: Zaniolo strike wins the first Europa Conference League final . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 25 May 2022 . 25 May 2022.
5. Web site: Roma 1–0 Feyenoord. BBC Sport. 25 May 2022. 25 May 2022.
6. News: UEFA Europa Conference League: what is it? When does it start? Who's involved? . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 31 October 2019 . 21 February 2020 . 22 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200822195539/https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/0256-0e9a05634e35-236276d37822-1000--uefa-europa-conference-league-what-is-it-when-does-it-start-who/?referrer=%2Fnews%2Fnewsid%3D2629443%2F . live .
7. News: UEFA Executive Committee approves new club competition . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 December 2018 . 2 December 2018 . 13 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190513044147/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid%3D2585829.html . live .
8. News: Abolition of the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2021.
9. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League, 2021/22 Season . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2021 . 30 April 2021.
10. Web site: 2021-05-26 . Villarreal make it five Spanish clubs in 2021/22 Champions League . 2024-05-28 . MARCA . en.
11. Web site: Johnson . Dale . 2021-07-06 . UEFA Europa Conference League: All you need to know . 2024-05-28 . ESPN.com . en.
12. Web site: Country coefficients 2019/20 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2020 . 16 February 2020 . 4 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191204125228/https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/#/yr/2020 . live .
13. Web site: Access list 2021–24 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 February 2020 . 4 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181204074949/https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/General/02/58/61/42/2586142_DOWNLOAD.pdf . live .
14. Web site: 30 May 2021. Seeding in the Europa Conference League 2021/2022. live. Kassiesa.net. https://web.archive.org/web/20210416145332/https://kassiesa.net/uefa/seedecl2021.html . 16 April 2021 .
15. Web site: Guidelines on eligibility principles for 2020/21 UEFA Club Competitions – COVID 19. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 April 2020. 1 November 2020. 25 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201125043259/https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/uefaorg/General/02/64/17/45/2641745_DOWNLOAD.pdf. live.
16. Web site: Club coefficients 2020/21 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations .
17. News: UEFA Europa Conference League: all you need to know . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 December 2020 . 2 December 2020.
18. Web site: Format change for 2020/21 UEFA Nations League . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 24 September 2019 . 17 February 2020 . 26 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190926223650/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid=2625412.html . live .
19. News: Venues appointed for club competition finals . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 July 2021 . 16 July 2021.
20. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League group stage draw. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 27 August 2021.
21. Web site: Europa Conference League group stage draw pots confirmed. UEFA.com. 27 August 2021.
22. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League – Top Scorers. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 25 May 2022.
23. News: 2021/22 Europa Conference League Team of the Season. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 27 May 2022 . 27 May 2022.
24. News: 27 May 2022. Luis Sinisterra named UEFA Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season. 27 May 2022 . UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.