2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round explained

The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 6 July and ended on 26 August 2021.^[1]

A total of 163 teams competed in the qualifying system of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League, which includes the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 24 teams in Champions Path and 139 teams in Main Path. The 22 winners in the play-off round advanced to the group stage, to join the 10 losers of the Europa League play-off round.^[2]

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

Teams

Champions Path

See main article: 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round (Champions Path).

The Champions Path included league champions which were eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League and the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Europa League, and consisted of the following rounds:

• Second qualifying round (18 teams): 18 teams which entered this round (including 15 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round and 3 losers of the Champions League preliminary qualifying round).
• Third qualifying round (10 teams): 9 winners of the second qualifying round and 1 loser of the Champions League first qualifying round.
• Play-off round (10 teams): 5 teams which entered this round (including 5 losers of the Europa League Champions Path third qualifying round), and 5 winners of the third qualifying round.

Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2021 UEFA club coefficients, not to be used as seeding for the Champions Path, however),^[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Play-off round width=228 Team width=50 Žalgiris 6.500 Flora 6.250 Kairat 6.000 Lincoln Red Imps 5.750 Neftçi Baku 5.000

Third qualifying round width=220 Team width=60 Shamrock Rovers 4.750

Second qualifying round width=228 Team width=50 Shkëndija 9.000 Dinamo Tbilisi 6.500 Budućnost Podgorica 6.000 Riga 5.500 Linfield 5.250 Fola Esch 5.250 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 5.250 Maccabi Haifa 4.875 Connah's Quay Nomads 4.750 Valur 4.250 Bodø/Glimt 4.200 Hibernians 3.750 Teuta 2.750 HB Tórshavn 2.250 Prishtina 2.250 Borac Banja Luka 1.600 1.500 Folgore 1.000

Notes

Main Path

See main article: 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round (Main Path).

The Main Path included league non-champions, and consisted of the following rounds:

• First qualifying round (66 teams): 66 teams which entered in this round.
• Second qualifying round (90 teams): 57 teams which entered in this round, and 33 winners of the first qualifying round.
• Third qualifying round (54 teams): 9 teams which entered in this round, and 45 winners of the second qualifying round.
• Play-off round (34 teams): 7 teams which entered this round (including 3 losers of the Europa League Main Path third qualifying round), and 27 winners of the third qualifying round.

Below are the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2021 UEFA club coefficients),^[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Play-off round width=240 Team width=50 Roma 90.000 Tottenham Hotspur 88.000 Rennes 19.000 Union Berlin 14.714 Jablonec 7.000 St Johnstone 6.675 Anorthosis Famagusta 5.550 Third qualifying round width=200 Team width=50 Anderlecht 25.000 LASK 21.000 PAOK 20.000 Paços de Ferreira 9.709 Vitesse 7.840 Rubin Kazan 7.676 Kolos Kovalivka 6.620 Trabzonspor 6.020 Luzern 5.500

Second qualifying round width=200 Team width=50 Basel 49.000 Copenhagen 43.500 Viktoria Plzeň 33.500 Gent 26.500 Astana 22.500 Feyenoord 21.000 Qarabağ 21.000 FCSB 21.000 Maccabi Tel Aviv 20.500 AEK Athens 19.500 Partizan 18.000 BATE Borisov 17.500 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 17.500 Molde 17.000 Rosenborg 14.000 Rijeka 13.500 Apollon Limassol 13.500 Austria Wien 10.000 Santa Clara 9.709 CSKA Sofia 8.000 Hajduk Split 8.000 F91 Dudelange 8.000 Sochi 7.676 Aberdeen 7.500 Olimpija Ljubljana 6.750 Hibernian 6.675 Vorskla Poltava 6.620 Sivasspor 6.020 Osijek 6.000 Universitatea Craiova 6.000 AGF 5.575 AEL Limassol 5.550 Vaduz 5.500 Vojvodina 5.350 Čukarički 5.350 Slovácko 5.320 Servette 5.245 Aris 5.200 Dynamo Brest 5.000 DAC Dunajská Streda 5.000 Ashdod 4.875 Vålerenga 4.200 Hammarby IF 4.100 BK Häcken 4.100 IF Elfsborg 4.100 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 4.075 Arda 4.075 Sepsi OSK 3.640 Keşla 3.375 Sumgayit 3.375 Tobol 3.125 Shakhter Karagandy 3.125 Újpest 3.100 Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 3.050 Raków Częstochowa 3.025 Pogoń Szczecin 3.025 Panevėžys 1.750

First qualifying round width=200 Team width=50 Maribor 14.000 Fehérvár 11.500 Dundalk 10.500 Sūduva 8.750 The New Saints 7.500 Spartak Trnava 7.500 Sarajevo 6.250 Domžale 5.500 KÍ 5.250 KuPS 5.000 FH 5.000 Sutjeska 4.750 FC Santa Coloma 4.500 Partizani 4.250 Laçi 4.000 Europa 4.000 Liepāja 4.000 FCI Levadia 3.750 Drita 3.500 La Fiorita 3.250 Stjarnan 3.250 Puskás Akadémia 3.100 Śląsk Wrocław 3.025 Shkupi 3.000 Petrocub Hîncești 3.000 NSÍ Runavík 3.000 Coleraine 2.750 Tre Penne 2.750 Široki Brijeg 2.750 Žilina 2.725 Bala Town 2.500 Gżira United 2.500 Breiðablik 2.250 St Joseph's 2.250 Milsami Orhei 2.250 Urartu 2.250 Kauno Žalgiris 2.000 RFS 2.000 Inter Turku 2.000 Sileks 1.750 Racing FC 1.650 Swift Hesperange 1.650 Velež Mostar 1.600 Bohemians 1.575 Sligo Rovers 1.575 Struga 1.525 Sfîntul Gheorghe 1.500 Birkirkara 1.500 Noah 1.475 Valmiera 1.475 Ararat Yerevan 1.475 Vllaznia 1.450 Glentoran 1.391 Larne 1.391 Dinamo Batumi 1.375 Honka 1.375 Dila Gori 1.375 Gagra 1.375 Mosta 1.275 Sant Julià 1.250 Llapi 1.166 Mons Calpe 1.133 Paide Linnameeskond 1.000 Dečić 1.000 Podgorica 1.000 Newtown 1.000

Notes

Format

Each tie is played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advance to the next round. If the aggregate score is level at the end of normal time of the second leg, the away goals rule is no longer applied starting from this season.^[4] To decide the winner of the tie, extra time is played, and if the same number of goals are scored by both teams during extra time, the tie is decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).^[1]

Schedule for the qualifying phase of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League

Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
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	2 August 2021	19 August 2021	26 August 2021

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 15 June 2021, 13:30 CEST.^[5]

Seeding

A total of 66 teams played in the first qualifying round. Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.^[3] Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed eight groups, seven of four seeded teams and four unseeded teams, and one of five seeded teams and five unseeded teams, in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. Numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA, with the draw held in two runs, one for Groups 1–7 with eight teams and one for Group 8 with ten teams. The first team drawn in each tie would be the home team of the first leg.

Group 1		Group 2		Group 3		Group 4
width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded
valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top
Group 5		Group 6		Group 7		Group 8
width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded
valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

Summary

The first legs were played on 6 and 8 July, and the second legs were played on 13 and 15 July 2021.

The winners of the ties advanced to the Main Path second qualifying round. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.

Matches

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 16 June 2021, 13:30 CEST.^[6]

Seeding

A total of 108 teams played in the second qualifying round. They were divided into two paths:

• Champions Path (18 teams): The teams, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, were seeded as following:
  • Seeded: 15 of the 16 losers of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round (1 of the teams received a bye to the third qualifying round).
  • Unseeded: 3 losers of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League preliminary round.
• Main Path (90 teams): 57 teams which entered in this round, and 33 winners of the first qualifying round. Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.^[3] For the winner of the first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

Prior to the draw, UEFA formed three groups in the Champions Path of five seeded teams and one unseeded team, and nine groups in the Main Path of five seeded teams and five unseeded teams, in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. In each group of the Champions Path, firstly, a seeded team was drawn against the only unseeded team, and then, the remaining four seeded teams were drawn against each other. In the Main Path, numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA, with the draw held in one run for Groups 1–9 with ten teams. The first team drawn in each tie would be the home team of the first leg.

Champions Path

Group 1		Group 2		Group 3
width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.6%	Seeded	width=16.6%	Unseeded
valign=top	Riga Teuta Shkëndija Dinamo Tbilisi Maccabi Haifa	valign=top	Inter Club d'Escaldes	valign=top	Shakhtyor Soligorsk Borac Banja Luka Linfield Budućnost Podgorica Fola Esch	valign=top	HB Tórshavn	valign=top	Valur Bodø/Glimt Prishtina Connah's Quay Nomads Hibernians	valign=top	Folgore

Main Path

Group 1		Group 2		Group 3
width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.6%	Seeded	width=16.6%	Unseeded
valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top	Vllaznia	valign=top	Milsami Orhei RFS	valign=top	Dinamo Batumi
Group 4		Group 5		Group 6
width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.6%	Seeded	width=16.6%	Unseeded
valign=top		valign=top	Kauno Žalgiris Honka	valign=top		valign=top	Bohemians Larne	valign=top	Ararat Yerevan	valign=top	Velež Mostar
Group 7		Group 8		Group 9
width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.7%	Seeded	width=16.7%	Unseeded	width=16.6%	Seeded	width=16.6%	Unseeded
valign=top		valign=top	Birkirkara	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top

Notes

Summary

The first legs were played on 20, 21 and 22 July, and the second legs were played on 27 and 29 July 2021.

The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round of their respective path. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.

Matches

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 19 July 2021, 14:00 CEST.^[7]

Seeding

A total of 64 teams played in the third qualifying round. They were divided into two paths:

• Champions Path (10 teams): 9 winners of the second qualifying round (Champions Path), whose identity was not known at the time of draw, and 1 loser from the first qualifying round of the Champions League which received a bye to this round (Shamrock Rovers). There was no seeding. Due to political reasons, teams from Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo could not be drawn against each other, thus the winners of the ties between Borac Banja Luka/Linfield and Prishtina/Connah's Quay Nomads could not be drawn against each other.
• Main Path (54 teams): 9 teams which entered in this round, and 45 winners of the second qualifying round (Main Path). Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.^[3] For the winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

Prior to the draw, UEFA formed seven groups in the Main Path, six of four seeded teams and four unseeded teams, and one of three seeded teams and three unseeded teams, in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. In the Main Path, numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA, with the draw held in two runs, one for Groups 1–6 with eight teams and one for Group 7 with six teams. The first team drawn in each tie would be the home team of the first leg.

Champions Path

valign=top

Riga Maccabi Haifa HB Tórshavn Fola Esch Shamrock Rovers Prishtina Bodø/Glimt Hibernians Teuta

Main Path

Group 1		Group 2		Group 3		Group 4
width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded
valign=top	Dinamo Batumi	valign=top	KuPS	valign=top	Shakhter Karagandy Velež Mostar	valign=top	Újpest	valign=top		valign=top	Larne RFS	valign=top	Breiðablik	valign=top	Bohemians
Group 5		Group 6		Group 7
width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded	width=12.5%	Seeded	width=12.5%	Unseeded
valign=top	Hammarby IF Žilina Raków Częstochowa	valign=top	Tobol Lokomotiv Plovdiv	valign=top		valign=top		valign=top		valign=top	Laçi

Notes

Summary

The first legs were played on 3 and 5 August, and the second legs were played on 10 and 12 August 2021.

The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective path. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.

Matches

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2021, 14:00 CEST.^[8]

Seeding

A total of 44 teams played in the play-off round. They were divided into two paths:

• Champions Path (10 teams): The teams, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, were seeded as following:
  • Seeded: 5 losers of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round (Champions Path).
  • Unseeded: 5 winners of the third qualifying round (Champions Path).
• Main Path (34 teams): 4 teams which entered in this round, 27 winners of the third qualifying round (Main Path), and 3 losers of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). Seeding of teams was based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.^[3] For the winners of the third qualifying round and losers of the Europa League third qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

Prior to the draw, UEFA formed four groups in the Main Path, three of four seeded teams and four unseeded teams, and one of five seeded teams and five unseeded teams, in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. In the Main Path, numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA, with the draw held in two runs, one for Groups 1–3 with eight teams and one for Group 4 with ten teams. The first team drawn in each tie would be the home team of the first leg.

Champions Path

width=50%	Seeded	width=50%	Unseeded
valign=top	Lincoln Red Imps Žalgiris Kairat Flora Neftçi Baku	valign=top	Riga Fola Esch Maccabi Haifa Shamrock Rovers Bodø/Glimt

Group 1!colspan="2"

Group 2
width=25%	Seeded	width=25%	Unseeded	width=25%	Seeded	width=25%	Unseeded
valign=top		valign=top	Hammarby IF	valign=top		valign=top	St Johnstone Vitesse Shakhter Karagandy
Group 3		Group 4
Seeded	Unseeded	Seeded	Unseeded
valign=top	KuPS	valign=top	Raków Częstochowa	valign=top	Jablonec	valign=top	Trabzonspor Anorthosis Famagusta Žilina

Notes

Summary

The first legs were played on 19 August, and the second legs were played on 26 August 2021.

The winners of the ties advanced to the group stage. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.

Matches

Notes and References

1. News: UEFA Europa Conference League: all you need to know . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 December 2020 . 2 December 2020.
2. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League, 2021/22 Season . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2021 . 30 April 2021.
3. Web site: Club coefficients . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 31 May 2021 . 9 June 2021.
4. Web site: Abolition of the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions. UEFA.com. 24 June 2021.
5. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round draw. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 15 June 2021.
6. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round draw. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 16 June 2021.
7. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round draw. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 19 July 2021.
8. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round draw. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 2 August 2021.

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