2022–23 UEFA Europa League explained

Tourney Name:	UEFA Europa League
Year:	2022–23
Dates:	Qualifying: 4–25 August 2022 Competition proper: 8 September 2022 – 31 May 2023
Num Teams:	Competition proper: 32+8 Total: 21+36
Associations:	33
Champion Other:	Sevilla
Count:	7
Second Other:	Roma
Matches:	141
Goals:	381
Top Scorer:	6 goals each
Player:	Jesús Navas (Sevilla)^[1]
Prevseason:	2021–22
Nextseason:	2023–24

The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League was the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

Sevilla defeated Roma in the final played at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary, 4–1 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time, winning the competition for a record-extending seventh time.^[2] Budapest was originally scheduled to host the final match for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, but several hosts were shifted because of the delay and ultimate relocation of the 2020 final due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]

As winners of the tournament, Sevilla automatically qualified for the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League group stage and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League, Manchester City, in the 2023 UEFA Super Cup.

As the title holders, Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. They were unable to defend their title after advancing to the knockout phase, and were eliminated by Napoli in the first knockout round.

Association team allocation

A total of 57 teams from 33 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 15 associations had teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 40 associations that did not have any teams directly qualifying, 18 of them had teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League (the only member associations which could not have a participant were Russia and Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league, and could only enter their cup winner into the UEFA Europa Conference League given their association ranking). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:^[4]

• The title holders of the UEFA Europa Conference League were given an entry in the Europa League (as they did not qualify for the Champions League group stage).
• Associations 1–5 each had two teams qualify.
• Associations 6–7 and 9–15 each had one team qualify.
• 36 teams eliminated from the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League.

Association ranking

For the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2021 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2016–17 to 2020–21.^[5]

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

• – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
• – Additional berth for UEFA Europa Conference League title holders

Association ranking for 2022–23 UEFA Europa League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 100.569 align=center rowspan=5 2 2 97.855 3 75.438 4 73.570 5 56.081 6 48.549 align=center rowspan=2 1 7 39.200 8 38.382 0 9 36.500 align=center rowspan=9 1 10 35.825 11 33.375 12 33.100 13 30.100 14 27.875 15 27.750 16 26.750 17 26.600 18 26.275 align=center rowspan=2 0 19 26.225

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 20 26.000 align=center rowspan=18 0 21 24.375 22 21.000 23 20.500 24 20.375 25 18.200 26 16.875 27 15.625 28 15.500 29 15.250 30 15.125 31 14.250 32 13.625 33 9.000 34 8.750 35 8.250 36 8.000 37 7.875

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 38 7.625 align=center rowspan=18 0 39 7.375 40 7.375 41 7.250 42 6.958 43 6.875 44 6.875 45 6.875 46 6.375 47 6.125 48 5.833 49 5.666 50 5.000 51 5.000 52 4.875 53 4.750 54 3.331 55 1.166

Distribution

The following is the access list for this season.^[6]

Access list for 2022–23 UEFA Europa League

		Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from previous round	Teams transferred from Champions League
Third qualifying round (14 teams)	Champions Path (10 teams)			10 teams eliminated from Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path)
	Main Path (4 teams)	2 domestic cup winners from associations 16–17		2 teams eliminated from Champions League second qualifying round (League Path)
Play-off round (20 teams)		7 domestic cup winners from associations 8–15 (except Russia)	5 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path) 2 winners from the third qualifying round (Main Path)	6 teams eliminated from Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path)
Group stage (32 teams)		7 domestic cup winners from associations 1–7 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 5 4 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–4	10 winners from the play-off round	4 teams eliminated from Champions League play-off round (Champions Path) 2 teams eliminated from Champions League play-off round (League Path) 4 teams eliminated from Champions League third qualifying round (League Path)
Preliminary knockout round (16 teams)			8 group runners-up from the group stage	8 group third-placed teams from Champions League group stage
Knockout phase (16 teams)			8 group winners from the group stage 8 winners from the preliminary knockout round

Due to the suspension of Russia for the 2022–23 European season, the following changes to the access list were made:

• The cup winners of associations 13 (Turkey) and 14 (Denmark) enter the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round.
• The cup winners of association 16 (Serbia) enter the third qualifying round instead of the Europa Conference League second qualifying round.

Since the Europa Conference League title holders (Roma) qualified through their league position, the following changes to the access list were made:

• The cup winners of association 7 (Netherlands) enter the group stage instead of the play-off round.
• The cup winners of association 15 (Cyprus) enter the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round.
• The cup winners of association 17 (Czech Republic) enter the third qualifying round instead of the Europa Conference League second qualifying round.

Redistribution rules

A Europa League place was vacated when a team qualified for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualified for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place was vacated, it was redistributed within the national association by the following rules:

• When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moved up one "place".
• When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moved up one "place" if possible.
• For associations where a Europa League place was reserved for either the League Cup or end-of-season European competition play-offs winners, they always qualified for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners had already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place was taken by the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions.

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
• 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season
• Abd-: League positions of abandoned season as determined by the national association; all teams were subject to approval by UEFA
• UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
  • GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
  • 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 was divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).

CC: 2022 UEFA club coefficients.^[7]

Qualified teams for 2022–23 UEFA Europa League

Entry round		Teams
Knockout round play-offs
Group stage	Roma ^ECL
Play-off round
Third qualifying round
		Partizan

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows. 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. Scheduled kick-off times starting from the group stage were 18:45 and 21:00 CEST/CET, though exceptionally could take place at 16:30 due to geographical reasons.

As the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place in Qatar between 20 November and 18 December 2022, the group stage commenced in the first week of September 2022 and concluded in the first week of November 2022 to make way for the World Cup.

The draws for the qualifying round were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.^[8] The group stage draw took place in Istanbul, Turkey.^[9]

Schedule for 2022–23 UEFA Europa League^{[10] [11]}

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	Third qualifying round	18 July 2022	4 August 2022	11 August 2022
Play-offs	Play-off round	2 August 2022	18 August 2022	25 August 2022
Group stage	Matchday 1	26 August 2022	8 September 2022
	Matchday 2		15 September 2022
	Matchday 3		6 October 2022
	Matchday 4		13 October 2022
	Matchday 5		27 October 2022
	Matchday 6		3 November 2022
Knockout phase	Knockout round play-offs	7 November 2022	16 February 2023	23 February 2023
	Round of 16	24 February 2023	9 March 2023	16 March 2023
	Quarter-finals	17 March 2023	13 April 2023	20 April 2023
	Semi-finals		11 May 2023	18 May 2023
	Final		31 May 2023 at Puskás Aréna, Budapest

Group stage

See main article: 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage.

The draw for the group stage was held on 26 August 2022. 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 2022 UEFA club coefficients (CC).^[12] Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

Bodø/Glimt, Nantes, Union Berlin and Union Saint-Gilloise made their debut appearances in the group stage. Union Saint-Gilloise made their debut appearance in a UEFA competition group stage.

A total of 23 national associations were represented in the group stage.

Group H

Knockout phase

See main article: 2022–23 UEFA Europa 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 round and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank^[13]	Player	Team	Goals	Minutes played
1	Marcus Rashford	Manchester United	6	560
	Victor Boniface	Union Saint-Gilloise		777
3	Santiago Giménez	Feyenoord	5	432
	Paulo Dybala	Roma		668
5	Vitinha	Braga	4	406
	Wissam Ben Yedder	Monaco		528
	Ángel Di María	Juventus		554
	Youssef En-Nesyri	Sevilla		720
	Robin Knoche	Union Berlin		892
	Lorenzo Pellegrini	Roma		1167

Team of the season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.^[14]

	Player	Team
	Yassine Bounou	Sevilla
	Marcos Acuña	Sevilla
	Chris Smalling	Roma
	Jonathan Tah	Bayer Leverkusen
	Jesús Navas	Sevilla
	Lorenzo Pellegrini	Roma
	Nemanja Matić	Roma
	Ivan Rakitić	Sevilla
	Marcus Rashford	Manchester United
	Victor Boniface	Union Saint-Gilloise
	Paulo Dybala	Roma

Player of the Season

• Jesús Navas (Sevilla)^[1]

Young Player of the Season

• Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)^[15]

See also

• 2022–23 UEFA Champions League
• 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League
• 2023 UEFA Super Cup
• 2022–23 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2022–23 UEFA Youth League

Notes and References

1. News: 4 June 2023. Jesús Navas named 2022/23 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season. 4 June 2023. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
2. Web site: Sevilla 1–1 Roma (4–1 on pens): Gonzalo Montiel scores winning penalty as La Liga side lift seventh Europa League. BBC Sport. Sutcliffe. Steve. 31 May 2023. 31 May 2023.
3. News: Budapest to host 2022 UEFA Europa League Final . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 March 2020 . 2 March 2020 . 25 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200825130301/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/newsid%3D2640217 . live .
4. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Europa League, 2022/23 Season . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 1 May 2022 . 10 May 2022 . 5 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220505213006/https://documents.uefa.com/r/Regulations-of-the-UEFA-Europa-League-2022/23-Online . live .
5. Web site: Country coefficients 2020/21 . 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/2021 . live .
6. 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 .
7. Web site: Club coefficients 2021/22 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 9 May 2022 . 9 November 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211109131431/https://www.uefa.com/nationalassociations/uefarankings/club/#/yr/2022 . live .
8. News: 2022 European football calendar: Match and draw dates for all UEFA competitions . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 1 January 2022 . 6 January 2022 . 11 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220311083608/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/0271-1418c37e08e1-9c223aeae6cb-1000/ . live .
9. News: Venues appointed for club competition finals . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 July 2021 . 16 July 2021 . 16 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210716203913/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/mediaservices/mediareleases/news/026b-12c542441355-1c2040c5e54b-1000/ . live .
10. International match calendar and access list for 2022/23 . UEFA Circular Letter . Union of European Football Associations . 51/2021 . 19 July 2021 . 5 November 2021 . 12 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220512170616/https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/026b-12cc960662f6-a33fcea5d68a-1000/20210719_circular_2021_51_en.zip . live .
11. Web site: 2022/23 UEFA Europa League: Matches, draws, final . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 26 July 2021 . 26 July 2021 . 7 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220607165316/https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/0271-142f45064923-bb3ec4d78f88-1000--2022-23-match-draw-dates/ . live .
12. Web site: UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2022. kassiesa.net. Union of European Football Associations. 5 August 2022. 12 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201112002654/https://kassiesa.net/uefa/data/method5/trank2022.html. live.
13. Web site: UEFA Europa League – Top Scorers. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 31 May 2023. 25 October 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211025191526/https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/statistics/players/?sortBy=goals. live.
14. News: 2022/23 UEFA Europa League Team of the Season. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 4 June 2023 . 4 June 2023.
15. News: 4 June 2022. Florian Wirtz named 2022/23 UEFA Europa League Young Player of the Season. 4 June 2023. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.