The 2023–24 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 8 August and ended on 31 August 2023.[1]
A total of 27 teams competed in the qualifying system which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round. The 10 winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage, to join the 12 teams that entered in the group stage, the six losers of the Champions League play-off round (four from Champions Path and two from League Path) and the four League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round.[2]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
In the third qualifying round (which was the first round of the qualification for the Europa League), the teams were divided into two paths:
The winners of the third qualifying round were combined into a single path for the play-off round:
All teams eliminated from the qualifying phase and play-off round entered the Europa Conference League:
Below were the participating teams (with their 2023 UEFA club coefficients, not to be used as seeding for qualifying phase and play-off round, however),[3] grouped by their starting rounds.
| Key to colours | |
|---|---|
| Winners of play-off round advanced to group stage | |
| Losers of play-off round entered Europa Conference League group stage | |
| Losers of third qualifying round entered Europa Conference League play-off round |
|
|
|
Each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals was scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out.[4]
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[1] [5] Matches were scheduled for Thursdays, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.
| Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Third qualifying round | 24 July 2023 | 10 August 2023 | 17 August 2023 | |
| Play-off round | 7 August 2023 | 24 August 2023 | 31 August 2023 |
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 24 July 2023.
A total of 14 teams played in the qualifying round. They were divided into two paths:
Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.
Since Olympiacos could not be drawn against Panathinaikos, they were drawn against the loser of the Servette/Genk match, and Slavia Prague were drawn against the loser of the Dnipro-1/Panathinaikos match.
| width=50% | Group 1 | width=50% | Group 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top |
| width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 8 and 10 August, and the second legs were played on 17 August 2023.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League play-off round of their respective path.
|+Champions Path|}|+Main Path|}
BK Häcken won 8–1 on aggregate.----Qarabağ won 4–2 on aggregate.----Zrinjski Mostar won 6–3 on aggregate.----Sheriff Tiraspol won 7–3 on aggregate.----Ludogorets Razgrad won 6–3 on aggregate.
Olympiacos won 2–1 on aggregate.----Slavia Prague won 4–1 on aggregate.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 August 2023.
A total of 20 teams played in the play-off round. The teams were seeded into four "priority groups":
The procedure of the draw was as follows:
Association protection was not applied. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team of the first leg.
The first legs were played on 24 August and the second legs were played on 31 August 2023.
The winners of the ties advanced to the group stage. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League group stage.
|}
Slavia Prague won 3–2 on aggregate.----Olympiacos won 6–1 on aggregate.----Union Saint-Gilloise won 3–0 on aggregate.----Ajax won 4–2 on aggregate.----BK Häcken won 5–3 on aggregate.----LASK won 3–2 on aggregate.----Sheriff Tiraspol won 3–2 on aggregate.----Qarabağ won 3–1 on aggregate.----Aris Limassol won 7–4 on aggregate.----Sparta Prague won 5–4 on aggregate.