2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Europa Conference League
Year:2023–24
Size:275px
Num Teams:Competition proper: 32+8
Total: 135+43
Associations:54
Champion Other: Olympiacos
Count:1
Second Other: Fiorentina
Matches:141
Goals:411
Top Scorer:Ayoub El Kaabi (Olympiacos)
11 goals
Prevseason:2022–23
Nextseason:2024–25

The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League was the third season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.

The final was played at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens, Greece.[1] It was won by Olympiacos, who defeated Fiorentina 1–0 after extra time, and qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League league stage as a result.

This edition was the final season under its current name, as it was renamed to the UEFA Conference League from the 2024–25 season onwards. According to UEFA, the new denomination of the competition would enable further development as a stand-alone competition in their research amongst fans and commercial partners.[2] [3] This was also the final season with the current format of 32 teams participating in the group stage, after UEFA announced that a brand-new Swiss-system format would be introduced for the following edition.[4] Due to the change, no clubs could be transferred from the Europa League group stage to the Conference League, so starting with this edition the winners would no longer be able to defend their title.[5]

As the title holders, West Ham United qualified for the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League. They were unable to defend their title after advancing to the Europa League knockout phase.

Association team allocation

A total of 178 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations (excluding Russia) participated in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[6]

Association ranking

For the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2022 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2017–18 to 2021–22.[7]

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

Association ranking for 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
1106.641align=center rowspan=51
296.141
376.902
475.213
560.081
653.382align=center rowspan=42
749.300
838.850
936.900
1034.4820
1133.375align=center rowspan=62
1231.800
1330.600
1429.675
1528.200
1627.800
1727.250align=center rowspan=33
1827.175
1927.150
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
2027.100align=center rowspan=193
2126.375
2224.375
2322.875
2419.500
2517.150
2617.000
2716.375
2815.875
2915.750
3015.625
3115.000
3212.500
3311.250
3410.000
359.125
368.875
378.750
388.625
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
398.166align=center rowspan=103
408.125
418.125
428.083
438.000
447.250
457.041
467.000
477.000
487.000
496.500align=center rowspan=11
505.500align=center rowspan=13
515.416align=center rowspan=52
525.375
534.875
544.665
551.332

Distribution

The following is the access list for this season.[8]

Access list for 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueTeams transferred from Europa League
First qualifying round
(62 teams)
  • 16 domestic cup winners from associations 40–55
  • 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
(106 teams)
Champions Path
(16 teams)
  • 13 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
  • 3 teams eliminated from Champions League preliminary round
Main Path
(90 teams)
  • 20 domestic cup winners from associations 20–39
  • 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29
  • 16 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–28
  • 8 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15 (except Russia)
  • 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6
  • 31 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
(64 teams)
Champions Path
(10 teams)
  • 8 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
  • 2 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
Main Path
(54 teams)
  • 3 domestic cup winners from associations 17–19
  • 5 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12 (except Russia)
  • 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 2–4
  • 1 league cup winner from England
  • 27 winners from the third qualifying round (Main Path)
  • 2 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 for (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

Due to the suspension of Russia for the 2023–24 European season, the following changes to the access list were made:

Combining with the Champions League title holder (Manchester City) qualifying for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, the following changes to the access list were made:

Teams

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

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

CC: 2023 UEFA club coefficients.[9]

One team not playing in a national top division took part in the competition: Vaduz (2nd tier).

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows.[10] [11] [12] 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.

Schedule for 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
QualifyingFirst qualifying round20 June 202313 July 202320 July 2023
Second qualifying round21 June 202327 July 20233 August 2023
Third qualifying round24 July 202310 August 202317 August 2023
Play-offsPlay-off round7 August 202324 August 202331 August 2023
Group stageMatchday 11 September 202321 September 2023
Matchday 25 October 2023
Matchday 326 October 2023
Matchday 49 November 2023
Matchday 530 November 2023
Matchday 614 December 2023
Knockout phaseKnockout round play-offs18 December 202315 February 202422 February 2024
Round of 1623 February 2024 7 March 202414 March 2024
Quarter-finals15 March 202411 April 202418 April 2024
Semi-finals2 May 20249 May 2024
Final29 May 2024 at Agia Sophia Stadium, Athens

Qualifying rounds

Third qualifying round

Group stage

See main article: 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage.

The draw for the group stage was held on 1 September 2023, 14:30 CEST, in Monaco. 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 Club coefficients (CC).[13] Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.

All teams besides AZ, Ballkani, Bodø/Glimt, Fiorentina, Gent, HJK, Maccabi Tel Aviv, PAOK, Slovan Bratislava and Zorya Luhansk made their debut appearances in the group stage. Breiðablik, Čukarički, , Olimpija Ljubljana and Zrinjski Mostar all made their debut appearances in a UEFA competition group stage. Breiðablik, KÍ and Zrinjski Mostar were the first teams from Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Bosnia and Herzegovina, respectively, to play in a UEFA competition group stage. Breiðablik also became the first ever team to qualify for the group stages of a UEFA club competition after starting in a preliminary round.

A total of 28 national associations were represented in the group stage.

Group H

Knockout phase

See main article: 2023–24 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[14] PlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played
1 Ayoub El Kaabi Olympiacos11845
2 Eran Zahavi Maccabi Tel Aviv8726
3 Bruno Petković Dinamo Zagreb7608
4 Hans Vanaken Club Brugge6990
5 Fredrik Gulbrandsen Molde5349
Benjamin Nygren Nordsjælland368
Gift Orban Gent389
Yusuf Yazıcı Lille663
Dor Peretz Maccabi Tel Aviv750
Ollie Watkins Aston Villa755
Igor Thiago Club Brugge758

Team of the Season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.[15]

PlayerTeam
Pietro Terracciano Fiorentina
Dodô Fiorentina
Robin Hranáč Viktoria Plzeň
David Carmo Olympiacos
Cristiano Biraghi Fiorentina
Hans Vanaken Club Brugge
Kostas Fortounis Olympiacos
John McGinn Aston Villa
Leon Bailey Aston Villa
Ayoub El Kaabi Olympiacos
Daniel Podence Olympiacos

Player of the Season

Young Player of the Season

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Lisbon to host UEFA Women's Champions League final in 2025 . Union of European Football Associations . 28 June 2023 . 28 June 2023.
  2. News: Burrows . Ben . 28 June 2023 . UEFA Europa Conference League to be renamed . 28 June 2023 . The Athletic.
  3. News: 28 June 2023. UEFA Europa Conference League to be renamed UEFA Conference League next season. Union of European Football Associations . 29 June 2023 . UEFA.com.
  4. News: UEFA approves final format and access list for its club competitions as of the 2024/25 season . UEFA.com . 10 May 2022 . 8 March 2023.
  5. News: Wilson . Jonathan . 13 March 2021 . New-look Champions League is a pointless waste of time that will destroy the drama . The Observer . 3 June 2023 . 0029-7712.
  6. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League, 2023/24 Season . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 1 May 2022 . 10 May 2022.
  7. Web site: Country coefficients 2021/22 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2022 . 16 February 2020 .
  8. Web site: Access list 2021–24 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . PDF . 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 .
  9. Web site: Club coefficients 2022/23. UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations .
  10. Web site: 2023/24 UEFA Europa Conference League: Matches, final, key dates . . 20 December 2022 . 1 January 2023.
  11. International match calendar and access list for the 2023/24 season . 65/2022 . UEFA Circular Letter . . 26 September 2022 . 27 September 2022.
  12. Web site: 2023 European football calendar: Match and draw dates for all UEFA competitions . . 20 December 2022 . 1 January 2023.
  13. Web site: UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2023 . kassiesa.bet.
  14. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League – Top Scorers. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 May 2024.
  15. News: 1 June 2024 . 2023/24 Europa Conference League Team of the Season . 1 June 2024 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . en.
  16. News: 1 June 2024 . Olympiacos's Ayoub El Kaabi named 2023/24 Europa Conference League Player of the Season . 1 June 2024 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . en.
  17. News: 1 June 2024 . Club Brugge's Thiago named 2023/24 Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season . 1 June 2024 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . en.