The 2023–24 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 21 September 2023 and ended on 14 December 2023. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide 16 of the 24 places in the knockout phase of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League.
Aris Limassol, Brighton & Hove Albion, BK Häcken, Raków Częstochowa, Servette and TSC made their debut appearances in the group stage. All six clubs also made their debut appearances in a UEFA competition group stage. Furthermore, Brighton & Hove Albion qualified for European football for the first time in their history. A total of 21 national associations were represented in the group stage.
This was the final season with the group stage format, which was replaced by the league phase format starting from the next season.[1]
The draw for the group stage was held on 1 September 2023, 13:00 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 2023 UEFA club coefficients. Teams from the same association 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 Conference 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. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed (the second team in a pairing marked by UECL played in the Europa Conference League group stage):[2]
Below were the participating teams (with their 2023 UEFA club coefficients),[3] grouped by their seeding pot. They included:
| Key to colours | |
|---|---|
| Group winners advanced directly to round of 16 | |
| Group runners-up advanced to knockout round play-offs | |
| Third-placed teams entered Europa Conference League knockout round play-offs |
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Notes
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. 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 teams were transferred to the Europa Conference League knockout round play-offs, while the fourth-placed teams were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see Article 16 Equality of points – group stage, Regulations of the UEFA Europa League):[4]
The fixtures were announced on 2 September 2023, the day after the draw. The matches were played on 21 September, 5 October, 26 October, 9 November, 30 November and 14 December 2023. The scheduled kick-off times were 18:45 and 21:00 CET/CEST.
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
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