2024–25 UEFA Europa League explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Europa League
Year:2024–25
Size:275px
Num Teams:Competition proper: 25+11
Total: 45+31
Associations:41
Matches:90
Goals:254
Top Scorer:Barnabás Varga (Ferencváros)
5 goals
Prevseason:2023–24
Nextseason:2025–26
Updated:28 November 2024

The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League is the 54th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 16th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. This is the first season played under a new format, which replaces the 32-team group stage with a 36-team league phase.[1] This increases the total number of matches played in the competition (excluding qualifying rounds) from 141 to 189. The new format also does not allow teams to transfer from the Champions League league or knockout phase to the Europa League knockout phase, and thus Europa League winners (Atalanta in the 2023–24 edition) can no longer defend their title as the winner of the Europa League automatically qualifies for the Champions League league phase.

The final will be played on 21 May 2025 at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain.[2] The winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League will automatically qualify for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase and earn the right to play against the winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup.

Association team allocation

A total of 76 teams from 41 of the 55 UEFA member associations are set to participate in the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 32 associations had teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 23 associations that did not have any teams directly qualifying, 9 of them had teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[3]

Association ranking

For the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2023 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2018–19 to 2022–23.[4]

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

Association ranking for 2024–25 UEFA Europa League
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
1109.5702
292.998
382.481
481.926
561.164
659.900
756.216
842.200
936.400
1034.000
1132.375
1232.100
1331.6751
1429.500
1529.050
1629.000
1727.825
1826.2150
1925.4001
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
2025.2251
2125.000
2224.475
2323.750
2420.750
2520.625
2620.500
2720.000
2819.750
2916.625
3012.625
3112.500
3212.250
3311.041
3411.0000
3510.625
3610.375
3710.200
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
3810.0000
399.875
409.875
419.750
429.000
438.750
448.583
458.250
468.000
477.582
487.250
496.250
506.166
515.791
525.500
535.165
544.750
551.999

Distribution

Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundTeams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round
(12 teams)
  • 12 domestic cup winners from associations 22–33
Second qualifying round
(18 teams)
  • 5 domestic cup winners from association 16–21 (except Russia)
  • 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12
  • 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6
  • 6 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
(26 teams)
Champions path
(12 teams)
  • 12 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (Champions path)
League path
(14 teams)
  • 3 domestic cup winners from associations 13–15
  • 9 winners from second qualifying round
  • 2 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (League path)
Play-off round
(24 teams)
  • 5 domestic cup winners from associations 8–12
  • 13 winners from third qualifying round
  • 6 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (Champions path)
League phase
(36 teams)
  • Europa Conference League title holders
  • 7 domestic cup winners from associations 1–7
  • 5 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–5
  • 12 winners from play-off round
  • 5 losers from Champions League play-off round (Champions path)
  • 4 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (League path)
  • 2 losers from Champions League play-off round (League path)

The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access were made:

As the Europa League title holders (Atalanta) qualified for the Champions League via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made:

Teams

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

The third qualifying round was divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).

Two teams not playing in a national top division took part in the competition: Corvinul Hunedoara (2nd tier) and Wisła Kraków (2nd tier).

Notes

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows.[5] Matches are scheduled for Thursdays, apart from the final, which takes place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally can take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts. Compared to past seasons, one exclusive week will be introduced where both Wednesday and Thursdays are matchdays, held on September 25 and 26.[6] [7] [8]

Schedule for 2024–25 UEFA Europa League
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
QualifyingFirst qualifying round18 June 202411 July 202418 July 2024
Second qualifying round19 June 202425 July 20241 August 2024
Third qualifying round22 July 20248 August 202415 August 2024
Play-offsPlay-off round5 August 202422 August 202429 August 2024
League phaseMatchday 130 August 202425–26 September 2024
Matchday 23 October 2024
Matchday 324 October 2024
Matchday 47 November 2024
Matchday 528 November 2024
Matchday 612 December 2024
Matchday 723 January 2025
Matchday 830 January 2025
Knockout phaseKnockout phase play-offs31 January 202513 February 202520 February 2025
Round of 1621 February 20256 March 202513 March 2025
Quarter-finals10 April 202517 April 2025
Semi-finals1 May 20258 May 2025
Final21 May 2025 at San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao

Qualifying rounds

Third qualifying round

League phase

See main article: 2024–25 UEFA Europa League league phase.

The league phase draw for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 30 August 2024, 13:00 CEST.[9] [10] The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each based on their UEFA club coefficient.

The 36 teams were manually drawn and then automated software digitally drew their eight different opponents at random, determining which of their matches were at home and which ones away. Each team will face two opponents from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association.[11] [12]

RFS made their debut appearance since the introduction of the group stage.

A total of 23 national associations are represented in the league phase.

Table

The top eight ranked teams will receive a bye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th are eliminated from all competitions, with no access to the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.

Results

Knockout phase

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout phase and will receive a bye to the round of 16, while the teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged first round play-off to secure their path to the round of 16, with teams ranked 9th–16th being seeded and hosting the second leg at home while teams ranked 17th to 24th hosting the first leg. The winners will join the top eight, who host the second leg at home, in the round of 16. Meanwhile, teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated from all competitions, with no access to the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.

Final

See main article: 2025 UEFA Europa League final.

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank[13] PlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played
1 Barnabás Varga Ferencváros5422
2 Samu Aghehowa Porto4422
Yunus Akgün Galatasaray431
Ayoub El Kaabi Olympiacos445
515 players3

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: UEFA approves final format and access list for its club competitions as of the 2024/25 season . UEFA.com . 10 May 2022 .
  2. News: Venues appointed for club competition finals . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 16 July 2021 . 16 July 2021.
  3. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Europa League, 2024/25 Season . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations. 2024 . 4 April 2024.
  4. Web site: Association coefficients 2022/23 . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 1 June 2023.
  5. UEFA club competitions cycle 2024–27 ("Post 2024") . 36/2023 . UEFA Circular Letter . . 7 July 2023 . 10 July 2023.
  6. Web site: UEFA.com . 2023-10-25 . New format for Champions League post-2024: Everything you need to know UEFA Champions League . 2023-12-11 . UEFA.com . en.
  7. News: Sheldon . Dan . How the new Champions League format works . 2023-12-11 . The Athletic . en.
  8. Web site: Dunbar . Graham . 2023-07-10 . More national derby games possible when revamped Champions League starts next year . 2023-12-11 . AP News . en.
  9. Web site: UEFA Europa League: League phase draw . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 26 August 2024.
  10. Web site: UEFA: Men's Club Competition Season Kick-Off . . 27 August 2024 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240827170248/https://www.grimaldiforum.com/en/events-schedule-monaco/uefa-men-s-club-competition-season-kick-off . 27 August 2024.
  11. Web site: UEFA Club Competitions 2024/25 onwards: new league phase draw procedures explained. UEFA. 31 July 2024. 31 July 2024.
  12. News: UEFA Documents – Article 16 Draw system – league phase . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 1 August 2024 .
  13. Web site: UEFA Europa League – Top Scorers. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 28 November 2024.