UEFA Conference League explained

UEFA Conference League
Organiser:UEFA
Founded:
(rebranded in 2024)
Region:Europe
Number Of Teams:36 (league stage)
184 (total)
Qualifier For:UEFA Europa League
Most Successful Club:


(1 title each)
Current:2024–25 UEFA Conference League

The UEFA Conference League (previously known as the UEFA Europa Conference League), abbreviated as UECL or sometimes UEFA ECL, is an annual football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the third tier of continental club football in Europe, behind the second-tier Europa League, and the first-tier Champions League.

Introduced in 2021 as the UEFA Europa Conference League, the competition was initially intended as the bottom level of the Europa League. The competition is primarily contested by teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations.[1] No teams qualify directly to the group stage, with 12 teams eliminated in the Europa League play-offs and the rest coming from the Conference League qualifiers. The winners of the competition qualify for the following season's Europa League, unless they qualify for the Champions League.[2]

From the 2024–25 season, the competition has been rebranded as UEFA Conference League. Roma were the inaugural winners of the competition, having beaten Feyenoord 1–0 in the 2022 final.

History

Season! scope="col" style="width:210px"
Winner
2021–22 Roma
2022–23 West Ham United
2023–24 Olympiacos

UEFA had reportedly considered adding a third-tier competition since at least 2015, believing that a bottom-level tournament could act as a means of giving clubs from lower-ranked UEFA member countries a chance of progressing beyond their customary elimination from the Champions League and Europa League.[3] In mid-2018, talk of an announcement intensified, with news sources claiming an agreement had already been reached for the competition to be launched and that the 48-team Europa League group stage would be split in two, with the lower half forming the nucleus of what would be the new event.[4]

On 2 December 2018, UEFA announced that the competition – provisionally known as "Europa League 2" or just "UEL2" – was to be launched as part of the 2021–24 three-year competition cycle, with UEFA adding that the new tournament would bring "more matches for more clubs and more associations".[5]

The original official name of the competition, "UEFA Europa Conference League", was announced on 24 September 2019.[6]

On 24 May 2021, UEFA revealed the competition's trophy and brand identity. The Europa Conference League Trophy stands tall and weighs .[7]

The first goal in the then-named Europa Conference League qualifiers was scored on 6 July 2021 by Mosta player Evo Chris in a 2021–22 qualifying round match against Spartak Trnava.[8] The first goal in the then-named Europa Conference League group stage was scored on 14 September 2021 by Maccabi Tel Aviv player Stipe Perica in a 2021–22 group stage match against Alashkert.[9] On 30 September 2021, the competition's first hat-trick was scored by Harry Kane for Tottenham Hotspur in a group stage match against NS Mura. Kane came on as a 59th minute substitute at 2–1 before scoring three goals within 20 minutes of each other to finish off the game (5–1).[10]

On 5 May 2022, Feyenoord and Roma became the first teams ever to reach the final of UECL, ending with Roma being crowned the inaugural champions.[11]

On 3 November 2022, West Ham United became the first side to win all six of their Europa Conference League group stage matches, picking up wins against FCSB, Silkeborg and Anderlecht.[12] They went on to win the competition by defeating Fiorentina 2–1 in the 2023 final, in the process becoming the first side to finish the competition undefeated, with 12 wins and one draw.

On 28 June 2023, UEFA announced that the competition will be renamed as the UEFA Conference League from the 2024–25 season onwards. According to UEFA, removing 'Europa' from the name of the competition will enable further development as a stand-alone competition in their research amongst fans and commercial partners.[13] [14]

In the 2024 final, Olympiacos beat Fiorentina 1–0, becoming the first Greek club to win a major European competition.[15]

Trophy

The Conference League trophy, designed by Pentagram, is made from brass, with galvanic steel and silver plating. It features 32 hexagonal columns, representing the 32 teams in the group stage, curving upwards in a manner intended to resemble a football curling through the air towards the goal.[16]

Format

Qualification

See also: UEFA coefficient. Similar to the UEFA Champions League, qualification to the Conference League is split into two paths – separating champions and non-champions – and contains three rounds plus a play-off. Unlike the Champions League, however, the Champions Path will only be contested by teams which lost the qualification for the Champions League group stage and consequently have been relegated either directly into the UEFA Conference League (from UCL Q1&PR to UECL Q2) or via a second relegation from the UEFA Europa League as a result of two straight eliminations (from UCL Q2 to UEL Q3 then to UECL PO).

The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams in main path qualification for each association (excluding 3 relegations from UEL Q3 out of five N2s in associations 10–15 and three CWs in associations 13–15):[17]

Based on this reorganisation, no association will benefit from more berths to continental football than they had before the 2021–24 competition cycle, with the tournament essentially being the lower orders of the existing Europa League tournament but split off into a secondary tournament.

Group stage and knockout phase

The format involves a league phase, followed by a round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (all but the final are played over two legs). An additional preliminary knockout round is played before the round of 16 between teams ranked second in their groups and the third-ranked teams of the UEFA Europa League groups. The new competition features 141 matches over 15 match weeks.[2] 56 teams take part.

The final is played at a neutral venue. The winner of the competition is entitled to participate in the UEFA Europa League the following season. The competition's matches are played on Thursdays.[2]

Distribution (from 2021–22 to 2023–24)

All qualification berths are based on UEFA's default assumption that each association will submit one domestic cup winner as its highest-ranked qualifier after those eligible to enter the Champions League, and will define its remaining entrants by their league position in the previous year. England allocates its lowest-ranked qualification place to the winners of the EFL Cup or, if it already qualified to Champions League or Europa League, to the sixth or seventh placed in the Premier League.

Teams entering this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundTeams transferred from the Champions LeagueTeams transferred from the Europa League
First qualifying round
(72 teams)
  • 26 domestic cup winners from associations 30–55
  • 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 roundChampions
(20 teams)
  • 17 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
  • 3 teams eliminated from Champions League preliminary round
Non-champions
(90 teams)
  • 14 domestic cup winners from associations 16–29
  • 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29
  • 16 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–28
  • 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15
  • 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6
  • 36 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying roundChampions
(10 teams)
  • 10 winners from the second qualifying round for champions
Non-champions
(52 teams)
  • 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12
  • 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6
  • 45 winners from the second qualifying round for non-champions
Play-off roundChampions
(10 teams)
  • 5 winners from the third qualifying round for champions
  • 5 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for champions
Non-champions
(34 teams)
  • 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 5
  • 4 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (EFL Cup winners for England, or 7th placed team in domestic league if EFL Cup winners have qualified for Champions League or Europa League)
  • 26 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions
  • 3 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for non-champions
Group stage
(32 teams)
  • 5 winners from the play-off round for champions
  • 17 winners from the play-off round for non-champions
  • 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

Distribution (from 2024–25)

[18]

Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueTeams transferred from Europa League
First qualifying round
(58 teams)
  • 17 domestic cup winners from associations 39–55
  • 21 domestic league runners-up from associations 34–55 (except Liechtenstein)
  • 20 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 30–50 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round
Champions
(16 teams)
  • 16 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
Non-champions
(88 teams)
  • 5 domestic cup winners from associations 34–38
  • 18 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–33
  • 17 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–29
  • 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15
  • 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6
  • 29 winners from the first qualifying round
  • 9 teams eliminated from Europa League first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Champions
(8 teams)
  • 8 winners from the second qualifying round for champions
Non-champions
(52 teams)
  • 44 winners from the second qualifying round for non-champions
  • 8 teams eliminated from Europa League second qualifying round
Play-off round
Champions
(10 teams)
  • 4 winners from the third qualifying round for champions
  • 6 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for champions
Non-champions
(38 teams)
  • 5 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–5 (EFL Cup winners for England)
  • 26 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions
  • 7 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for non-champions
League stage
(36 teams)
  • 5 winners from the play-off round for champions
  • 19 winners from the play-off round for non-champions
  • 12 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round

Changes will be made to the access list above if the Europa Conference League title holder qualifies for the tournament via their domestic leagues.

Prize money

Similar to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, the prize money received by the clubs is divided into fixed payments based on participation and results, and variable amounts that depend on the value of their TV market.[19]

For the 2022–23 season, group stage participation in the then-named Europa Conference League was awarded a base fee of €2,940,000. A victory in the group pays €500,000 and a draw €166,000. Also, each group winner earns €650,000 and each runner-up €325,000. Reaching the knock-out stage triggers additional bonuses: €300,000 for the round of 32, €600,000 for the round of 16, €1,000,000 for the quarter-finals and €2,000,000 for the semi-finals. The losing finalists receive €3,000,000 and the champions receive €5,000,000.[20]

Also, each domestic champion not qualifying for the Group Stages of any tournament receives an additional €260,000.

Records and statistics

Performances by club

See main article: List of UEFA Conference League finals.

Performance in the UEFA Conference League by club
scope=colClubscope=colWinnersscope=colRunners-upscope=col class="unsortable"Years wonscope=col class="unsortable"Years runner-up
scope=row Roma102022
scope=row West Ham United102023
scope=row Olympiacos102024
scope=row Fiorentina022023, 2024
scope=row Feyenoord012022

Performances by nation

Nation!scope=col
Winnersscope=colRunners-upscope=colTotal
scope=row123
scope=row101
scope=row101
scope=row011

Number of participating clubs of the Conference League

The following is a list of clubs that have played or will be playing in the Conference League group stage.

!Nation!No.!Clubs!Seasons
Belgium (4) 3 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
1 2023–24
Czech Republic (4) 2 2021–22, 2022–23
1 2021–22
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
Denmark (4) 1 2021–22
1 2021–22
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
Turkey (4) 1 2022–23
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
1 2023–24
Netherlands (3) 3 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
1 2021–22
1 2021–22
Israel (3) 2 2021–22, 2023–24
1 2021–22
1 2022–23
Cyprus (3) 1 2021–22
1 2021–22
1 2022–23
England (3) 1 2021–22
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
France (3) 1 2021–22
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
Germany (3) 1 2021–22
1 2022–23
1 2023–24
Slovakia (2) 3 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
1 2023–24
Romania (2) 2 2021–22, 2022–23
1 2022–23
Norway (2) 2 2021–22, 2023–24
1 2022–23
Italy (2) 2 2022–23, 2023–24
1 2021–22
Serbia (2) 2 2021–22, 2022–23
1 2023–24
Switzerland (2) 2 2021–22, 2022–23
1 2023–24
Ukraine (2) 2 2021–22, 2023–24
1 2022–23
Armenia (2) 1 2021–22
1 2022–23
Austria (2) 1 2021–22
1 2022–23
Bulgaria (2) 1 2021–22
1 2023–24
Kazakhstan (2) 1 2021–22
1 2023–24
Slovenia (2) 1 2021–22
1 2023–24
Poland (2) 1 2022–23
1 2023–24
Scotland (2) 1 2022–23
1 2023–24
Finland (1) 2 2021–22, 2023–24
Greece (1) 2 2021–22, 2023–24
Kosovo (1) 2 2022–23, 2023–24
Azerbaijan (1) 1 2021–22
Estonia (1) 1 2021–22
Gibraltar (1) 1 2021–22
Latvia (1) 1 2022–23
Liechtenstein (1) 1 2022–23
Lithuania (1) 1 2022–23
Republic of Ireland (1) 1 2022–23
Spain (1) 1 2022–23
Sweden (1) 1 2022–23
Bosnia and Herzegovina (1) 1 2023–24
Croatia (1) 1 2023–24
Faroe Islands (1) 1 2023–24
Hungary (1) 1 2023–24
Iceland (1) 1 2023–24
Season in Bold: Team qualified for knockout phase

Awards

Starting from the first edition of the competition, UEFA introduced an award that will presumably now be called the UEFA Conference League Player of the Season award, having previously been the UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season award prior to the renaming of the league.

The jury is composed of the coaches of the clubs which participate in the group stage of the competition, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each UEFA member association.

Winners
SeasonPlayerClub
UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season
2021–22 Lorenzo Pellegrini Roma
2022–23 Declan Rice West Ham United
2023–24 Ayoub El Kaabi Olympiacos
UEFA Conference League Player of the Season
2024–25

In the same season, UEFA also introduced what will likely now be called the UEFA Conference League Young Player of the Season award (previously the UEFA Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season').

Winners
SeasonPlayerClub
UEFA Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season
2021–22 Luis Sinisterra Feyenoord
2022–23 Andy Diouf Basel
2023–24 Igor Thiago Club Brugge
UEFA Conference League Young Player of the Season
2024–25

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: 2 December 2018 . 'Europa League 2': Uefa confirms new tournament from 2021 . BBC Sport . live . 2 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181208234948/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46421656 . 8 December 2018.
  2. UEFA Executive Committee approves new club competition . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 December 2018 . 2 December 2018 . 13 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190513044147/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid%3D2585829.html . live .
  3. News: Uefa ponders third competition beneath Champions League and Europa League . . . 16 September 2015 . 2 December 2018 . 28 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190428084849/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/16/uefa-third-competition-europa-champions-league . live .
  4. News: Uefa set to introduce third European club competition from 2021–22 . The Guardian . . 11 September 2018 . 2 December 2018 . 28 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190428084852/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/sep/11/uefa-third-european-competition-2021 . live .
  5. UEFA Executive Committee approves new club competition . UEFA.com . Union of European Football Associations . 2 December 2018 . 2 December 2018 . 13 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190513044147/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid%3D2585829.html . live .
  6. Format change for 2020/21 UEFA Nations League. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019. 24 September 2019. 26 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190926223650/https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/newsid=2625412.html. live.
  7. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League – What Do the Winners Get? . UEFA . 1 September 2022 . 24 March 2023.
  8. Web site: Mosta vs Spartak Trnava – stats, H2H, lineups. 2021-07-06. FotMob. 6 July 2021 . en. 9 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184830/https://www.fotmob.com/livescores/3608992/matchfacts/mosta-vs-spartak-trnava. live.
  9. Web site: Who Scored the First Goals in UEFA's Competitions?. UEFA Europa Conference League. Union of European Football Association. 14 September 2021. 13 March 2023.
  10. Web site: Harry Kane marvels at bonus Europa Conference League hat-trick | Football News . Sky Sports . 2021-10-01 . 2022-02-19 . 2 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220202064048/https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11675/12422634/kane-marvels-at-bonus-hat-trick . live.
  11. Web site: Hein the GOAT Vanhaezebrouck: 'A serial winner who has brought Gent to life' . BBC Sport . 25 May 2022 . 25 May 2022.
  12. Web site: West Ham Score Three to Beat FCSB, Secure Perfect Europa Conference League Run and Top Group . eurosport.co.uk . Magee . Will . 3 November 2022 . 24 March 2023.
  13. Web site: Burrows . Ben . 2023-06-28 . UEFA Europa Conference League to be renamed . 2023-06-28 . The Athletic . en.
  14. Web site: 2023-06-28 . UEFA Europa Conference League to be renamed UEFA Conference League next season UEFA Europa Conference League . 2023-06-29 . UEFA.com . en.
  15. Web site: Grez . Matias . 2024-05-30 . Olympiacos makes Greek history with victory over Fiorentina in Conference League final . 2024-06-12 . CNN.
  16. Web site: UEFA Europa Conference League trophy – what do the winners get?. UEFA.com. 17 May 2022. 30 May 2024 .
  17. Web site: UEL2 Access List 2021–24. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. 2 December 2018. 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.
  18. News: UEFA approves final format and access list for its club competitions as of the 2024/25 season . Return to Play . UEFA . 10 May 2022 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20220511080232/https://www.uefa.com/returntoplay/news/0275-151c779310c3-b92bbf0d24f9-1000--format-access-list-for-24-25-onwards-approved/ . 11 May 2022 .
  19. Web site: uefadirect 7/09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200812212255/https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/publications/uefa/uefamedia/83/97/47/839747_download.pdf . 12 August 2020 . live . 7.
  20. Distribution to clubs from the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League and the 2021 UEFA Super Cup Payments for the qualifying phases Solidarity payments for non-participating clubs. UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 20 May 2021. 20 June 2021. 21 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210821023443/https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/0269-125fde34ba54-30a4c9aeea13-1000/20210520_circular_2021_35_en.pdf#page7. live.