2009–10 UEFA Europa League explained

Tourney Name:UEFA Europa League
Year:2009–10
Size:280px
Dates:17 September 2009 – 12 May 2010 (competition proper)
2 July – 27 August 2009 (qualifying)
Num Teams:48+8 (competition proper)
159+33 (total)
Associations:53
Champion Other: Atlético Madrid
Count:1
Second Other: Fulham
Matches:205
Goals:539
Top Scorer:Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen)
Óscar Cardozo (Benfica)
9 goals each
Prevseason:2008–09 (UEFA Cup)
Nextseason:2010–11

The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years.[1]

Spain's Atlético Madrid won the tournament for the first time, beating Fulham – who were playing in their first European final – at the Volksparkstadion, home ground of Hamburger SV, in Hamburg, Germany.[2]

Shakhtar Donetsk were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual finalists Fulham in the round of 32.

Association team allocation

A total of 192 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. Associations were allocated places according to their 2008 UEFA country coefficient, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2003–04 to 2007–08.[3]

Below iss the qualification scheme for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League:[4]

Association ranking

RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
1 England75.7493+1(UCL)
2 Spain75.266+1(UCL)
3 Italy60.410+1(UCL)
4 France52.668+1(UCL)
5 Germany48.722+1(UCL)
6 Russia43.750+2(UCL)
7 Romania40.5994+2(UCL)
8 Portugal39.927+1(UCL)
9 Netherlands38.213+1(UCL)
10 Scotland33.3753+1(FP)
+1(UCL)
11 Turkey31.725+1(UCL)
12 Ukraine30.100+1(UCL)
13 Belgium26.700+2(UCL)
14 Greece25.831+1(UCL)
15 Czech Republic25.750+2(UCL)
16 Switzerland24.225
17 Bulgaria23.166+1(UCL)
18 Norway22.425+1(FP)
+1(UCL)
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
19 Denmark20.4503+1(FP)
+1(UCL)
20 Austria17.700+1(UCL)
21 Serbia16.750+1(UCL)
22 Israel15.750
23 Sweden13.691
24 Slovakia12.332+1(UCL)
25 Poland12.041
26 Hungary11.999
27 Croatia11.624+1(UCL)
28 Cyprus10.082
29 Slovenia9.915+1(UCL)
30 Finland9.623
31 Latvia8.831+1(UCL)
32 Bosnia and Herzegovina8.498
33 Lithuania7.999
34 Moldova7.499+1(UCL)
35 Republic of Ireland7.332
36 Macedonia6.331
RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes
37 Iceland5.9993
38 Georgia5.831
39 Liechtenstein5.5001
40 Belarus5.3323+1(UCL)
41 Estonia4.332+1(UCL)
42 Azerbaijan3.832+1(UCL)
43 Albania3.666
44 Armenia3.665
45 Kazakhstan2.582+1(UCL)
46 Northern Ireland2.332
47 Wales2.331
48 Faroe Islands1.832
49 Luxembourg1.498
50 Malta0.832
51 Montenegro0.500
52 Andorra0.5001
53 San Marino0.250
Notes

Distribution

Since the winners of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, Shakhtar Donetsk, qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the group stage was vacated. As this was the first edition of the Europa League, it was initially unknown whether UEFA would simply disregard the vacant title holder spot and rearrange entries so that one more team would qualify from the play-off round, or replace the title holders' group stage place with that of the top-ranked association's cup winner and move teams from lower rounds appropriately, as the regulations were unclear on this matter.[4] The former set-up was confirmed by UEFA's official list of participants, published on 16 June 2009.[6] As a result, the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage:[7]

Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round
(46 teams)
  • 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 37–51 (except Liechtenstein)
  • 29 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein)
  • 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play rankings
Second qualifying round
(80 teams)
  • 24 domestic cup winners from associations 30–53
  • 18 domestic league runners-up from associations 19–36
  • 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–21
  • 6 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 10–15
  • 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 7–9
  • 23 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
(70 teams)
  • 12 domestic cup winners from associations 18–29
  • 3 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–18
  • 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 10–15
  • 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–9
  • 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 4–6 (League Cup winners for France)
  • 3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (League Cup winners for England)
  • 40 winners from the second qualifying round
Play-off round
(76 teams)
  • 17 domestic cup winners from associations 1–17
  • 3 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–9
  • 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 4–6
  • 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–3
  • 35 winners from the third qualifying round
  • 15 losers from the Champions League third qualifying round
Group stage
(48 teams)
  • 38 winners from the play-off round
  • 10 losers from the Champions League play-off round
Knockout phase
(32 teams)
  • 12 group winners from the group stage
  • 12 group runners-up from the group stage
  • 8 third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage

Redistribution rules

A Europa League place was vacated when a team qualified for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualified for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place was vacated, it was redistributed within the national association by the following rules:[4]

Teams

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

Round of 32
Juventus (UCL GS) VfL Wolfsburg (UCL GS) Marseille (UCL GS) Atlético Madrid (UCL GS)
Liverpool (UCL GS) Rubin Kazan (UCL GS) Unirea Urziceni (UCL GS) Standard Liège (UCL GS)
Group stage
Timișoara (UCL PO) Sporting CP (UCL PO) Celtic (UCL PO) Anderlecht (UCL PO)
Panathinaikos (UCL PO) Levski Sofia (UCL PO) Copenhagen (UCL PO) Red Bull Salzburg (UCL PO)
Ventspils (UCL PO) Sheriff Tiraspol (UCL PO)
Play-off round
Everton (5th) Zenit Saint Petersburg (5th) Genk (CW) Maribor (UCL Q3)
Aston Villa (6th) CFR Cluj (CW) AEK Athens (3rd) BATE Borisov (UCL Q3)
Villarreal (5th) Dinamo București (3rd) Teplice (CW) Levadia (UCL Q3)
Valencia (6th) Benfica (3rd) Sion (CW) Baku (UCL Q3)
Lazio (CW) Nacional (4th) Litex Lovech (CW) Aktobe (UCL Q3)
Genoa (5th) Heerenveen (CW) Slavia Prague (UCL Q3) Dynamo Moscow (UCL Q3)
Guingamp (CW) Ajax (3rd) Stabæk (UCL Q3) Twente (UCL Q3)
Toulouse (4th) Hearts of Midlothian (3rd) Partizan (UCL Q3) Sivasspor (UCL Q3)
Werder Bremen (CW) Trabzonspor (3rd) Slovan Bratislava (UCL Q3) Shakhtar DonetskTH (UCL Q3)
Hertha BSC (4th) Vorskla Poltava (CW) Dinamo Zagreb (UCL Q3) Sparta Prague (UCL Q3)
Amkar Perm (4th)
Third qualifying round
Fulham (7th) PSV Eindhoven (4th) CSKA Sofia (2nd) IFK Göteborg (CW)
Athletic Bilbao (CR) Aberdeen (4th) Vålerenga (CW) Košice (CW)
Roma (6th) Fenerbahçe (4th) Fredrikstad (2nd) Lech Poznań (CW)
Lille (5th) Metalist Kharkiv (3rd) Odense (2nd) Budapest Honvéd (CW)
Hamburger SV (5th) Club Brugge (3rd) Austria Wien (CW) Hajduk Split (2nd)
Krylia Sovetov Samara (6th) PAOK (4th) Vojvodina (2nd) APOP Kinyras (CW)
Vaslui (5th) Slovan Liberec (3rd) Hapoel Tel Aviv (2nd)Note ISR Interblock (CW)
Braga (5th) Young Boys (2nd)
Second qualifying round
Steaua București (6th) Sturm Graz (4th) Skonto (3rd)Note LVA Naftan Novopolotsk (CW)
Paços de Ferreira (CR) Red Star Belgrade (3rd) Slavija (CW) Flora (CW)
NAC Breda (P-W) Sevojno (CR) Sarajevo (4th)Note BIH Qarabağ (CW)
Falkirk (CR) Maccabi Netanya (4th)Note ISR Sūduva (CW) Flamurtari (CW)
Galatasaray (5th) IF Elfsborg (2nd) Kaunas (2nd) Gandzasar (3rd)Note ARM
Metalurh Donetsk (4th) Žilina (2nd) Dacia Chișinău (2nd) Tobol (2nd)
Gent (4th) Legia Warsaw (2nd) Iskra-Stal (3rd) Crusaders (CW)
AEL (5th) Újpest (2nd) St Patrick's Athletic (2nd) Bangor City (CW)
Sigma Olomouc (4th) Rijeka (3rd) Derry City (3rd) HB Tórshavn (2nd)
Basel (3rd) Omonia (2nd) Rabotnički (CW) Differdange (2nd)
Cherno More Varna (3rd) Gorica (2nd) Milano Kumanovo (2nd) Sliema Wanderers (CW)
Tromsø (3rd) HJK (CW) KR (CW) Petrovac (CW)
Brøndby (3rd) Honka (2nd) Dinamo Tbilisi (CW) FC Santa Coloma (CW)
AaB (CR) Liepājas Metalurgs (2nd) Vaduz (CW) Juvenes/Dogana (CW)
Rapid Wien (2nd)
First qualifying round
Bnei Yehuda (5th)Note ISR Zimbru Chișinău (4th) Simurq (3rd) B36 Tórshavn (3rd)
Helsingborg (4th) Sligo Rovers (4th) Vllaznia (2nd) NSÍ Runavík (4th)
Spartak Trnava (3rd) Renova (3rd) Dinamo Tirana (3rd) Grevenmacher (3rd)
Polonia Warsaw (4th) Keflavík (2nd) Mika (4th)Note ARM Käerjéng 97 (CR)
Haladás (3rd) Fram (3rd) Banants (CR) Birkirkara (2nd)
Slaven Belupo (4th) Olimpi Rustavi (3rd) Irtysh (3rd) Valletta (3rd)
Anorthosis (3rd) Zestaponi (4th) Okzhetpes (9th)Note KAZ Budućnost Podgorica (2nd)
Rudar Velenje (3rd) Dinamo Minsk (2nd) Linfield (2nd) Sutjeska Nikšić (3rd)
Lahti (3rd) MTZ-RIPO Minsk (3rd) Lisburn Distillery (4th) Rosenborg (FP)
Dinaburg (4th)Note LVA Narva Trans (3rd) Llanelli (2nd) Randers (FP)
Široki Brijeg (6th)Note BIH Nõmme Kalju (4th) The New Saints (3rd) Motherwell (FP)
Vėtra (3rd) Inter Baku (2nd)
Notes
TH Title Holder: Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for the UEFA Champions League as the runner-up of the 2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League. After losing in the Champions League third qualifying round, they entered the UEFA Europa League at the play-off round.Armenia (ARM): Ararat Yerevan, which finished second in the 2008 Armenian Premier League, did not obtain a UEFA license, so Gandzasar, which finished third, were moved up to the second qualifying round, while Mika, which finished fourth, took the first qualifying round spot.Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH): Sloboda Tuzla, which finished third in the 2008–09 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not obtain a UEFA license, so Sarajevo, which finished fourth, were moved up to the second qualifying round. Borac Banja Luka, which finished fifth, also did not obtain a UEFA license, so Široki Brijeg, which finished sixth, took the first qualifying round spot.Israel (ISR): 2008–09 Israel State Cup winners Beitar Jerusalem (which also finished third in the 2008–09 Israeli Premier League) did not obtain a UEFA license. Since Maccabi Haifa, the cup runners-up, qualified for the Champions League as the league champions, all three Israeli Europa League spots were redistributed based on league position, with second-placed Hapoel Tel Aviv moving up to the third qualifying round, fourth-placed Maccabi Netanya moving up to the second qualifying round, and fifth-placed Bnei Yehuda taking the first qualifying round spot.Kazakhstan (KAZ): Almaty, the 2008 Kazakhstan Cup runners-up, merged with Megasport to form Lokomotiv Astana. However, the new club did not obtain a UEFA license. Following the denied license and withdrawal of three higher-placed teams in the 2008 Kazakhstan Premier League, Okzhetpes, which finished ninth, took the first qualifying round spot.Latvia (LVA): Daugava Daugavpils, the 2008 Latvian Football Cup winners, merged with Dinaburg. Skonto, which finished third in the 2008 Latvian Higher League, were moved up to the second qualifying round, while Dinaburg, which finished fourth, took the first qualifying round spot.

Round and draw dates

All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.

PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond leg
QualifyingFirst qualifying round22 June 20092 July 20099 July 2009
Second qualifying round16 July 200923 July 2009
Third qualifying round17 July 200930 July 20096 August 2009
Play-offPlay-off round7 August 200920 August 200927 August 2009
Group stageMatchday 128 August 2009
(Monaco)
17 September 2009
Matchday 21 October 2009
Matchday 322 October 2009
Matchday 45 November 2009
Matchday 52–3 December 2009
Matchday 616–17 December 2009
Knockout phaseRound of 3218 December 200918 February 201025 February 2010
Round of 1611 March 201018 March 2010
Quarter-finals19 March 20101 April 20108 April 2010
Semi-finals22 April 201029 April 2010
Final12 May 2010 at Volksparkstadion, Hamburg

Qualifying rounds

See main article: 2009–10 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds.

In the qualifying phase and the play-off round, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis.

The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds, conducted by UEFA President Michel Platini and UEFA General Secretary David Taylor, was held on 22 June 2009, and the draw for the third qualifying round, conducted by UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti and Head of Club Competitions Michael Heselschwerdt, was held on 17 July 2009. For the draws, clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient. Because the draws for the second and third qualifying rounds took place before the previous round was completed, the teams were seeded assuming the seeded side in the previous round would be victorious.

First qualifying round

The first legs were played on 2 July, and the second legs were played on 9 July 2009.

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Order of legs reversed after original draw

Second qualifying round

The first legs were played on 14 and 16 July, and the second legs were played on 23 July 2009.

Both the first and second legs between Bnei Yehuda and Dinaburg and between Rapid Wien and Vllaznia were under investigation by UEFA and German authorities for possible match-fixing.[8]

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Order of legs reversed after original draw

Third qualifying round

The first legs were played on 28 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 4 and 6 August 2009.

The first leg between Fenerbahçe and Budapest Honvéd and the second leg between Interblock Ljubljana and Metalurh Donetsk were under investigation by UEFA and German authorities for possible match-fixing.

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Order of legs reversed after original draw

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round, conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti, was held on 7 August 2009. For the draw, clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient. The first legs were played on 20 August, and the second legs were played on 25 and 27 August 2009.

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Order of legs reversed after original draw.

Note 1: The match was abandoned at 0–2 in the 88th minute after one Dinamo București fan entered the playing field and other fans invaded the running track around the pitch. The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body awarded a default 0–3 defeat against Dinamo during an emergency meeting on 25 August.[9] After advancing to the group stage, Dinamo were punished by having their first two home matches in the group stage played behind closed doors.

Group stage

See main article: 2009–10 UEFA Europa League group stage.

The draw for the group stage was held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 28 August 2009. A total of 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four. Teams were divided into four pots,[10] based on their club coefficient. Clubs from the same pot or the same association cannot be drawn into the same group.

A total of 24 associations were represented in the group stage. This was the first time teams from Latvia or Moldova qualified for the group stage of any European competition.

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away. The matchdays were 17 September, 1 October, 22 October, 5 November, 2–3 December, and 16–17 December 2009. The top two in each group advanced to the knockout phase. If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:[4]

  1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
  3. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
  4. superior goal difference from all group matches played;
  5. higher number of goals scored;
  6. higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

During this stage of the tournament, matches featured five on-field officials – with two additional officials monitoring play around the penalty area as part of a FIFA-sanctioned experiment.[11]

Group L

Knockout phase

See main article: 2009–10 UEFA Europa League knockout phase.

In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.

The draw for the round of 32 and round of 16 was held on 18 December 2009, conducted by UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino and UEFA Director of Competitions Giorgio Marchetti.[12] In the round of 32, the group winners and the four better third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage, which would play the second leg at home, were drawn against the group runners-up and the other four third-placed Champions League teams, with the restriction that teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn with each other. In the round of 16, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association may be drawn with each other.

The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final (to determine the "home" team) was held on 19 March 2010, conducted by UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti and the ambassador for the Hamburg final, Uwe Seeler.[13] Same as the round of 16, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association may be drawn with each other.

Round of 32

The first legs were played on 16 and 18 February, and the second legs were played on 23 and 25 February 2010.

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 11 March, and the second legs were played on 18 March 2010.

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 1 April, and the second legs were played on 8 April 2010.

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 22 April, and the second legs were played on 29 April 2010.

Final

See main article: 2010 UEFA Europa League Final. The final of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was played at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, Germany, on 12 May 2010. This was the second time the home stadium of Hamburger SV hosted a UEFA final, the first being the second leg of the 1982 UEFA Cup Final. Due to UEFA rules banning corporate sponsorship outside the confederation, the stadium was referred to by UEFA as "Hamburg Arena". The match was won by Atlético Madrid.

Statistics

Top scorers and assists (excluding qualifying rounds and play-off round):

Top goalscorers

RankNameTeamGoalsMinutes played
1 Claudio Pizarro Werder Bremen9692
Óscar Cardozo Benfica995
3 Jonathan Legear Anderlecht6487
Fernando Llorente Athletic Bilbao544
Diego Forlán Atlético Madrid599
David Villa Valencia710
Mladen Petrić Hamburg870
Bobby Zamora Fulham1027
Zoltán Gera Fulham1276
10 Gervinho Lille5282
Rúben Micael Nacional525
Alexander Frei Basel531
Luiz Adriano Shakhtar Donetsk690
Djibril Cissé Panathinaikos720
Juan Mata Valencia789

Top assists

RankNameTeamAssistsMinutes played
1 Mesut Özil Werder Bremen6661
Ángel Di María Benfica6972
3 Bjørn Helge Riise Fulham4515
Luis Suárez Ajax4551
David Silva Valencia4559

Source:[14]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: UEFA Cup to become UEFA Europa League . uefa.com . Union of European Football Associations . 26 September 2008 . 23 August 2017 .
  2. News: Madrid and Hamburg awarded 2010 finals . uefa.com . Union of European Football Associations . 28 March 2008 . 28 March 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080331135339/http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind%3D64/newsid%3D676743.html . 31 March 2008 . dead.
  3. Web site: UEFA Country Ranking 2008. 13 February 2009 .
  4. Web site: Regulations of the UEFA Europa League 2009/10 . uefa.com . Union of European Football Associations. 7 August 2009 .
  5. News: Norway confirmed as Fair Play winners. 11 May 2009. uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 11 May 2009.
  6. http://www.uefa.com/news/newsid=837593.html 2009/10 List of participants
  7. News: 2009/10 UEFA Europa League Access list and calendar . uefa.com . Union of European Football Associations . 19 December 2008 . 7 September 2009 .
  8. Web site: UEFA, FAs discuss match-fixing inquiry . UEFA.com . 25 November 2009 . 14 July 2010 .
  9. News: Dinamo handed default defeat . 25 August 2009 . UEFA . 23 August 2017 .
  10. Web site: Contenders await group stage fate . UEFA.com . 28 August 2009 .
  11. Web site: Renamed UEFA Cup to feature five officials . . 1 June 2009 .
  12. Web site: Draws for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League – Draws for knock-out rounds to be held on 18 December . uefa.com . Union of European Football Associations. 24 November 2009 .
  13. http://www.uefa.com/uefa/mediaservices/newsid=1458123.html Quarter-final, semi-final draws scheduled
  14. Web site: Statistics – Tournament phase – Assists . . UEFA.com . 20 March 2015 .