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2024–25 UEFA Europa League
European football competition From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League was 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 was the first season played under a new format, which replaced the 32-team group stage with a 36-team league phase.[3] This increased the total number of matches played in the competition (excluding qualifying rounds) from 141 to 189. The new format also did not allow teams to transfer from the Champions League league or knockout phase to the Europa League knockout phase; as the winner of the Europa League automatically qualifies for the Champions League league phase, the Europa League winners (Atalanta in the 2023–24 edition) could no longer defend their title.
The final was played at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain, between English clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. Tottenham won 1–0, with Brennan Johnson scoring the only goal of the game shortly before half-time, to win their third UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League title and their first major trophy in 17 years.[4] As the winners of the tournament, Tottenham Hotspur automatically qualified for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase and earned the right to play against 2024–25 UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup.
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Association team allocation
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A total of 76 teams from 41 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated 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:[5]
- The title holders of the Europa Conference League were given an entry in the Europa League (if they did not qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via league position).
- Associations 1–12 each had two teams.
- Associations 13–33 (except Russia[Note RUS]) each had one team.
- 31 teams eliminated from the 2024–25 Champions League were transferred to the Europa League.
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.[6]
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:
- (UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
- (UECL) – Additional berth for 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League title holders
Distribution
The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access were made:
- The cup winners of association 16 (Norway) will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
As the Europa League title holders (Atalanta) qualified via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made:
- The cup winners of associations 17 to 21 (except Russia)[Note RUS] (Denmark, Croatia, Greece and Israel) will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
- UECL: Europa Conference League title holders
- CW: Cup winners
- 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season
- UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
- CH/LP PO: Losers from the play-off round (Champions/League Path)
- CH/LP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
- CH/LP Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
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
- ^ Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[7] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[8]
- ^
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Round and draw dates
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The schedule of the competition was as follows.[9] 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. Compared to past seasons, one exclusive week was introduced where both Wednesday and Thursdays were matchdays, held on 25 and 26 September.[10][11][12]
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Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2024. The first legs were played on 11 July, and the second legs were played on 18 July 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the second qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path second qualifying round.
Notes:
Second qualifying round
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2024. The first legs were played on 25 July, and the second legs were played on 1 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Main Path third qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path third qualifying round.
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 22 July 2024. The first legs were played on 6 and 8 August, and the second legs were played on 13, 14 and 15 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The Champions Path losers were transferred to the Conference League Champions Path play-off round, while the Main Path losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path play-off round.
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Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2024. The first legs were played on 22 August, and the second legs were played on 29 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the league phase. The losers were transferred to the Conference League league phase.
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League phase
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Rome
Istanbul
Location of teams of the 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.[13][14] 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 faced 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.[15][16]
RFS made their debut appearance since the introduction of the group stage.
A total of 22 national associations were represented in the league phase.
Table
The top eight ranked teams received a bye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th contested the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th were eliminated from all competitions, with no access to the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.
Results
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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. The bracket structure for the knockout phase was partially fixed in advance using seeding, with teams' positions in the bracket determined by the final standings in the league phase. In the knockout phase, there was no country protection, with teams from the same association able to face each other in any round. Teams could also face opponents they played during the league phase.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:[5]
- In the draw for the knockout phase play-offs, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 9–16 were seeded, and the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 17–24 were unseeded. The draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams hosted the second leg.
- In the draw for the round of 16, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 1–8 were seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout phase play-offs were unseeded. Again, the draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams hosted the second leg.
- In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the exact match pairings were predetermined based on the tournament bracket. A draw was conducted only to determine which team played the first leg at home. The winner of semi-final 1 was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
Bracket
| Knockout phase play-offs | Round of 16 | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 |  AZ | 4 | 2 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 |  Galatasaray | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19 | AZ | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 |  Tottenham Hotspur | 0 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 |  Union Saint-Gilloise | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 |  Eintracht Frankfurt | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | Ajax (a.e.t.) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | Ajax | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | Twente | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |  Bodø/Glimt | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Bodø/Glimt (a.e.t.) | 1 | 5 | 6 | 9 | Bodø/Glimt | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 |  Olympiacos | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Bodø/Glimt (p) | 2 | 1 | 3 (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 |  Ferencváros | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Lazio | 0 | 3 | 3 (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 |  Viktoria Plzeň | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | Viktoria Plzeň | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 May – Bilbao | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Lazio | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24 | Fenerbahçe | 3 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Manchester United | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Anderlecht | 0 | 2 | 2 | 24 | Fenerbahçe | 1 | 2 | 3 (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  Rangers (p) | 3 | 0 | 3 (3) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Rangers | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 |  Porto | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |  Athletic Bilbao | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | Roma | 1 | 3 | 4 | 15 | Roma | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Athletic Bilbao | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Athletic Bilbao | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | PAOK | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Manchester United | 3 | 4 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 |  FCSB | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 | FCSB | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 |  Lyon | 3 | 4 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Lyon | 2 | 4 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 |  Midtjylland | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Manchester United (a.e.t.) | 2 | 5 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | Real Sociedad | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | Real Sociedad | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Manchester United | 1 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Knockout phase play-offs
The draw for the knockout phase play-offs was held on 31 January 2025, 13:00 CET.[17][18] The first legs were played on 13 February, and the second legs were played on 20 February 2025.
Round of 16
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 21 February 2025, 13:00 CET.[19] The first legs were played on 6 March, and the second legs were played on 13 March 2025.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the order of the quarter-final legs was held on 21 February 2025, 13:00 CET, after the round of 16 draw.[19] The first legs were played on 10 April, and the second legs were played on 17 April 2025.
Semi-finals
The draw for the order of the semi-final legs was held on 21 February 2025, 13:00 CET, after the round of 16 and quarter-final draws.[19] The first legs were played on 1 May, and the second legs were played on 8 May 2025.
Final
The final was played on 21 May 2025 at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao. The winner of semi-final 1 was designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
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Statistics
Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
Top goalscorers
Team of the Season
The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.[22]
Player of the Season
Young Player of the Season
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See also
References
External links
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