2025–26 UEFA Europa League

The 2025–26 UEFA Europa League is the 55th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 17th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

2025–26 UEFA Europa League

The Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul will host the final
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying: 10 July – 28 August 2025 Competition proper: 24 September 2025 – 20 May 2026
Teams	Competition proper: 25+11 Total: 45+32 (from 41 associations)
← 2024–25 2026–27 →

The final will be played on 20 May 2026 at Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.^[1]

This is the second season played under a new format, which replaced the 32-team group stage with a 36-team league phase.

Tottenham Hotspur are the reigning champions, but will not be able to defend their title as the winner of the Europa League automatically qualifies for the Champions League league phase, and the new format does not allow clubs to transfer from the Champions League into the Europa League from the league phase onwards.

Association team allocation

A total of 77 teams from between 33 and 40 of the 55 UEFA member associations are expected to participate in the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 33 associations have teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 12 associations that do not have any teams directly qualifying may have teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League. The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:^[2]

• The title holders of the 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 have two teams.
• Associations 13–33 (except Russia^{[Note RUS]}) each have one team.
• 32 teams eliminated from the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round will be transferred to the Europa League.

Association ranking

For the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2024 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2019–20 to 2023–24.^[3]

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

• (UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
• (CON) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Conference League

Association ranking for 2025–26 UEFA Europa League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1  England 104.303 2 2  Italy 90.284 3  Spain 89.489 4  Germany 86.624 5  France 66.831 +1 (UCL) 6  Netherlands 61.300 +1 (UCL) 7  Portugal 56.316 8  Belgium 48.800 9  Turkey 38.600 10  Czech Republic 36.050 +1 (UCL) 11  Scotland 36.050 12  Switzerland 32.975 +1 (UCL) 13  Austria 32.600 1 +1 (UCL) 14  Norway 31.625 +1 (UCL) 15  Greece 31.525 +1 (UCL) 16  Denmark 31.450 17  Israel 31.125 +1 (UCL) 18  Ukraine 28.000 +1 (UCL) 19  Serbia 27.775

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 20  Croatia 25.525 1 +1 (UCL) 21  Poland 25.375 +1 (UCL) 22  Russia 22.965 0 [Note RUS] 23  Cyprus 22.100 1 24  Hungary 21.875 25  Sweden 21.500 +1 (UCL) 26  Romania 21.375 +1 (UCL) 27  Bulgaria 20.375 +1 (UCL) 28  Azerbaijan 20.125 29  Slovakia 19.625 +1 (UCL) 30  Slovenia 13.250 31  Moldova 13.125 32  Kosovo 11.541 +1 (UCL) 33  Kazakhstan 11.500 34  Finland 11.125 0 +1 (UCL) +1 (CON) 35  Republic of Ireland 10.875 +1 (UCL) 36  Armenia 10.625 +1 (UCL) 37  Latvia 10.625 +1 (UCL)

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 38  Faroe Islands 10.375 0 39  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10.000 +1 (UCL) 40  Liechtenstein 10.000 41  Iceland 9.583 +1 (UCL) 42  Northern Ireland 9.208 43  Luxembourg 8.625 44  Lithuania 8.500 45  Malta 8.250 +1 (UCL) 46  Georgia 7.625 47  Albania 7.375 48  Estonia 7.207 49  Belarus 6.625 50  North Macedonia 6.000 +1 (UCL) 51  Andorra 5.998 52  Wales 5.791 53  Montenegro 5.708 54  Gibraltar 4.957 +1 (UCL) 55  San Marino 1.832

Distribution

		Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from the previous round	Teams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round (16 teams)		16 domestic cup winners from associations 17–34 (except Russia[Note RUS] and Croatia)
Second qualifying round (16 teams)		1 domestic cup winner from association 16 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6	8 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	8 winners from second qualifying round	3 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)		7 domestic cup winners from associations 1–7 5 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–5 1 cup winner from association 20 as the team with the highest club coefficient, originally from the first qualifying round	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)
Knockout phase play-offs (16 teams)			16 teams ranked 9–24 from the league phase
Round of 16 (16 teams)			8 teams ranked 1–8 from the league phase 8 winners from the knockout phase play-offs

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

• The cup winners of association 16 (Denmark) will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.

As the Conference League title holders (Chelsea) qualified for the Champions League league phase via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list have been made:

• Dinamo Zagreb, as the club with the highest club coefficient that would otherwise have entered the qualifying phase or play-off round, will enter the league phase instead of the first qualifying round.
• The cup winners of association 34 (Finland) will enter the first qualifying round, instead of the Conference League second qualifying round.

Teams

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

• CON: Conference League title holders
• CW: Cup winners
• 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season
• RL: Winners of the regular league phase
• CL: 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 is divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).

Qualified teams for 2025–26 UEFA Europa League

Entry round		Teams
League phase		Aston Villa (6th)	Nottingham Forest (7th)[Note ENG]	Bologna (CW)	Roma (5th)
		Real Betis (6th)	Celta Vigo (7th)	VfB Stuttgart (CW)	SC Freiburg (5th)
		Lille (5th)	Lyon (6th)	Go Ahead Eagles (CW)	Porto (3rd)
		Dinamo Zagreb (2nd)	(CL CH PO)	(CL CH PO)	(CL CH PO)
		(CL CH PO)	(CL CH PO)	(CL LP PO)	(CL LP PO)
		Nice (CL LP Q3)	Feyenoord (CL LP Q3)	Viktoria Plzeň (CL LP Q3)	Red Bull Salzburg (CL LP Q3)
Play-off round		Genk (3rd)	Samsunspor (3rd)	Sigma Olomouc (CW)	Aberdeen (CW)
		Young Boys (3rd)	Dynamo Kyiv (CL CH Q3)	Lech Poznań (CL CH Q3)	Malmö FF (CL CH Q3)
		Ludogorets Razgrad (CL CH Q3)	Slovan Bratislava (CL CH Q3)	Shkëndija (CL CH Q3)
Third qualifying round	CH	Maccabi Tel Aviv (CL CH Q2)	Rijeka (CL CH Q2)	FCSB (CL CH Q2)	Drita (CL CH Q2)
		KuPS (CL CH Q2)	Shelbourne (CL CH Q2)	Noah (CL CH Q2)	RFS (CL CH Q2)
		Zrinjski Mostar (CL CH Q2)	Breiðablik (CL CH Q2)	Hamrun Spartans (CL CH Q2)	Lincoln Red Imps (CL CH Q2)
	MP	Wolfsberger AC (CW)	Fredrikstad (CW)	PAOK (3rd)	Servette (CL LP Q2)
		Brann (CL LP Q2)	Panathinaikos (CL LP Q2)
Second qualifying round		Utrecht (4th)	Braga (4th)	Anderlecht (4th)	Beşiktaş (4th)
		Baník Ostrava (3rd)	Hibernian (3rd)	Lugano (4th)	Midtjylland (2nd)
First qualifying round		Hapoel Be'er Sheva (CW)	Shakhtar Donetsk (CW)	Partizan (2nd)	Legia Warsaw (CW)
		AEK Larnaca (CW)	Paks (CW)	BK Häcken (CW)	CFR Cluj (CW)
		Levski Sofia (2nd)	Sabah (CW)	Spartak Trnava (CW)	Celje (CW)
		Sheriff Tiraspol (CW)	Prishtina (CW)	Aktobe (CW)	Ilves (2nd)

Notes

1. ^
   England (ENG): Initially the winners of the 2024–25 FA Cup (Crystal Palace) qualified for the Europa League. However, UEFA ruled^[4] that Crystal Palace and Lyon were both part of a group owned by the same company prior to the 1st of March, and as such could not compete in the same competition under UEFA rules so their place in the Europa League was awarded to Nottingham Forest under a swap of European rights. Palace's appeal was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 11 August, resulting in Forest's Europa League place being confirmed.^[5] Forest had previously gained entry to the Conference League based on their 2024–25 Premier League position, in lieu of 2024–25 EFL Cup winners Newcastle United who qualified for the Champions League via league position.^[6]
2. ^
   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]

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows.^[9] 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. One exclusive week will be held where both Wednesday and Thursdays are matchdays, on 24 and 25 September.^[10][11][12]

Schedule for 2025–26 UEFA Europa League

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	17 June 2025	10 July 2025	17 July 2025
	Second qualifying round	18 June 2025	24 July 2025	31 July 2025
	Third qualifying round	21 July 2025	7 August 2025	14 August 2025
Play-offs	Play-off round	4 August 2025	21 August 2025	28 August 2025
League phase	Matchday 1	29 August 2025	24–25 September 2025
	Matchday 2		2 October 2025
	Matchday 3		23 October 2025
	Matchday 4		6 November 2025
	Matchday 5		27 November 2025
	Matchday 6		11 December 2025
	Matchday 7		22 January 2026
	Matchday 8		29 January 2026
Knockout phase	Knockout round play-offs	30 January 2026	19 February 2026	26 February 2026
	Round of 16	27 February 2026	12 March 2026	19 March 2026
	Quarter-finals		9 April 2026	16 April 2026
	Semi-finals		30 April 2026	7 May 2026
	Final		20 May 2026 at Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul

Qualifying rounds

Main article: 2025–26 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 17 June 2025. The first legs were played on 10 July, and the second legs were played on 17 July 2025.

The winners of the ties advanced to the second qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path second qualifying round.

First qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shakhtar Donetsk	6–0	Ilves	6–0	0–0
Sheriff Tiraspol	5–2	Prishtina	4–0	1–2
Spartak Trnava	2–3	BK Häcken	0–1	2–2
Sabah	5–6	Celje	2–3	3–3 (a.e.t.)
Legia Warsaw	2–0	Aktobe	1–0	1–0
Levski Sofia	1–1 (3–1 p)	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	0–0	1–1 (a.e.t.)
AEK Larnaca	2–2 (6–5 p)	Partizan	1–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Paks	0–3	CFR Cluj	0–0	0–3

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 18 June 2025. The first legs were played on 24 July and the second legs were played on 31 July 2025.

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.

Second qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Lugano	0–1	CFR Cluj	0–0	0–1 (a.e.t.)
Celje	2–3	AEK Larnaca	1–1	1–2
Levski Sofia	0–1	Braga	0–0	0–1 (a.e.t.)
Baník Ostrava	3–4	Legia Warsaw	2–2	1–2
Anderlecht	2–2 (2–4 p)	BK Häcken	1–0	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Sheriff Tiraspol	2–7	Utrecht	1–3	1–4
Midtjylland	3–2	Hibernian	1–1	2–1 (a.e.t.)
Beşiktaş	2–6	Shakhtar Donetsk	2–4	0–2

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 21 July 2025. The first legs were played on 5, 6 and 7 August, and the second legs were played on 12 and 14 August 2025.

The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League play-off round.

Third qualifying round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
Lincoln Red Imps	1–1 (6–5 p)	Noah	1–1	0–0 (a.e.t.)
Rijeka	4–3	Shelbourne	1–2	3–1
RFS	1–3	KuPS	1–2	0–1
Hamrun Spartans	2–5	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–2	1–3
Zrinjski Mostar	3–2	Breiðablik	1–1	2–1
FCSB	6–3	Drita	3–2	3–1
Main Path
AEK Larnaca	5–3	Legia Warsaw	4–1	1–2
Fredrikstad	1–5	Midtjylland	1–3	0–2
CFR Cluj	1–4	Braga	1–2	0–2
PAOK	1–0	Wolfsberger AC	0–0	1–0 (a.e.t.)
Servette	2–5	Utrecht	1–3	1–2
BK Häcken	1–2	Brann	0–2	1–0
Panathinaikos	0–0 (4–3 p)	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–0	0–0 (a.e.t.)

Play-off round

Main article: 2025–26 UEFA Europa League play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 4 August 2025. The first legs will be played on 21 August, and the second legs will be played on 27 and 28 August 2025.

The winners of the ties will advance to the league phase. The losers will be transferred to the Conference League league phase.

Play-off round

Team 1	Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Maccabi Tel Aviv	Match 1	Dynamo Kyiv	21 Aug	28 Aug
Shkëndija	Match 2	Ludogorets Razgrad	21 Aug	28 Aug
Slovan Bratislava	Match 3	Young Boys	21 Aug	28 Aug
Malmö FF	Match 4	Sigma Olomouc	21 Aug	28 Aug
Panathinaikos	Match 5	Samsunspor	21 Aug	28 Aug
Aberdeen	Match 6	FCSB	21 Aug	28 Aug
Lech Poznań	Match 7	Genk	21 Aug	28 Aug
Midtjylland	Match 8	KuPS	21 Aug	28 Aug
Lincoln Red Imps	Match 9	Braga	21 Aug	28 Aug
Zrinjski Mostar	Match 10	Utrecht	21 Aug	28 Aug
Brann	Match 11	AEK Larnaca	21 Aug	27 Aug
Rijeka	Match 12	PAOK	21 Aug	28 Aug

League phase

Salzburg

Plzeň

Dinamo

Aston Villa

Nottingham Forest

Lille

Lyon

Nice

Freiburg

Stuttgart

Bologna

Roma

Porto

Betis

Celta

Location of teams of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League league phase

GA Eagles

Feyenoord

Lille

Location of Benelux & nearby teams of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League league phase.

The league phase draw for the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League takes place on 29 August 2025. The 36 teams will be divided into four pots of nine teams each based on their UEFA club coefficient.

The 36 teams will be manually drawn, and then automated software digitally will draw their eight different opponents at random, determining which of their matches will be 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 cannot face opponents from their own association, and can only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association.^[13][14]

Aston Villa, Bologna, Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest will make their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage (although Aston Villa had previously appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage). Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest will make their debut appearances in a major UEFA competition group or league phase.

As of 12 August 2025, the following teams have qualified for the league phase:

Pot 1 (9) Roma CC: 104.500 (18) Porto CC: 79.750 (26) Feyenoord CC: 71.000 (31) Lille CC: 66.000 (38) Dinamo Zagreb CC: 56.000 (40) Real Betis CC: 52.250 (44) Red Bull Salzburg CC: 48.000

Pot 1/2 (46) Aston Villa CC: 47.250 Pot 2 (51) Lyon CC: 43.750 (56) Viktoria Plzeň CC: 39.250

Pot 2/3 (74) SC Freiburg CC: 28.000 (new) Nottingham Forest CC: 23.039 Pot 3 (87) Nice CC: 20.000

Pot 3/4 (89) Bologna CC: 19.446 (new) Celta Vigo CC: 18.890 (102) VfB Stuttgart CC: 17.226 (123) Go Ahead Eagles CC: 13.430

See also

• 2025–26 UEFA Champions League
• 2025–26 UEFA Conference League
• 2026 UEFA Super Cup
• 2025–26 UEFA Women's Champions League
• 2025–26 UEFA Women's Europa Cup
• 2025–26 UEFA Youth League