The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round will begin on 20 August and end on 1 October 2020.[1]
A total of 180 teams are expected to compete in the qualifying system of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, which includes the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 36 teams in Champions Path and 144 teams in Main Path. The 21 winners in the play-off round (8 from Champions Path, 13 from Main Path) advance to the group stage, to join the 17 teams that enter in the group stage, the 6 losers of the Champions League play-off round (4 from Champions Path, 2 from League Path), and the 4 League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round.[2][3]
Teams
The entry list for the qualifying phase and play-off round may change depending on the outcome of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
Champions Path
The Champions Path includes all league champions which are eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League, and consists of the following rounds:
- Second qualifying round (20 teams): 20 teams which enter in this round (3 losers of the Champions League preliminary round and 17 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round).
- Third qualifying round (20 teams): 10 teams which enter in this round (losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 9 winners of the second qualifying round.
- Play-off round (16 teams): 6 teams which enter in this round (losers of the Champions League third qualifying round), and 10 winners of the third qualifying round.
Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients),[4] grouped by their starting rounds.[5]
Key to colours |
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Winners of play-off round advance to group stage |
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- Notes
- Q3 Losers of Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path).
- Q2 Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path).
- Q1 Losers of Champions League first qualifying round.
- PR F Losers of Champions League preliminary round final.
- PR SF Losers of Champions League preliminary round semi-finals.
Main Path
The Main Path includes all cup winners and league non-champions which do not qualify directly for the group stage, and consists of the following rounds:
- Preliminary round (16 teams): 16 teams which enter in this round.
- First qualifying round (94 teams): 86 teams which enter in this round, and 8 winners of the preliminary round.
- Second qualifying round (74 teams): 27 teams which enter in this round, and 47 winners of the first qualifying round.
- Third qualifying round (52 teams): 15 teams which enter in this round (including 2 League Path losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 37 winners of the second qualifying round.
- Play-off round (26 teams): 26 winners of the third qualifying round.
Below are the participating teams of the Main Path (with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients),[4] grouped by their starting rounds.[5]
Key to colours |
---|
Winners of play-off round advance to group stage |
- Notes
- CL Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (League Path).
- ^ Austria (AUT): LASK will qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League if they win the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
- ^ Denmark (DEN): Copenhagen will qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League if they win the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
- ^
- ^ Germany (GER): VfL Wolfsburg will qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League if they win the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
- ^ Switzerland (SUI): Basel will qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League if they win the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.
Format
In a change to the format as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, each tie will be played as a single-match hosted by one of the teams decided by draw, and will be played behind closed doors.[1][6] If scores are level at the end of normal time, extra time is played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the scores remain tied.
For the Champions Path, in the draws for each round, teams (whose identity is not known at the time of the draws) are divided into seeded and unseeded pots, which may contain different numbers of teams, based on the following principles:
- In the second qualifying round draw, 17 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round are seeded, and the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round are unseeded.
- In the third qualifying round draw, the ten losers of the Champions League second qualifying round are seeded and the 10 winners of the second qualifying round are unseeded.
- In the play-off round draw, the six losers of the Champions League third qualifying round are seeded, and the ten winners of the third qualifying round are unseeded.
In the beginning of the draws, a seeded team is drawn against an unseeded team until one of the pots is empty. Afterwards, the remaining teams from the non-empty pot are drawn against each other.
For the Main Path, in the draws for each round, teams are seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. A seeded team is drawn against an unseeded team. As the identity of the winners of the previous round is not known at the time of the draws, the seeding is carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient is to advance, it simply takes the seeding of its opponent.
Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they are purely for the convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from the same association or from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA may not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie may be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[7] The tournament would originally have started in June 2020, but had been delayed to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[8] The new schedule was announced by the UEFA Executive Committee on 17 June 2020.[9]
Phase | Round | Draw date | Match date |
---|---|---|---|
Qualifying | Preliminary round | 9 August 2020 | 20 August 2020 |
First qualifying round | 10 August 2020 | 27 August 2020 | |
Second qualifying round | 31 August 2020 | 17 September 2020 | |
Third qualifying round | 1 September 2020 | 24 September 2020 | |
Play-off | Play-off round | 18 September 2020 | 1 October 2020 |
The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows (all draws held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).
Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
---|---|---|---|---|
Qualifying | Preliminary round | 9 June 2020 | 25 June 2020 | 2 July 2020 |
First qualifying round | 16 June 2020 | 9 July 2020 | 16 July 2020 | |
Second qualifying round | 17 June 2020 | 23 July 2020 | 30 July 2020 | |
Third qualifying round | 20 July 2020 | 6 August 2020 | 13 August 2020 | |
Play-off | Play-off round | 3 August 2020 | 20 August 2020 | 27 August 2020 |
Preliminary round
Note: All qualified teams below are listed with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients (CC).[4][10]
In the preliminary round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2020 UEFA club coefficients,[4][10] and will be drawn into single leg matches, which will be hosted by one of the teams decided by draw, and will be played behind closed doors. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
A total of 16 teams are expected to play in the preliminary round.
Seeded teams:
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Unseeded teams:
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Qualifying round
First Qualifying Round
Note: All qualified teams below are listed with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients (CC).[4][10]
In the first qualifying round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2020 UEFA club coefficients,[4][10] and will be drawn into single leg matches, which will be hosted by one of the teams decided by draw, and will be played behind closed doors. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
A total of 94 teams are expected to play in the first qualifying round.
Seeded teams:
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Unseeded teams:
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Second Qualifying Round
Note: All qualified teams below are listed with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients (CC).[4][10]
In the second qualifying round (main path), teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2020 UEFA club coefficients,[4][10] and will be drawn into single leg matches, which will be hosted by one of the teams decided by draw, and will be played behind closed doors. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
A total of 94 teams are expected to play in the second qualifying round, 20 in the champions path and 74 in the main path.
- Main path
Seeded teams:
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Seeding TBD:
Unseeded teams:
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References
- ^ a b "Updated UEFA competitions calendar". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ "UEFA Europa League qualifying explained". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 25 June 2019.
- ^ "Regulations of the UEFA Europa League 2019/20" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Club coefficients". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
- ^ a b "2019/20 UEFA Europa League participants". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 9 July 2019.
- ^ "UEFA competitions to resume in August". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ "2020/21 UEFA Europa League match calendar". Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019.
- ^ "2020/21 UEFA Europa League: all you need to know". UEFA.com. 9 July 2020.
- ^ "Updated UEFA competitions calendar". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "UEFA Team Ranking 2020". Bert Kassies.