UEFA Europa and Conference League (2024/25) - Discussion Thread

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The UEFA Europa League, formerly known as the UEFA Cup, is a competition which is held annually, conducted and organised by UEFA since 1971. The criteria of qualification of clubs all over the world is based on their performance in the respective leagues and cup competitions.

The title has been won by 28 different clubs, with Spanish club Sevilla being the most successful team with six championship titles.

Winners of the Europa League automatically qualify for UEFA Super Cup and next season’s UEFA Champions League tournament, as per the rule changes in 2014-15.

Europa League History

The Inter-Cities Cup was held since 1955 and continued till 1971, finally getting replaced by the UEFA Cup.

The Inter-Cities started hosting 11 countries in its first competition. However, with growing popularity and development, the number of teams increased to 64.

The UEFA Cup was first held in the 1971–72 season and finished with an all English team final as Wolverhampton Wanderers faced Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs made history and won the first competition by 3-2 on aggregate in a two-legged final.

Format

Qualification for the Europa League has changed quite a bit in the last few years. UEFA uses statistics to rank the nations which are called UEFA coefficients. These nations are marked by an association number.

For the first qualification round, under associations 24–54, 31 clubs who have won their domestic cups qualify. Associations 18–53 and 16–51 have 35 of such clubs who also qualify.

For the second qualification round, apart from the teams qualifying from the first round, there are six domestic cup winners from associations 18–23, two domestic league winners from 16-17 and six domestic league fourth placed teams from 10–15.

For the third qualification round, the winners of second qualification round are in addition to five domestic cup winners from associations 13–17, nine domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–15, five domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 5–9, three domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 4–6 (League Cup winners for France) and three domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (League Cup winners for England).

In the play-off round, winners of the third qualifying round are added to the fifteen teams who have qualified from losing third qualification round in the UEFA Champions League.

In the group stage, winners of the playoffs join twelve domestic cup winners from associations 1–12, one domestic league fourth-placed team from association four and three domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–3. Apart from this, ten teams who lost in the UCL playoffs also qualify.

In the knockout phase, there are a total of 32 teams, 12 of which are group winners from the group stage and another 12 are runners-up. Eight third-placed teams from Champions League group stage also qualify.

Europa League Trophy

The UEFA Cup trophy was designed by GDA Betoni in the year 1972. It weighs 15 kgs and is made up of silver on a marble base.

The original trophy is kept with UEFA at all times and a replica is given to winners of the competitions each season.

Club NameWinners(Times)Years won
Sevilla62006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016
Liverpool31973, 1976, 2001
Juventus31977, 1990, 1993
Internazionale31991, 1994, 1998
Atletico Madrid32010, 2012, 2018
Borussia Monchengladbach21975, 1979
Tottenham Hotspur21972, 1984
Feyenoord21974, 2002
IFK Göteborg21982, 1987
Real Madrid21985, 1986
Parma21995, 1999
Porto22003, 2011
Chelsea22013, 2019

Current Scenario

The 2021-22 Europa League was a great edition to watch as German club Eintracht Frankfurt defied all odds to end up being crowned as the new Europa League winners. This was the German club's second Europa title as they has won it before in 1980. Frankfurt defeated a highly motivated Rangers FC who also displayed a great string of performances in the Europa League.

The likes of FC Barcelona, Sevilla, West Ham United, RB Leipzig and many more top teams were part of the knockout stages. The mighty Barca's campaign came to an end when Frankfurt made an incredible comeback in the second leg at the iconic Camp Nou. West Ham United and RB Leipzig managed to reach to the semifinals of the competition. However these two teams were knocked by Frankfurt and Rangers respectively.

SOURCE: https://www.sportskeeda.com/go/europa-league
 

Europa League Dates for 2024-25

Starting with the 2024-25 season, the format of the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League will change significantly. Check out this blog post to see those changes.

Preliminary and Qualifying Rounds

The 2024-25 UEFA Europa League will begin in July 2024 with three qualifying rounds, each consisting of two legs:

  • July 11 and 18
  • July 25 and August 1
  • August 8 and 15
These rounds don’t include any teams from the top European leagues. Those clubs join for the “League Phase” or Group Stage.

2024-25 Europa League Group Stage Dates

The draw for the 2024-25 Europa League Group Stage will take place on August 30, 2024. The 36 teams will be organized across four groups of nine and every club will face two teams from each of the other pots. After 8 games, the top 8 will move on to the round of 16 and teams ninth to 24th will go into a play-off round which sees each tie play out over two legs. The play-off winners also make it to the round of 16 while the losers go to the UEFA Europa Conference League.

The 2024-25 Group Stages dates — all Wednesday and Thursday evenings — are:

  • September 25-26
  • October 3
  • October 24
  • November 7
  • November 28
  • December 12
  • January 23
  • January 30

2024-25 Europa League Knockout round play-offs

The Europa League Knockout Stage begins with the Knockout round play-offs on February 13, 2025. Play-off games — one at each club’s stadium — will be played on the following Thursday nights:

  • February 13, 2025
  • February 20, 2025

2024-25 Europa League Round of 16

Round of 16 games — one at each club’s stadium — will be played on the following Thursday nights:

  • March 6, 2025
  • March 13, 2025

2024-25 Europa League Quarterfinals

The two-legged quarterfinal ties will be played:

  • April 10, 2025
  • April 17, 2025

2024-25 Europa League Semifinals

The two-legged semifinal ties will be played:

  • May 1, 2025
  • May 8, 2025

2024-25 Europa League Final

The 2024-25 Europa League Final will be played May 21, 2025, at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain.

SOURCE:https://groundhopperguides.com/the-uefa-europa-league-schedule/
 

Rangers face Man Utd & Tottenham in Europa League​


Rangers will face both Manchester United and Tottenham in the new-look league phase of the Europa League.

The Scottish Premiership side will play Spurs at Ibrox, with the Red Devils welcoming Rangers to Old Trafford for their first meeting in 14 years.

Each team plays eight fixtures in the 'league phase', with this year's men's tournament following the Champions League in having a radical change, including the end of a group stage.

United will travel to Fenerbahce to reunite with former boss Jose Mourinho, while they also play Mourinho's old side Porto away.

Tottenham host Roma, with away games against Galatasaray and Hoffenheim.

Rangers' other fixtures include a difficult trip to last season's Europa Conference League champions Olympiakos and French side Nice.

The hi-tech draw followed the same format as Thursday's Champions League draw, but this time it was former Athletic Bilbao striker Aritz Aduriz replacing Cristiano Ronaldo to press the all-important button.

 
Tottenham began their Europa League campaign with an impressive victory over Qarabag despite going down to 10 men from the seventh minute.

After a 35-minute delay to kick-off at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium because of travel disruptions, the home side were dealt an early blow when defender Radu Dragusin was shown a straight red card for bringing down Juninho in a one-on-one as the Brazilian raced through on goal.

Despite that, Brennan Johnson had the ball in the back of the net five minutes later when Qarabag were caught playing out from the back and Dominic Solanke placed it into the path of the 23-year-old to slot into the bottom corner.

It was Johnson's third goal in as many games.

Pape Sarr doubled Spurs' lead in the 52nd minute, controlling the loose ball at the far post before smashing home.

Qarabag were awarded a penalty three minutes later when Yves Bissouma brought Elvin Cafarquliyev down, but Toral Bayramov’s spot-kick was poor and pinged off the crossbar.

The Azerbaijan Premier League champions created an abundance of chances, with Guglielmo Vicario making some fine saves, but ultimately Qarabag lacked the cutting edge that Ange Postecoglou's side showed at the other end.

Solanke wrapped up victory in the 68th minute after goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski pushed Son Heung-min's strike from distance into the striker's path and he produced a confident finish.

Positives for Postecoglou

Postecoglou said before the match the expanding football schedule is reaching a "dangerous level" and therefore used it as an opportunity to shuffle his pack, making six changes from the side that beat Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday.

He handed 18-year-olds Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray their second Spurs starts but, following Dragusin's dismissal, midfielder Bergvall was sacrificed as defender Destiny Udogie came on.

Swede Bergvall, who snubbed Barcelona to join Spurs in the summer, looked forlorn on the bench as his opportunity to show Postecoglou why he should get more starts was cut short.

There were plenty of positives to take for Postecoglou, though.

Valuable minutes for his young players, a clean sheet despite being down to 10 men and confidence-boosting goals for summer signing Solanke as well as Johnson, who reportedly deactivated his Instagram account because of criticism received in the wake of his club's derby defeat to Arsenal earlier this month.

But Spurs' all-out attacking style often leaves them vulnerable to the counter-attack.

Qarabag must have wondered what else they needed to do to find the net as the wasteful Juninho had a goal ruled out for offside, Bayramov went close several times and Vicario produced a brilliant save to deny Cafarquliyev's long-range strike.

The sight of Son hobbling off in the second half could also be a concern as Spurs face Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, before a trip to Hungary to face Ferencvaros next week.

BBC
 
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