2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage
Football tournament group stage
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The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 19 September and ended on 12 December 2019.[1] A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.[2]
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2019, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.[3]
The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients.
On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries.[4]
Moreover, for associations with two or more teams, teams were paired in order to split them into two sets of six groups (A–F, G–L) for maximum television coverage. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed:[5]
Sevilla and Espanyol
Arsenal and Manchester United
Roma and Lazio
Borussia Mönchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt
Saint-Étienne and Rennes
CSKA Moscow and Krasnodar
Porto and Sporting CP- Braga and Vitória de Guimarães
Dynamo Kyiv and Oleksandriya
Gent and Standard Liège
Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor
PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord
LASK and Wolfsberger AC
Basel and Young Boys
Celtic and Rangers
On each matchday, one set of six groups play their matches at 18:55 CET/CEST, while the other set of six groups play their matches at 21:00 CET/CEST, with the two sets of groups alternating between each matchday. The fixtures were decided after the draw, using a computer draw not shown to public, with the following match sequence (Regulations Article 15.02):[2]
| Matchday | Date | Matches[note 1] |
|---|---|---|
| Matchday 1 | 19 September 2019 | 2 v 3, 4 v 1 |
| Matchday 2 | 3 October 2019 | 1 v 2, 3 v 4 |
| Matchday 3 | 24 October 2019 | 3 v 1, 2 v 4 |
| Matchday 4 | 6–7 November 2019 | 1 v 3, 4 v 2 |
| Matchday 5 | 28 November 2019 | 3 v 2, 1 v 4 |
| Matchday 6 | 12 December 2019 | 2 v 1, 4 v 3 |
There were scheduling restrictions: for example, teams from the same city (e.g. Lazio and Roma) in general were not scheduled to play at home on the same matchday (to avoid them playing at home on the same day, due to logistics and crowd control), and teams from "winter countries" (e.g. Russia) were not scheduled to play at home on the last matchday (due to cold weather).
Teams
Below were the participating teams (with their 2019 UEFA club coefficients),[6] grouped by their seeding pot. They included:
- 17 teams which entered in the group stage
- 21 winners of the play-off round (8 from Champions Path, 13 from Main Path)
- 6 losers of the Champions League play-off round (4 from Champions Path, 2 from League Path)
- 4 League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round
| Key to colours |
|---|
| Group winners and runners-up advanced to round of 32 |
- Notes
- EL-CP Winners of play-off round (Champions Path).
- EL-MP Winners of play-off round (Main Path).
- CL-CP Losers of Champions League play-off round (Champions Path).
- CL-LP Losers of Champions League play-off round (League Path).
- CL-LQ Losers of Champions League third qualifying round (League Path).
Format
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 32, where they were joined by the eight third-placed teams of the Champions League group stage.
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 16.01):[2]
- Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
- If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
- Goal difference in all group matches;
- Goals scored in all group matches;
- Away goals scored in all group matches;
- Wins in all group matches;
- Away wins in all group matches;
- Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
- UEFA club coefficient.
Groups
The matchdays were 19 September, 3 October, 24 October, 7 November, 28 November, and 12 December 2019.[1] The scheduled kickoff times were 18:55 and 21:00 CET/CEST, with possible exceptions at 16:50 CET/CEST due to geographical reasons.
Times are CET/CEST,[note 2] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group A
APOEL  | 3–4 |  F91 Dudelange |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Qarabağ  | 1–1 | F91 Dudelange |
|---|---|---|
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Group B
Dynamo Kyiv  | 1–0 |  Malmö FF |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
Copenhagen  | 1–0 |  Lugano |
|---|---|---|
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| Lugano | 0–0 | Dynamo Kyiv |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1–1 | Copenhagen |
|---|---|---|
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| Copenhagen | 1–1 | Dynamo Kyiv |
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| Lugano | 0–1 | Copenhagen |
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| Dynamo Kyiv | 1–1 | Lugano |
|---|---|---|
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| Copenhagen | 0–1 | Malmö FF |
|---|---|---|
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Group C
Getafe  | 1–0 |  Trabzonspor |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
| Trabzonspor | 0–1 | Getafe |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Basel | 2–0 | Trabzonspor |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Group D
Sporting CP  | 2–1 |  LASK |
|---|---|---|
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| Sporting CP | 1–0 |  Rosenborg |
|---|---|---|
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PSV Eindhoven  | 0–0 | LASK |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Sporting CP | 4–0 | PSV Eindhoven |
|---|---|---|
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| PSV Eindhoven | 1–1 | Rosenborg |
|---|---|---|
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Group E
Celtic  | 2–0 |  CFR Cluj |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
Group F
Eintracht Frankfurt  | 0–3 |  Arsenal |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Arsenal | 4–0 |  Standard Liège |
|---|---|---|
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| Arsenal | 3–2 | Vitória de Guimarães |
|---|---|---|
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| Eintracht Frankfurt | 2–1 | Standard Liège |
|---|---|---|
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| Vitória de Guimarães | 1–1 | Arsenal |
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| Standard Liège | 2–1 | Eintracht Frankfurt |
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| Vitória de Guimarães | 1–1 | Standard Liège |
|---|---|---|
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| Arsenal | 1–2 | Eintracht Frankfurt |
|---|---|---|
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| Eintracht Frankfurt | 2–3 | Vitória de Guimarães |
|---|---|---|
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Group G
| Young Boys | 1–2 | Porto |
|---|---|---|
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Group H
Ludogorets Razgrad  | 5–1 |  CSKA Moscow |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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Ferencváros  | 0–3 | Ludogorets Razgrad |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| CSKA Moscow | 0–1 | Ferencváros |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Ludogorets Razgrad | 0–1 | Espanyol |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| CSKA Moscow | 1–1 | Ludogorets Razgrad |
|---|---|---|
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| Ludogorets Razgrad | 1–1 | Ferencváros |
|---|---|---|
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| Espanyol | 0–1 | CSKA Moscow |
|---|---|---|
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Group I
| VfL Wolfsburg | 3–1 | Oleksandriya |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Oleksandriya | 1–1 | Gent |
|---|---|---|
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Saint-Étienne  | 1–1 | VfL Wolfsburg |
|---|---|---|
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| Saint-Étienne | 1–1 | Oleksandriya |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Gent | 2–2 | VfL Wolfsburg |
|---|---|---|
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| Oleksandriya | 2–2 | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
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| VfL Wolfsburg | 1–3 | Gent |
|---|---|---|
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| Saint-Étienne | 0–0 | Gent |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Gent | 2–1 | Oleksandriya |
|---|---|---|
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| VfL Wolfsburg | 1–0 | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
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Group J
Roma  | 4–0 | İstanbul Başakşehir |
|---|---|---|
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| Wolfsberger AC | 1–1 | Roma |
|---|---|---|
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| İstanbul Başakşehir | 1–1 | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
|---|---|---|
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Group K
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0–1 | Braga |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Beşiktaş | 0–1 | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Braga | 3–3 | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
|---|---|---|
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| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 4–0 | Beşiktaş |
|---|---|---|
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Group L
| Manchester United | 1–0 |  Astana |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
| Astana | 1–2 |  Partizan |
|---|---|---|
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Notes
- Positions for scheduling do not use the seeding pots, e.g. Team 1 is not necessarily the team from Pot 1 in the draw.
- Qarabağ played their home matches at Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, instead of their regular stadium Azersun Arena, Baku.
- F91 Dudelange played their home matches at Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, instead of their regular stadium Stade Jos Nosbaum, Dudelange.
- Lugano played their home matches at Kybunpark, St. Gallen, instead of their regular stadium Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano, which did not meet UEFA requirements.[21]
- LASK played their home matches at Linzer Stadion, Linz, instead of their regular stadium Waldstadion, Pasching.
- Vitória de Guimarães' home matches were initially scheduled on Wednesdays at 16:50 (15:50 UTC+1/UTC+0), pending confirmation, due to security concerns related to scheduling conflicts with Braga's home matches. On 4 September 2019, the Vitória de Guimarães v Eintracht Frankfurt match was rescheduled to 3 October 2019, 21:00 (20:00 UTC+1), after a "risk reassessment by the security forces".[70] On 11 September 2019, the Vitória de Guimarães v Arsenal match was refused rescheduling to 7 November 2019, 18:55 (17:55 UTC+0), in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Braga v Beşiktaş match.[71] On 5 October 2019, the Vitória de Guimarães v Standard Liège match was moved to 28 November 2019, 21:00 (20:00 UTC+0).[72]
- Oleksandriya played their home matches at Arena Lviv, Lviv, instead of their regular stadium CSC Nika Stadium, Oleksandriia, which did not meet UEFA requirements.[109]
- Wolfsberger AC played their home matches at Liebenauer Stadium, Graz, instead of their regular stadium Lavanttal-Arena, Wolfsberg.
- The match was supposed to play behind closed doors due to UEFA punishment, but Slovan Bratislava used the UEFA regulation, which allows children under 14 years old to visit.
- Partizan was supposed to play two matches behind closed doors, for the racist behaviour of its supporters against Yeni Malatyaspor at the third qualifying round.[145] However, new regulations allowed little fans in their match against AZ.[146] Apparently the sanction was not imposed either in the match against Manchester United.
- AZ played their home matches at Cars Jeans Stadion, The Hague, instead of their regular stadium AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar due to its roof collapse.[149]