2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage
2020 football competition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 22 October 2020 and ended on 10 December 2020. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.[1][2]
Antwerp, Granada, Leicester City, Omonia and Sivasspor made their debut appearances in the group stage.
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 2 October 2020, 13:00 CEST, at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.[3]
In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs could be paired so that they played with different kick-off times (18.55 CET and 21:00 CET) for the benefit of TV audiences. If a paired club was drawn, for example, in groups A, B, C, D, E or F the other paired club – once drawn – would automatically be assigned to the first available group of G, H, I, J, K or L. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed:[4]
Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur
Napoli and Milan
Benfica and Braga
Bayer Leverkusen and TSG Hoffenheim
Villarreal and Real Sociedad
Gent and Standard Liège
PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord
Celtic and Rangers
Dinamo Zagreb and Rijeka
Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague
Ludogorets Razgrad and CSKA Sofia
Rapid Wien and LASK
PAOK and AEK Athens
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Lille and Nice
On each matchday, one set of six groups played their matches at 18:55 CET/CEST, while the other set of six groups played 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):[5]
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.[6]
| Matchday | Dates |
|---|---|
| Matchday 1 | 22 October 2020 |
| Matchday 2 | 29 October 2020 |
| Matchday 3 | 5 November 2020 |
| Matchday 4 | 26 November 2020 |
| Matchday 5 | 3 December 2020 |
| Matchday 6 | 10 December 2020 |
There were scheduling restrictions: for example, teams from the same city (e.g. Celtic & Rangers, Arsenal & Tottenham Hotspur, Sparta Prague & Slavia Prague) 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 2020 UEFA club coefficients),[7] grouped by their seeding pot. They included:
- 18 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)
- 3 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):[5]
- 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 group stage fixtures were confirmed on 2 October 2020.[8] The matchdays were 22 October, 29 October, 5 November, 26 November, 3 December, and 10 December 2020. The scheduled kickoff times were 18:55 and 21:00 CET/CEST.
Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Group A
- Head-to-head points: CFR Cluj 4, CSKA Sofia 1.
Roma  | 0–0 |  CSKA Sofia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
CFR Cluj  | 1–1 |  Young Boys |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
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| CSKA Sofia | 0–1 | Young Boys |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| CFR Cluj | 0–0 | CSKA Sofia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Group B
Rapid Wien  | 1–2 |  Arsenal |
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Molde  | 1–0 | Rapid Wien |
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Dundalk  | 1–3 | Rapid Wien |
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| Arsenal | 4–1 | Rapid Wien |
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| Molde | 3–1 | Dundalk |
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| Rapid Wien | 2–2 | Molde |
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Group C
Bayer Leverkusen  | 6–2 |  Nice |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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Hapoel Be'er Sheva  | 3–1 |  Slavia Prague |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Slavia Prague | 1–0 | Bayer Leverkusen |
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| Nice | 1–0 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva |
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| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 2–4 | Bayer Leverkusen |
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| Nice | 2–3 | Bayer Leverkusen |
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| Report |
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| Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 1–0 | Nice |
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Group D
Benfica  | 3–0 |  Standard Liège |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
Rangers  | 1–0 |  Lech Poznań |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
| Lech Poznań | 3–1 | Standard Liège |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Standard Liège | 2–1 | Lech Poznań |
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| Benfica | 4–0 | Lech Poznań |
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| Lech Poznań | 0–2 | Rangers |
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| Report |
Group E
Omonia  | 1–2 |  PSV Eindhoven |
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Granada  | 0–1 | PSV Eindhoven |
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| Report |
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Group F
Rijeka  | 0–1 | Real Sociedad |
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| Report |
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| Real Sociedad | 0–1 | Napoli |
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| Report |
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| AZ | 4–1 | Rijeka |
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| Real Sociedad | 1–0 | AZ |
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| AZ | 0–0 | Real Sociedad |
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| AZ | 1–1 | Napoli |
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| Napoli | 1–1 | Real Sociedad |
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Group G
- Head-to-head points: Leicester City 4, Braga 1.
AEK Athens  | 1–2 | Leicester City |
|---|---|---|
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Zorya Luhansk  | 1–2 | Braga |
|---|---|---|
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| Zorya Luhansk | 1–4 | AEK Athens |
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| Braga | 3–3 | Leicester City |
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| AEK Athens | 2–4 | Braga |
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Group H
| Lille | 1–1 | Milan |
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| Milan | 4–2 | Celtic |
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| Lille | 2–1 | Sparta Prague |
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| Sparta Prague | 0–1 | Milan |
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Group I
- The Villarreal v Qarabağ match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Villarreal after being cancelled as several players of the Qarabağ squad tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2.
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–0 |  Qarabağ |
|---|---|---|
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Report |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–1 | Villarreal |
|---|---|---|
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Sivasspor  | 0–1 | Villarreal |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Villarreal | 3–0 Awarded[note 9] | Qarabağ |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–0 | Sivasspor |
|---|---|---|
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Group J
| Tottenham Hotspur | 3–0 | LASK |
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| Antwerp | 1–0 | Tottenham Hotspur |
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| Tottenham Hotspur | 4–0 | Ludogorets Razgrad |
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| Tottenham Hotspur | 2–0 | Antwerp |
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Group K
| Wolfsberger AC | 1–1 |  CSKA Moscow |
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| Report |
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| Dinamo Zagreb | 1–0 | Wolfsberger AC |
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| Feyenoord | 3–1 | CSKA Moscow |
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| CSKA Moscow | 0–1 | Wolfsberger AC |
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| Report |
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| Dinamo Zagreb | 3–1 | CSKA Moscow |
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| Report |
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| Wolfsberger AC | 1–0 | Feyenoord |
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Group L
| TSG Hoffenheim | 2–0 |  Red Star Belgrade |
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| Slovan Liberec | 1–0 | Gent |
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| Gent | 1–4 | TSG Hoffenheim |
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| Red Star Belgrade | 5–1 | Slovan Liberec |
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| Red Star Belgrade | 2–1 | Gent |
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| Report |
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| TSG Hoffenheim | 5–0 | Slovan Liberec |
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| Slovan Liberec | 0–2 | TSG Hoffenheim |
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| Report |
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Notes
- CSKA Sofia played their home matches at Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, instead of their regular stadium Stadion Balgarska Armia, Sofia.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.
- Dundalk played their home matches at Tallaght Stadium, Tallaght, and Aviva Stadium, Dublin, instead of their regular stadium Oriel Park, Dundalk.
- Hapoel Be'er Sheva played their home matches at HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva, instead of their regular stadium Turner Stadium, Be'er Sheva, due to its structural problems.[34]
- Zorya Luhanskk played their home matches at Slavutych-Arena, Zaporizhzhia, instead of their regular stadium Avanhard Stadium, Luhansk, due to the war conditions in Eastern Ukraine.
- Qarabağ played their home matches at Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey, instead of their regular stadium Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, as UEFA matches in Armenia and Azerbaijan were temporarily suspended, due to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[108]
- The Villarreal v Maccabi Tel Aviv match was originally scheduled at 21:00, but was delayed due to heavy rain.
- The Villarreal v Qarabağ match was cancelled and awarded as a 3–0 win to Villarreal after several players of the Qarabağ squad tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2.[117]
- LASK played their home matches at Linzer Stadion, Linz, instead of their regular stadium Waldstadion, Pasching.
- Wolfsberger AC played their home matches at Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, instead of their regular stadium Lavanttal-Arena, Wolfsberg.