2026–27 UEFA Europa League
56th season of the UEFA club football tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026–27 UEFA Europa League is the 56th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
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9 July – 27 August 2026
Competition proper:
16 September 2026 – 26 May 2027
Total: 45+31 (from 41 associations)
The Waldstadion in Frankfurt will host the final | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 9 July – 27 August 2026 Competition proper: 16 September 2026 – 26 May 2027 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 36 Total: 45+31 (from 41 associations) |
← 2025–26 2027-28 → | |
As the reigning champions, Aston Villa automatically qualified for the Champions League league phase, and are unable to defend their title as 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 76 teams from at least 40 UEFA member associations are expected to participate in the 2026–27 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[1]
- The title holders of the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League will receive an entry into the Europa League (if they do 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.
- Teams eliminated from the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round (except from the first qualifying round) will be transferred to the Europa League.
Association ranking
For the 2026–27 UEFA Europa League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2025 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25.[2]
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
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Distribution
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from the previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League | ||
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| First qualifying round (12 teams) |
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| Second qualifying round (18 teams) |
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| Third qualifying round (26 teams) |
Champions Path (12 teams) |
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| Main Path (14 teams) |
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| Play-off round (24 teams) |
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| League phase (36 teams) |
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| Knockout phase play-offs (16 teams) |
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| Round of 16 (16 teams) |
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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 Europa League title holders (Aston Villa) qualified for the Champions League via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made:
- The cup winners of associations 17 to 20 (Switzerland, Israel, Cyprus, Sweden) will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first 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
- 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).
Two teams not playing in a national top division will take part in the competition: Torreense (2nd tier), Vestri (2nd tier).
Notes
- ^ Czech Republic (CZE): Karviná originally qualified for the play-off round as Czech Cup winners, but were disqualified for their involvement in a match-fixing scandal. Viktoria Plzeň, who originally qualified for the second qualifying round, were subsequently promoted to the play-off round, with Hradec Králové moving up from the Conference League to replace them. Jablonec subsequently took Hradec Králové's Conference League spot.[3]
- ^ 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.[4] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[5]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[6] 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.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 16 June 2026 | 9 July 2026 | 16 July 2026 |
| Second qualifying round | 17 June 2026 | 23 July 2026 | 30 July 2026 | |
| Third qualifying round | 20 July 2026 | 6 August 2026 | 13 August 2026 | |
| Play-offs | Play-off round | 3 August 2026 | 20 August 2026 | 27 August 2026 |
| League phase | Matchday 1 | 28 August 2026 | 16–17 September 2026 | |
| Matchday 2 | 15 October 2026 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 22 October 2026 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 5 November 2026 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 26 November 2026 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 10 December 2026 | |||
| Matchday 7 | 21 January 2027 | |||
| Matchday 8 | 28 January 2027 | |||
| Knockout phase | Knockout round play-offs | 29 January 2027 | 18 February 2027 | 25 February 2027 |
| Round of 16 | 26 February 2027 | 11 March 2027 | 18 March 2027 | |
| Quarter-finals | N/a | 8 April 2027 | 15 April 2027 | |
| Semi-finals | 29 April 2027 | 6 May 2027 | ||
| Final | 26 May 2027 at Waldstadion, Frankfurt | |||
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 16 June 2026.[7] The first legs were played on 9 July, and the second legs were played on 16 July 2026.
The winners of the ties advanced to the second qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path second qualifying round.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dynamo Kyiv  | 0–0 (4–2 p) |  Universitatea Cluj | 0–0 | 0–0 (a.e.t.) |
Qarabağ  | 6–0 |  Vestri | 3–0 | 3–0 |
Hajduk Split  | 3–2 |  Žilina | 2–0 | 1–2 |
CSKA Sofia  | 5–3 |  Derry City | 3–2 | 2–1 |
Sheriff Tiraspol  | 1–0 |  Aluminij | 0–0 | 1–0 |
Vojvodina  | 1–5 |  Ferencváros | 1–2 | 0–3 |
Second qualifying round
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 17 June 2026.[8] The first legs were played on 23 July, and the second legs were played on 30 July 2026.
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.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hammarby IF  | 2–4 |  Anderlecht | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| Qarabağ | 0–0 (4–5 p) | CSKA Sofia | 0–0 | 0–0 (a.e.t.) |
Tromsø  | 1–4 |  Hradec Králové | 0–1 | 1–3 |
Twente  | 3–4 | Ferencváros | 1–2 | 2–2 |
Beşiktaş  | 3–0 |  Midtjylland | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Hajduk Split | 2–4 |  Pafos | 2–0 | 0–4 (a.e.t.) |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 0–6 |  Maccabi Tel Aviv | 0–5 | 0–1 |
St. Gallen  | 2–6 |  Benfica | 2–1 | 0–5 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–5 |  PAOK | 2–3 | 0–2 |
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 20 July 2026.[9] The first legs were played on 4, 5 and 6 August, and the second legs were played on 11, 13 and 14 August 2026.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League play-off round.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions Path | ||||
Larne  | 1–2 |  Iberia 1999 | 0–0 | 1–2 (a.e.t.) |
Lincoln Red Imps  | 1–2 | Omonia | 1–1 | 0–1 |
KuPS  | 2–3 | Universitatea Craiova | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 4–6 |  Egnatia | 3–1 | 1–5 |
Lech Poznań  | 6–0 |  KÍ | 1–0 | 5–0 |
| Thun | 5–3 | Víkingur Reykjavík | 3–0 | 2–3 |
| Main Path | ||||
| Hradec Králové | 0–2 | Beşiktaş | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Jagiellonia Białystok | 3–2 |  Rangers | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| PAOK | 2–4 | Anderlecht | 0–1 | 2–3 |
Red Bull Salzburg  | 4–3[a] | Pafos | 1–0 | 3–3 |
| Benfica | 7–2 | Heart of Midlothian | 6–1 | 1–1 |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 3–4 | CSKA Sofia | 0–3 | 3–1 |
| Ferencváros | 2–1 | Górnik Zabrze | 1–0 | 1–1 |
- The order of the legs was reversed after the original draw because the Red Bull Arena was scheduled to host the UEFA Super Cup on 12 August.
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round was held on 3 August 2026.[10] The first legs were played on 20 August, and the second legs were played on 27 August 2026.
The winners of the ties advanced to the league phase. The losers were transferred to the Conference League league phase.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trabzonspor | 0–5 | Ferencváros | 0–1 | 0–4 |
| Universitatea Craiova | 1–2 |  Ararat-Armenia | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Sint-Truiden | 3–4 | Omonia | 1–0 | 2–4 |
| Red Star Belgrade | 4–5 | Viktoria Plzeň | 3–0 | 1–5 (a.e.t.) |
| Egnatia | 1–2 | Lillestrøm | 0–0 | 1–2 (a.e.t.) |
| Jagiellonia Białystok | 6–1 | Iberia 1999 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Mjällby AIF | 0–4 | Red Bull Salzburg | 0–1 | 0–3 |
Kairat  | 0–6 | Anderlecht | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| Lech Poznań | 9–2 | Thun | 7–0 | 2–2 |
| Beşiktaş | 3–1 |  Kauno Žalgiris | 3–0 | 0–1 |
| Benfica | 6–2 | AGF | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| OFI | 5–0 | CSKA Sofia | 3–0 | 2–0 |
League phase
Ararat-Armenia, Bournemouth, Celje, Crystal Palace, Jagiellonia Białystok, Lillestrøm, NEC, OFI, Sunderland and Torreense will make their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage (although NEC had previously appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage).
Ararat-Armenia, Bournemouth, Lillestrøm, OFI, Sunderland and Torreense will make their debut appearances in a major UEFA competition group or league phase, with Bournemouth and Torreense qualifying for European football for the first time in their history.
Ararat-Armenia will be the first team from Armenia to play in the Europa League group stage or league phase.
A total of 23 national associations will be represented in the league phase.
The following is a provisional allocation of the qualified teams into seeding pots, based on their UEFA club coefficients.
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Pot 1
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Pot 2
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Pot 3
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Pot 4
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