The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round will begin on 11 July and end on 29 August 2024.[1]
A total of 52 teams will compete in the qualifying system which includes the qualifying phase and the play-off round. The 12 winners of the play-off round will advance to the league phase, to join the 13 teams that enter in the league stage, along with the seven losers of the Champions League play-off round (five from Champions Path and two from League Path), and the four losers of the Champions League third qualifying round (League Path).[2]
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Format
The qualifying phase is split into two paths – the Champions Path and the Main Path. The Champions Path contains teams which were eliminated from the Champions League Champions Path and the Main Path contains teams which qualify as the third-placed or the fourth-placed team from their domestic league or as domestic cup winners. The paths are merged in the play-off round.
Each tie will played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs will advance to the next round. If the aggregate score is level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time will be played, and if the same number of goals is scored by both teams during extra time, the tie will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[3]
In the draws for each round in the Main Path, teams will be 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 will be drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw. As the identity of the winners of the previous round may not known at the time of the draws, the seeding will be carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to the subsequent round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient advances, it will simply take the seeding of its opponent.
In the draw for the Champions Path third qualifying round, there will be no seeding.
Prior to the draws, UEFA can form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee purely for the convenience of the draw and not to resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA cannot be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie can be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
Zeitplan
The schedule of the competition is as follows. All matches are scheduled to be played on Thursdays.[1]
Schedule for 2024–25 UEFA Europa League
Round
Draw date
First leg
Second leg
First qualifying round
18 June 2024
11 July 2024
18 July 2024
Second qualifying round
19 June 2024
25 July 2024
1 August 2024
Third qualifying round
22 July 2024
8 August 2024
15 August 2024
Play-off round
5 August 2024
22 August 2024
29 August 2024
Teams
In the qualifying stage, the teams will be divided into two paths:
The winners of the third qualifying round will be combined into a single path for the play-off round:
Play-off round (24 teams): 5 teams which enter this round, 6 losers of the Champions League Champions Path third qualifying round, 6 winners of the Champions Path third qualifying round, and 7 winners of the Main Path third qualifying round.
All teams eliminated from the qualifying phase and play-off round will enter the Conference League:
The 12 losers of the play-off round enter the league stage.
Below are the participating teams (with their 2024 UEFA club coefficients, not to be used as seeding for the Champions Path, however),[4] grouped by their starting rounds. Teams in italic text may still qualify for the Champions League.
CH Q3 Losers of Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path).
CH Q2 Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path).
LP Q2 Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (League Path).
First qualifying round
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2024.
Seeding
A total of 12 teams will play in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[4] Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2024.
Seeding
A total of 18 teams will play in the second qualifying round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[4] For the winners of the first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. Before the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
† Winners of the first qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw. Teams in italics defeated a team with a higher coefficient, thus effectively taking the coefficient of their opponent in the draw.
Summary
The first legs will be played on 25 July, and the second legs will be played on 1 August 2024.
The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 22 July 2024.
Seeding
A total of 26 teams will play in the third qualifying round – 12 in the Champions Path and 14 in the Main Path. Seeding of the teams will be based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[4] For the winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of the draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie will be used. For the losers of the Champions League second qualifying round, the club coefficient of the lower-ranked team in each tie will be used. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
† Losers of the Champions League second qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
†† Winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round will be held on 5 August 2024.
Seeding
A total of 24 teams will play in the play-off round. Before the draw, UEFA may form groups of teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie will be the home team for the first leg.
† Losers of the Champions League third qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
†† Winners of the third qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
Notes
^Pafos played their home match at the Alphamega Stadium in Limassol, instead of their regular stadium, the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, in Paphos, which did not meet UEFA requirements.
^Corvinul Hunedoara played their home match at the Sibiu Municipal Stadium in Sibiu, instead of their regular stadium, the Michael Klein Stadium, in Hunedoara, which did not meet UEFA requirements.
^Zira played their home match at the Dalga Arena in Baku, instead of their regular stadium, the Zira Olympic Sport Complex Stadium, in Zirə, which did not meet UEFA requirements.
^Vojvodina play their home match at the ATSC Arena, in Bačka Topola, instead of their regular stadium, the Karađorđe Stadium, in Novi Sad.
^Due to the Israel–Hamas war, Israeli teams are required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.[33]
Note: Between the 2004–05 and 2008–09 seasons, the competition was still known as the UEFA Cup, but is included as it followed a group stage—knockout phase format.
Maribor
Pafos
Corvinul Hunedoara
Zira
Llapi
Tobol
Vojvodina
Trabzonspor
Rapid Wien
Cercle Brugge
Silkeborg
Rijeka
Maccabi Petah Tikva
