Since the 2004-05 season, the group stage has been introduced into the UEFA Cup. Forty teams are divided into eight groups, and the top three in each group qualify. Participated in the final of the last 16 of the UEFA Cup together with the third place in the eighth group of the Champions League.
On September 27th, 2008, the UEFA Executive Committee passed a resolution to rename the UEFA Cup as the Europa League starting from the 2009/ 10 season.
The group stage was expanded to 12 teams, with 4 teams in each team. Each team played home and away games with the other three teams in the same group, and the top two in the 12 group advanced to the knockout round of the top 32.
The defending champions and ten teams eliminated from the Champions League final qualifying match automatically entered the Champions League group stage.
There are four qualifying rounds before the Europa League group stage. The champion of the Football Association's domestic cup ranked 52nd and 53rd in the UEFA standings, the runner-up of the Football Association's domestic league ranked 35th with 565,438+0 (except Liechtenstein), the runner-up of the Football Association's domestic league ranked 22nd with 565,438+0 (except Liechtenstein) and the three winners of the UEFA Fair Play Award entered the first round of qualifying, and the first round of qualifying was two rounds of elimination.
The winner of the first round of 25 matches entered the second round of qualifiers, with UEFA ranking 28-5 1, FA ranking second in domestic league 19-34, FA ranking third in domestic league 16-2 1, and FA ranking 15. The second round of the qualifiers is also the home and away two-round knockout.
The winner of 40 matches in the second round qualifiers entered the third round. The champion of Football Association's domestic cup ranks 16 to 27 in UEFA, the runner-up in Football Association's domestic league ranks 16 to 18, the runner-up in Football Association's domestic league ranks 10 to 15, the fourth in Football Association's league ranks 7 to 9 and the fifth in Football Association's league ranks 4 to 6. This round is still the home and away two-round knockout.
The winner of 35 matches in the third qualifying round entered the fourth round. 15 teams eliminated in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers, the UEFA domestic cup champions ranked 1 to 15, the Football Association domestic league ranked 7-9, the Football Association league ranked 4-6, and the Football Association league ranked 5-0/3 directly entered this round of qualifiers.
In the fourth round of the qualifying round, 37 opponents also played two rounds of home and away, and 37 winners advanced to the Europa League group stage. 10 teams eliminated in the final round of European League qualifiers and the defending champions of the European League also entered the group stage.
If a country's cup champion qualifies for the Champions League, the runner-up of the country's cup will directly get a seat in the European League.
The teams participating in the knockout round of the top 32 of the Europa League include the top two in the group stage 12 and the third place in the eight groups of the Champions League group stage. The winner of 16 entered the knockout stage of 16, followed by14 finals and semi-finals.
The final of the Europa League is a decisive match, which will be held in a neutral city at 20:45 CET on Wednesday.
In the Champions League competition week, the European League will be held on Thursday night, while in the non-Champions League competition week, the European League will be held on Wednesday and Thursday night. There are two tee times, in principle, 19:00 and 2 1:05, which are selected according to the actual situation of different countries.
The European League group stage will provide various media rights, including non-exclusive sponsorship rights and match balls. Like the Champions League, the European League will also provide various sponsorship and cooperation rights from the knockout stage of the top 32.