2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League

The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League will be the first season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.

2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
The Arena Kombëtare in Tirana will host the final.
Tournament details
DatesQualifying:
8 July – 26 August 2021
Competition proper:
16 September 2021 – 25 May 2022
TeamsCompetition proper: 32+8
Total: 138+46 (from 55 associations)

The final will be played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania.[1] The winners of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League will automatically qualify for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage, unless they manage to qualify for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage.[2]

This season will be the first since 1998–99 (the last season that the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was played) where three major European club competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the newly created UEFA Europa Conference League) are organised by UEFA.[3]

Association team allocation

A total of 184 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participate in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:

  • Associations 1–5 each have one team qualify.
  • Associations 6–15 and 51–55 each have two teams qualify.
  • Associations 16–50 (except Liechtenstein) each have three teams qualify.
  • Liechtenstein have one team qualify (Liechtenstein organises only a domestic cup and no domestic league).
  • Moreover, 20 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League and 26 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League are transferred to the Europa Conference League.

Association ranking

For the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2020 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2015–16 to 2019–20.[4]

Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Europa Conference League, as noted below:

  • (UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
  • (UEL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Europa League
Association ranking for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes
1  Spain 102.283 1
2  England 90.462
3  Germany 74.784
4  Italy 70.653
5  France 59.248
6  Portugal 49.449 2
7  Russia 45.549
8  Belgium 37.900
9  Ukraine 36.100
10  Netherlands 35.750
11  Turkey 33.600
12  Austria 32.925
13  Denmark 29.250
14  Scotland 27.875
15  Czech Republic 27.300
16  Cyprus 26.750 3
17   Switzerland 26.400
18  Greece 26.300
19  Serbia 25.500
Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes
20  Croatia 24.875 3
21  Sweden 22.750
22  Norway 21.750
23  Israel 19.625
24  Kazakhstan 19.250
25  Belarus 18.875
26  Azerbaijan 18.750
27  Bulgaria 17.375
28  Romania 16.700
29  Poland 16.625
30  Slovakia 15.875
31  Liechtenstein 13.500 1
32  Slovenia 13.000 3
33  Hungary 12.875
34  Luxembourg 8.000
35  Lithuania 7.875
36  Armenia 7.625
37  Latvia 7.625
Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes
38  Albania 7.375 3
39  North Macedonia 7.375
40  Bosnia and Herzegovina 6.875
41  Moldova 6.750
42  Republic of Ireland 6.700
43  Finland 6.500
44  Georgia 5.750
45  Malta 5.750
46  Iceland 5.375
47  Wales 5.000
48  Northern Ireland 4.875
49  Gibraltar 4.750
50  Montenegro 4.375
51  Estonia 4.375 2
52  Kosovo 4.000
53  Faroe Islands 3.750
54  Andorra 2.831
55  San Marino 0.666

Distribution

The following is the default access list.[5]

Access list for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
Teams entering in this round Teams advancing from previous round Teams transferred from Champions League or Europa League
First qualifying round
(70 teams)
  • 24 domestic cup winners from associations 32–55
  • 25 domestic league runners-up from associations 30–55 (except Liechtenstein)
  • 21 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 29–50 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round
(110 teams)		 Champions Path
(20 teams)
  • 20 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round and preliminary round (Champions Path)
Main Path
(90 teams)
  • 16 domestic cup winners from associations 16–31
  • 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29
  • 15 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 14–28
  • 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15
  • 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6
  • 35 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round
(62 teams)		 Champions Path
(10 teams)
  • 10 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
Main Path
(52 teams)
  • 7 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–13
  • 45 winners from the second qualifying round (Main Path)
Play-off round
(44 teams)		 Champions Path
(10 teams)
  • 5 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)
  • 5 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round (Champions Path)
Main Path
(34 teams)
  • 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6
  • 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 5
  • 4 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (EFL Cup Winners for England)
  • 26 winners from the third qualifying round (Main Path)
  • 2 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path)
Group stage
(32 teams)
  • 22 winners from the play-off round
  • 10 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round
Preliminary knockout round
(16 teams)
  • 8 group runners-up from the group stage
  • 8 group third-placed teams from Europa League group stage
Knockout phase
(16 teams)
  • 8 group winners from the group stage
  • 8 winners from the preliminary knockout round

In the default access list, three teams eliminated from the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path) are transferred to the Europa Conference League play-off round (Main Path). However, since the Europa League group stage berth reserved for the title holders of the Europa Conference League is not used for this season, only two are transferred for this season. As a result, changes to the access list will be made, to be officially confirmed by UEFA.

Changes will be made to the access list above, if any of the teams that qualify for the Europa League or Europa Conference League via their domestic competitions also qualify for the Champions League as the Champions League or Europa League title holders, or if there are fewer teams transferred from the Champions League and/or Europa League due to access list changes. In any case where a spot in the Europa Conference League is vacated, teams of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds will be promoted accordingly.

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

  • CW: Cup winners
  • 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position of the previous season
  • LC: League cup winners
  • RW: Regular season winners
  • PW: End-of-season Europa Conference League play-offs winners
  • UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
    • Q1: Losers from the first qualifying round
    • PR: Losers from the preliminary round (F: final; SF: semi-finals)
  • UEL: Transferred from the Europa League
    • GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
    • PO: Losers from the play-off round
    • CH/MP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/Main Path)
  • Abd-: League positions of abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as determined by the national association; all teams are subject to approval by UEFA as per the guidelines for entry to European competitions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round are divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).

Note: Teams in italics may still qualify for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League or 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, either through domestic performance, or by winning the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League or 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.

Qualified teams for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
Entry round Teams
Knockout round play-offs (UEL GS) (UEL GS) (UEL GS) (UEL GS)
(UEL GS) (UEL GS) (UEL GS) (UEL GS)
Group stage (UEL PO) (UEL PO) (UEL PO) (UEL PO)
(UEL PO) (UEL PO) (UEL PO) (UEL PO)
(UEL PO) (UEL PO)
Play-off round CH (UEL CH Q3) (UEL CH Q3) (UEL CH Q3) (UEL CH Q3)
(UEL CH Q3)
MP (6th) (LC) (6th) (6th)
(5th) (4th) (UEL MP Q3) (UEL MP Q3)
Third qualifying round MP (3rd) (RW) (3rd) (3rd)
(3rd) (3rd) (3rd)
Second qualifying round CH (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1)
(UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1)
(UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1)
(UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1) (UCL Q1)
(UCL Q1) (UCL PR F) (UCL PR SF) (UCL PR SF)
MP (5th) (4th) (PW) (4th)
(PW) (4th) (PW) (PW)
(3rd) (4th) (3rd) (4th)
(CW) (2nd) (3rd) (CW)
(2nd) (3rd) (CW) (2nd)
(3rd) (CW) (2nd) (3rd)
(CW) (2nd) (3rd) (CW)
IF Elfsborg (2nd) BK Häcken (3rd) Molde[Note NOR] (2nd) Vålerenga (3rd)
Rosenborg (4th)[Note NOR] (CW) (2nd) (3rd)
Tobol (2nd) Astana (3rd) Shakhter Karagandy (4th)[Note KAZ] (CW)
BATE Borisov (2nd) Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino (3rd) (CW) (2nd)
(3rd) (CW) (2nd) (PW)
(CW) (2nd) (PW) (CW)
(2nd) (CW) (CW)
First qualifying round (3rd) (2nd) (3rd) (CW)
(2nd) (3rd) (CW) (2nd)
(3rd) (2nd) (3rd) (4th)[Note LUX]
Panevėžys (CW) Sūduva (2nd) Kauno Žalgiris (3rd) (CW)
(2nd) (3rd) Liepāja (CW) Rīgas FS (2nd)
Valmiera/BSS (3rd) (CW) (2nd) (3rd)
(CW) (2nd) (3rd) (CW)
(2nd) (3rd) (CW) (2nd)
(3rd) Dundalk (CW) Bohemians (2nd) Sligo Rovers (4th)
Inter Turku (2nd) KuPS (3rd) Honka (4th) Gagra (CW)
Dinamo Batumi (2nd) Dila Gori (3rd) (CW) (2nd)
(3rd) FH (Abd-2nd)[Note ISL] Stjarnan (Abd-3rd)[Note ISL] Breiðablik (Abd-4th)[Note ISL]
(CW) (2nd) (3rd) (CW)
(2nd) (PW) (CW) (2nd)
(3rd) (CW) (2nd) (3rd)
(CW) Paide Linnameeskond (2nd) (CW) (2nd)
NSÍ Runavík (2nd) KÍ (3rd) (CW) (2nd)
(CW) (2nd)

One team not playing a national top division took part in the competition; Gagra (2nd tier).

Notes

  1. ^
    Iceland (ISL): The 2020 Úrvalsdeild and the 2020 Icelandic Cup were abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland. The second-placed, third-placed and fourth-placed teams of the league at the time of the abandonment based on the average number of points per matches played for each team, FH, Stjarnan and Breiðablik, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League by the Football Association of Iceland, entering the first qualifying round.[7]
  2. ^
    Kazakhstan (KAZ): The 2020 Kazakhstan Cup was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan. As a result, the fourth-placed team of the 2020 Kazakhstan Premier League was selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League by the Football Federation of Kazakhstan, entering the second qualifying round.[8]
  3. ^
    Luxembourg (LUX): The 2020–21 Luxembourg Cup was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Luxembourg. As a result, the fourth-placed team of the 2020–21 Luxembourg National Division was selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League by the Luxembourg Football Federation, entering the first qualifying round.[9]
  4. ^
    Norway (NOR):

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[11] Matches are scheduled for Thursdays, though exceptionally can take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts. Scheduled kick-off times are 16:30 (for a limited number of matches), 18:45 and 21:00 CEST/CET.[12]

Schedule for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Qualifying First qualifying round TBD 8 July 2021 15 July 2021
Second qualifying round TBD 22 July 2021 29 July 2021
Third qualifying round TBD 5 August 2021 12 August 2021
Play-offs 27 August 2021 19 August 2021 26 August 2021
Group stage Matchday 1 TBD 16 September 2021
Matchday 2 30 September 2021
Matchday 3 21 October 2021
Matchday 4 4 November 2021
Matchday 5 25 November 2021
Matchday 6 9 December 2021
Knockout phase Knockout round play-offs TBD 17 February 2022 24 February 2022
Round of 16 TBD 10 March 2022 17 March 2022
Quarter-finals TBD 7 April 2022 14 April 2022
Semi-finals 28 April 2022 5 May 2022
Final 25 May 2022 at Arena Kombëtare, Tirana

See also

References
  1. "Tirana to host first UEFA Europa Conference League Final". UEFA. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  2. "UEFA Europa Conference League: what is it? When does it start? Who's involved?". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  3. "UEFA Executive Committee approves new club competition". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  4. "Country coefficients 2019/20". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  5. "Access list 2021–24" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  6. "Guidelines on eligibility principles for 2020/21 UEFA Club Competitions – COVID 19" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 April 2020.
  7. "Keppni hætt". Knattspyrnusamband Íslands. 30 October 2020.
  8. "Итоги OLIMPBET-Чемпионата Казахстана сезона-2020". Профессиональная футбольная лига Казахстана. 30 November 2020.
  9. "Compétitions nationales de la saison 2020/2021 – nouvelles mesures sanitaires du Gouvernement jusqu'au 15 janvier 2021". Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football. 13 December 2020.
  10. "NM kvinner gjennomføres - NM menn avlyses". Norges Fotballforbund. 10 September 2020.
  11. "UEFA Europa Conference League: all you need to know". UEFA. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  12. "Format change for 2020/21 UEFA Nations League". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019.
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