The 2023–24 UEFA Europa League was the 53rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 15th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
This edition was the final season with the current format of 32 teams participating in the group stage, after UEFA announced that a brand new format would be introduced for the following edition.[3] Due to the format change, no clubs can be transferred from the Champions League group stage to the UEFA Europa League under the Swiss format, and this edition's winners onwards will no longer be able to defend the title.[4]
A total of 57 teams from 34 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 15 associations had teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 40 associations that did not have any teams directly qualifying, 19 of them have teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League (the only member association which could not have a participant was Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league, and could only enter their cup winner into the Europa Conference League given their association ranking). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[5]
The title holders of the UEFA Europa Conference League were given an entry in the Europa League (if they did not qualify for the Champions League through league performance).
Associations 1–5 each had two teams qualify.
Associations 6–16 (except Russia)[Note RUS] each had one team qualify.
36 teams eliminated from the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League.
Association ranking
For the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2022 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2017–18 to 2021–22.[6]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:
(UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
(UECL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa Conference League title holders
Association ranking for 2023–24 UEFA Europa League
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.[8] The tables reflect Russia's ongoing suspension from UEFA competitions.[9]
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[10][11][12] Matches were scheduled for Thursdays apart from the final, which took place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 24 July 2023.
The first legs were played on 8 and 10 August, and the second legs were played on 17 August 2023.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League play-off round of their respective path.
Location of teams of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League group stage Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Green: Group E; Blue: Group F; Purple: Group G; Pink: Group H
The draw for the group stage was held on 1 September 2023, 13:00 CEST, in Monaco. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots each of eight teams, based on their club coefficients. As the winners of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, West Ham United entered Pot 1 regardless of their club coefficient (CC).[13] Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
Aris Limassol, Brighton & Hove Albion, BK Häcken, Raków Częstochowa, Servette and TSC made their debut appearances in the group stage and their debut appearances in a UEFA competition group stage. Furthermore, Brighton & Hove Albion qualified for European football for the first time in their history.
A total of 21 national associations were represented in the group stage.
In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the knockout round play-offs, the eight group runners-up were seeded, and the eight Champions League group third-placed teams were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout round play-offs were unseeded. Again, the seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner would be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
The draw for the knockout round play-offs was held on 18 December 2023, 13:00 CET.[14]
The first legs were played on 15 February, and the second legs were played on 22 February 2024.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 23 February 2024, 12:00 CET.[15]
The first legs were played on 6 and 7 March, and the second legs were played on 14 March 2024.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 15 March 2024, 13:00 CET.[16]
The first legs were played on 11 April, and the second legs were played on 18 April 2024.
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 March 2024, 13:00 CET, after the quarter-final draw.[16]
The first legs were played on 2 May, and the second legs were played on 9 May 2024.
The final was played on 22 May 2024 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. A draw was held on 15 March 2024, after the quarter-final and semi-final draw, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[16]
^"Access list 2021–24"(PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2020.