2019–20 UEFA Europa League
The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
The RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne hosted the final | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 27 June – 29 August 2019 Competition proper: 19 September 2019 – 21 August 2020 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 48+8 Total: 158+55 (from 55 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Sevilla (6th title) |
| Runners-up | Inter Milan |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 197 |
| Goals scored | 548 (2.78 per match) |
| Attendance | 4,069,102 (20,655 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Bruno Fernandes (Sporting CP/ Manchester United) 8 goals |
| Best player(s) | Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan)[1] |
← 2018–19 2020–21 → | |
Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the final, played at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, 3–2 for a record sixth title in the competition.[2] As winners, Sevilla earned the right to play against Bayern Munich, the winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, in the 2020 UEFA Super Cup. Since they had already qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage through their league performance, the berth originally reserved for the Europa League title holders was given to the third-placed team of the 2019–20 Ligue 1 (Rennes), the 5th-ranked association according to next season's access list.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was suspended in mid-March 2020 and resumed in August. The quarter-finals onwards were played as a single match knockout ties at neutral venues in Germany (RheinEnergieStadion, MSV-Arena, Merkur Spiel-Arena, Arena AufSchalke) behind closed doors from 10 to 21 August.[3] The video assistant referee (VAR) system was used in the competition from the knockout stage onwards.[4]
As the title holders of the Europa League, Chelsea qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, although they had already qualified before the final through their league performance. They were unable to defend their title as they advanced to the Champions League knockout stage, and were eliminated by the ultimate winners Bayern Munich in the round of 16.
Association team allocation edit
A total of 213 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[5]
- Associations 1–51 (except Liechtenstein) each had three teams qualify.
- Associations 52–54 each had two teams qualify.
- Liechtenstein and Kosovo (association 55) each had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organised only a domestic cup and no domestic league; Kosovo as per decision by the UEFA Executive Committee).[6]
- Moreover, 55 teams eliminated from the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League (default number was 57, but 2 fewer teams competed in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League).
Association ranking edit
For the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2018 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2013–14 to 2017–18.[7]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
- (UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
|
|
|
Distribution edit
The following is the access list for this season.[8]
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round (14 teams) |
| |||
| First qualifying round (94 teams) |
|
| ||
| Second qualifying round | Champions Path (18 teams) |
| ||
| Main Path (74 teams) |
|
| ||
| Third qualifying round | Champions Path (20 teams) |
|
| |
| Main Path (52 teams) |
|
|
| |
| Play-off round | Champions Path (16 teams) |
|
| |
| Main Path (26 teams) |
| |||
| Group stage (48 teams) |
|
|
| |
| Knockout phase (32 teams) |
|
| ||
Changes were made to the default access list, if any of the teams that qualified for the Europa League via their domestic competitions also qualified for the Champions League as the Champions League or Europa League title holders, or if there were fewer teams transferred from the Champions League due to changes in the Champions League access list. In any case where a spot in the Europa League was vacated, cup winners of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds were promoted accordingly.
- In the default access list, originally 17 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path). However, since the Champions League title holders (Liverpool) qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, only 16 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path). As a result, only 19 teams entered the Champions Path second qualifying round (one of the losers from the Champions League first qualifying round would be drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round).
- In the default access list, originally three losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). However, since the Europa League title holders (Chelsea) qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, only two losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). As a result, the following changes to the access list were made:
- The cup winners of association 18 (Israel) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of association 25 (Serbia) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
- The cup winners of associations 50 (Wales) and 51 (Faroe Islands) entered the first qualifying round instead of the preliminary round.
Redistribution rules edit
A Europa League place was vacated when a team qualified for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualified for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place was vacated, it was redistributed within the national association by the following rules:
- When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moving up one "place".
- When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moving up one "place" if possible.
- For associations where a Europa League place was reserved for either the League Cup or end-of-season European competition play-offs winners, they always qualified for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners had already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place was taken by the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions.
Teams edit
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[8]
- CW: Cup winners
- 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
- LC: League Cup winners
- RW: Regular season winners
- PW: End-of-season Europa League play-offs winners
- UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
- GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
- PO: Losers from the play-off round
- Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
- Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round
- Q1: Losers from the first qualifying round
- PR: Losers from the preliminary round (F: final; SF: semi-finals)
| Club Brugge (UCL GS) | Shakhtar Donetsk (UCL GS) | Red Bull Salzburg (UCL GS) | Benfica (UCL GS) |
| Olympiacos (UCL GS) | Bayer Leverkusen (UCL GS) | Inter Milan (UCL GS) | Ajax (UCL GS) |
| Getafe (5th) | VfL Wolfsburg (6th) | Beşiktaş (3rd) | Krasnodar (UCL PO) |
| Sevilla (6th) | Rennes (CW) | Wolfsberger AC (3rd) | LASK (UCL PO) |
| Arsenal (5th) | Saint-Étienne (4th) | Lugano (3rd) | Porto (UCL Q3) |
| Manchester United (6th) | CSKA Moscow (4th) | Young Boys (UCL PO) | Dynamo Kyiv (UCL Q3) |
| Lazio (CW) | Sporting CP (CW) | APOEL (UCL PO) | İstanbul Başakşehir (UCL Q3) |
| Roma (6th)[Note ITA] | Oleksandriya (3rd) | CFR Cluj (UCL PO) | Basel (UCL Q3) |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach (5th) | Standard Liège (3rd)[Note BEL] | Rosenborg (UCL PO) |
| Champions Path | Main Path | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| PAOK (UCL Q3) | Celtic (UCL Q3) | ||
| Copenhagen (UCL Q3) | Maribor (UCL Q3) | ||
| Qarabağ (UCL Q3) | Ferencváros (UCL Q3) | ||
| Champions Path | Main Path | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Maccabi Tel Aviv (UCL Q2) | Nõmme Kalju (UCL Q2) | Spartak Moscow (5th) | Feyenoord (3rd) |
| AIK (UCL Q2) | Sutjeska Nikšić (UCL Q2) | Braga (4th) | AEK Athens (3rd) |
| BATE Borisov (UCL Q2) | Saburtalo Tbilisi (UCL Q2) | Mariupol (4th) | Rijeka (CW) |
| HJK (UCL Q2) | Valletta (UCL Q2) | Antwerp (PW)[Note BEL] | Midtjylland (CW) |
| Dundalk (UCL Q2) | The New Saints (UCL Q2) | Trabzonspor (4th) | Bnei Yehuda (CW) |
| Sarajevo (UCL Q1)[Note UCL Q1] | Austria Wien (4th) | Viktoria Plzeň (UCL Q2) | |
| Thun (4th) | PSV Eindhoven (UCL Q2) | ||
| Sparta Prague (3rd) | |||
| Champions Path | Main Path | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Piast Gliwice (UCL Q1) | Sūduva (UCL Q1) | Espanyol (7th) | AZ (4th) |
| Ludogorets Razgrad (UCL Q1) | Ararat-Armenia (UCL Q1) | Wolverhampton Wanderers (7th) | FC Utrecht (PW) |
| Astana (UCL Q1) | F91 Dudelange (UCL Q1) | Torino (7th)[Note ITA] | Atromitos (4th) |
| Slovan Bratislava (UCL Q1) | Linfield (UCL Q1) | Eintracht Frankfurt (7th) | Aris (5th) |
| Sheriff Tiraspol (UCL Q1) | HB Tórshavn (UCL Q1) | Strasbourg (LC) | Osijek (3rd) |
| Partizani (UCL Q1) | Feronikeli (UCL Q1) | Arsenal Tula (6th) | Esbjerg (3rd) |
| Valur (UCL Q1) | FC Santa Coloma (UCL PR F) | Vitória de Guimarães (5th) | AEL Limassol (CW) |
| Shkëndija (UCL Q1) | Lincoln Red Imps (UCL PR SF) | Zorya Luhansk (5th) | Viitorul Constanța (CW) |
| Riga (UCL Q1) | Tre Penne (UCL PR SF) | Gent (5th)[Note BEL] | Lechia Gdańsk (CW) |
| Yeni Malatyaspor (5th) | BK Häcken (CW) | ||
| Sturm Graz (PW) | Gabala (CW) | ||
| Luzern (5th) | Lokomotiv Plovdiv (CW) | ||
| Jablonec (4th) | Partizan (CW) | ||
| Mladá Boleslav (PW) | |||
One team not playing a national top division took part in the competition; Vaduz (representing Liechtenstein) played in 2019–20 Swiss Challenge League, which is Switzerland's 2nd tier.
- Notes
- ^ Albania (ALB): Skënderbeu would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2018–19 Albanian Superliga, but were banned from entering UEFA competitions.[9] As a result, the berth was given to the sixth-placed team of the league, Laçi, since the fifth-placed team of the league, Flamurtari, failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[10]
- ^ Belgium (BEL): Mechelen would have qualified for the Europa League group stage as the winners of the 2018–19 Belgian Cup, but were found guilty on match-fixing as part of the 2017–19 Belgian football fraud scandal, and thus prohibited by the Royal Belgian Football Association to take part in the 2019–20 European competitions. Mechelen appealed the decision,[11] but the final ruling was announced on 17 July 2019 by the Belgian Arbitration Court for Sports, and Mechelen remained banned,[12] and were subsequently replaced by UEFA.[13] As a result, the third-placed team of the 2018–19 Belgian First Division A, Standard Liège, entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round, the Europa League play-off winners of the league, Antwerp, entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Gent.[14]
- ^ Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH): Željezničar would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth placed team of the 2018–19 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[15] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Radnik Bijeljina.
- ^ Italy (ITA): Milan qualified for the Europa League group stage as the fifth-placed of the 2018–19 Serie A, but were found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play rules and were excluded from competing in European competitions in 2019–20.[16] As a result, the sixth-placed team of the 2018–19 Serie A, Roma, entered the group stage instead of the second qualifying round, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the seventh-placed team of the league, Torino.
- ^ Lithuania (LTU): Stumbras would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth placed team of the 2018 A Lyga, but had their UEFA licence stripped.[17] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Kauno Žalgiris.[18]
- ^ North Macedonia (MKD): Vardar would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the runners-up of the 2018–19 Macedonian First Football League, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[19] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Makedonija GP.
- ^ Republic of Ireland (IRL): Waterford would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2018 League of Ireland Premier Division, but were ruled by UEFA to have not passed the "three-year rule" as the club were reformed in 2016.[20] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, St Patrick's Athletic.
- ^ Champions League (UCL Q1): Sarajevo were drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round, as one fewer loser from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path), due to a Champions League group stage berth vacated by the Champions League title holders.
Round and draw dates edit
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[21] Matches could also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
The competition was suspended on 17 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[22] A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season.[23] On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced the revised schedule for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the competition, to be played in single-leg matches.[3]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 11 June 2019 | 27 June 2019 | 4 July 2019 |
| First qualifying round | 18 June 2019 | 11 July 2019 | 18 July 2019 | |
| Second qualifying round | 19 June 2019 | 25 July 2019 | 1 August 2019 | |
| Third qualifying round | 22 July 2019 | 8 August 2019 | 15 August 2019 | |
| Play-off | Play-off round | 5 August 2019 | 22 August 2019 | 29 August 2019 |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 30 August 2019 (Monaco) | 19 September 2019 | |
| Matchday 2 | 3 October 2019 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 24 October 2019 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 7 November 2019 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 28 November 2019 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 12 December 2019 | |||
| Knockout phase | Round of 32 | 16 December 2019 | 20 February 2020 | 27 February 2020 |
| Round of 16 | 28 February 2020 | 12 March 2020 | 5–6 August 2020 | |
| Quarter-finals | 10 July 2020 | 10–11 August 2020 | ||
| Semi-finals | 16–17 August 2020 | |||
| Final | 21 August 2020 at RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne | |||
The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | 11 June 2019 | 27 June 2019 | 4 July 2019 |
| First qualifying round | 18 June 2019 | 11 July 2019 | 18 July 2019 | |
| Second qualifying round | 19 June 2019 | 25 July 2019 | 1 August 2019 | |
| Third qualifying round | 22 July 2019 | 8 August 2019 | 15 August 2019 | |
| Play-off | Play-off round | 5 August 2019 | 22 August 2019 | 29 August 2019 |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 30 August 2019 (Monaco) | 19 September 2019 | |
| Matchday 2 | 3 October 2019 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 24 October 2019 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 7 November 2019 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 28 November 2019 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 12 December 2019 | |||
| Knockout phase | Round of 32 | 16 December 2019 | 20 February 2020 | 27 February 2020 |
| Round of 16 | 28 February 2020 | 12 March 2020 | 19 March 2020 | |
| Quarter-finals | 20 March 2020 | 9 April 2020 | 16 April 2020 | |
| Semi-finals | 30 April 2020 | 7 May 2020 | ||
| Final | 27 May 2020 at Stadion Energa Gdańsk, Gdańsk | |||
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic edit
Due to the varying rates of transmission of COVID-19 across European countries during the time of the Round of 16 first leg ties, different matches were affected in different ways. Because of this severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy at the time, the games involving Inter Milan and A.S. Roma were postponed,[24] whereas games hosted in Greece, Germany, and Austria went ahead but behind closed doors.[25] Games hosted in Turkey and Scotland went ahead as normal. On 15 March, UEFA announced that none of the Round of 16 second leg ties would go ahead in the following week, postponing them indefinitely,[26] with a taskforce convened to reschedule the rest of the season.[23] On 23 March, it was announced that the Stadion Energa Gdańsk in Gdańsk, Poland would no longer host the competition Final, originally scheduled for 27 May, but would host the 2021 Final instead.[27]
On 17 June it was announced that the Europa League would return on 5 August and conclude on 21 August,[3] with a last-eight tournament to be held across four venues in Germany.[28] The remainder of the competition would be played in a mini-tournament style with remaining fixture to be played as single legged ties except for the Round of 16 fixtures where the first leg had already been played.[29] All remaining ties of the competition were played behind closed doors due to the remaining presence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[25]
Final tournament venues edit
| Cologne | Duisburg |
|---|---|
| RheinEnergieStadion (final venue) | MSV-Arena |
| Capacity: 49,698 | Capacity: 31,514 |
| | |
| Düsseldorf | Gelsenkirchen |
| Merkur Spiel-Arena | Arena AufSchalke |
| Capacity: 54,600 | Capacity: 62,271 |
Qualifying rounds edit
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients,[30] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
Preliminary round edit
In the preliminary round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2019 UEFA club coefficients,[30] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
The draw for the preliminary round was held on 11 June 2019.[31] The first legs were played on 27 June, and the second legs on 2 and 4 July 2019.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progrès Niederkorn | 2–2 (a) | Cardiff Metropolitan University | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| La Fiorita | 1–3 | Engordany | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Sant Julià | 3–6 | Europa | 3–2 | 0–4 |
| Ballymena United | 2–0 | NSÍ Runavík | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Prishtina | 1–3 | St Joseph's | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| KÍ Klaksvík | 9–1[A] | Tre Fiori | 5–1 | 4–0 |
| Barry Town United | 0–4 | Cliftonville | 0–0 | 0–4 |
Notes
- ^ Order of legs reversed after original draw.
First qualifying round edit
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2019.[32] The first legs were played on 9, 10 and 11 July, and the second legs on 16, 17 and 18 July 2019.
Notes
Second qualifying round edit
The second qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for cup winners and league non-champions).
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2019.[33] The first legs were played on 23, 24 and 25 July, and the second legs on 30, 31 July and 1 August 2019.
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarajevo | Bye | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Tre Penne | 0–10 | Sūduva | 0–5 | 0–5 |
| Piast Gliwice | 4–4 (a) | Riga | 3–2 | 1–2 |
| Partizani | 1–2 | Sheriff Tiraspol | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Ararat-Armenia | 4–1 | Lincoln Red Imps | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| Valur | 1–5 | Ludogorets Razgrad | 1–1 | 0–4 |
| Slovan Bratislava | 4–1 | Feronikeli | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| FC Santa Coloma | 1–4 | Astana | 0–0 | 1–4 |
| HB Tórshavn | 2–3 | Linfield | 2–2 | 0–1 |
| Shkëndija | 2–3 | F91 Dudelange | 1–2 | 1–1 |