What Is the New UEFA Europa Conference League & How Does it Work?
UEFA have announced the launch of their third European club competition, called the UEFA Europa Conference League, to be held alongside the Champions League and Europa League.
The new competition will start for the 2021/22 season and offers more clubs from countries that might get knocked out of the Champions League and Europa League in the qualifying rounds, the chance to play in a European group stage.
Who Qualifies for the Europa Conference League?
UEFA explain that the competition will see clubs from 34 different member associations represented in the group stage of at least one competition, which is over 60% of the continent.
No clubs will qualify directly for the Europa Conference League group stage. Instead, the 32 entrants will be made up of 17 teams from the Europa Conference League main path, five from the Europa Conference League champions path and 10 losers from the Europa League playoff round.
As well as creating more European places for typically weaker national leagues, the sixth best teams from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga will enter the Europa Conference League main path at the playoff round.
National cup winners from countries that don’t have a cup win spot in the Europa League – including Switzerland, Croatia, Greece and Serbia – will enter the Europa Conference League main path in the first or second qualifying round, depending on each nation’s coefficient ranking.
What Is the Format?
The 32 teams that qualify for the group stage will be split into eight groups of four. Each club will play twice each against the others in its group and the eight group winners will automatically advance to the last 16.
The eight group runners-up will go into a knockout playoff round against third-ranked teams from the Europa League. It gives teams in the secondary competition more to play for if they cannot progress, knowing they can still keep their European season alive as long as they don’t finish last.
From there, it is a typical two-legged knockout competition, mimicking the usual format through last 16, quarter-final and semi-final stages, until the one-off final at a neutral venue.
When Is it Played?
The Europa Conference League will take place during the season alongside the Champions League and Europa League competitions. Games will be on Thursdays, just as in the Europa League.
The group stage will take place at the same time as the other competitions between September and December, with the competition resuming for knockout rounds from February onwards.
The first final will be held in Albania’s capital, Tirana, on 25 May 2022.
The full 2021/22 schedule is as follows:
First qualifying round: 8/15 July
Second qualifying round: 22/29 July
Third qualifying round: 5/12 August
Play-offs: 19/26 August
Group stage: 16 September, 30 September, 21 October, 4 November, 25 November, 9 December
Knockout round play-offs: 17/24 February
Round of 16: 10/17 March
Quarter-finals: 7/14 April
Semi-finals: 28 April/5 May
Final: 25 May
Any Other Business?
The introduction of the Europa Conference League will see the existing Europa League group stage reduced from 48 teams to 32 teams, thereby bringing it more in line with the Champions League and creating a more even spread across all three competitions.
As well as a European trophy, the incentive to win the Europa Conference League is automatic qualification for the following season’s Europa League group stage, unless the club in question has already qualified for the Champions League via their national league.
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