How the Europa League works

[tunstallhill]

First qualifying rounds start 9 July. I for one will be watching every minute of it.

There's actually 4 rounds of 2-leg affairs to happen before we get anywhere near it

9/16 July
23/30 July
6/13 August
20/27 august

Then the mighty Sunderland enter the Arena

 

[Roker Mackem]

Goodbye Saturday 3pm kick offs

They were pretty much gone anyway

 

[garyeaststand]

Heard a few times that fixtures come out end of August then first game is 16th September is that right ? doesn’t give loads of time to plan a trip away , might just book a flight to Europe and go from there

Goodbye Saturday 3pm kick offs

Hello Sunday club

 

[richest]

August 28 is the draw
16 and 17 th sept first games

All fixtures dates now online

 

[Onslow]

I don’t think the games are over 2 legs- we play 4 teams away and a separate 4 teams at home. Teams from same country are kept apart (so we won’t play Bournemouths and potentially Crystal Palace).

The rest is spot on, I think..

Yeah sorry, I lacked clarity there, I knew it was only one game against each sides in the group stage, I was referring to the knockout phase about two legs.

 

[Roadhouse]

Do Oyster cards work in Eastern Europe?

 

[Stuie27]

League Phase - 8
Round of 16 - 2
Qrt Final - 2
Semi Final - 2
Final - 1

15 games if we reach final. More likely 17 games because we should not even be aiming for top 8. Take the extra knock out round and rest our top players as much as possible in the league phase. A point a game will likely qualify for the knockout stage.

You're right. I was getting confused between games and marches. My bad

 

[Cox Green Fc]

Far higher calibre than the Conference league where Brighton should be one of the favourites to win the whole thing.

I’d still rather be in the Europa

 

[Vagrant]

Praying for Milan away

 

[Rocky77]

Well done OP

UEFA came up with the format

 

[Safc98]

Just because it confused the shit out of me yesterday

We’ve qualified for the League phase (as I understand it).

That means we go straight into the 36 team League along with the other 35 teams who either automatically qualified or who came through the qualifying playoff.

The League phase consists of 4 home and 4 away games for every club in it.

There are 4 pots of teams and we will be drawn against 2 teams from each pot which make up our 8 games.

We can’t be drawn against another English side in the league phase but we can in the knockout phase if we get there.

After 8 games the top 8 in the League go straight to the knockout phase.

Teams from 9th to 24th then go into a two legged playoff to determine the other 8 teams to go to the knockout phase.

Teams finishing 9th to 16th are “seeded” which means they get home advantage in the second leg of their playoff.

Teams finishing 25th to 36th are out of all European football for the season.

Once that’s done, it’s then a straight two legged knockout event until the final.

So we’re guaranteed at least 8 European games next season.

Last season Brann made the playoffs in 24th place on 9 points.

Roma finished 8th on 16 points as a guide.

Now can you explain UEFA co-efficient and the qualifying rounds. Many thanks.

 

[phil]

At least it's not as complicated as the Scottish premiership!

 

[DJM]

do pensioners get free European travel?

 

[ClassicDom]

Now can you explain UEFA co-efficient and the qualifying rounds. Many thanks.

Honestly no

I read what they entailed and got lost halfway through. And don’t ask how the champions league dropouts work either

Think it was modelled on Alan Partridge’s World Cup 94 soccer meter.

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[Cridge]

There’s some absolute dross in the Europa League, the standard has dropped dramatically since the big leagues gained more CL spots and they stopped the ridiculous rule of failed CL teams dropping into the EL midway through.

Freiburg were terrible last week against Villa and looked a really poor side. Last years winners were abysmal aswell.

Freiburg were excellent throughout the competition. You don’t get to the final by being a really poor side. Would you say Forest are a really poor side as well because we beat them 4-0 in the semi?

And the UEFA Super Cup which nobody cares about unless you win it.#

Unless they change the rules there isn't a qualification for the Club World Cup as that is done on Champions League rankings.

Most people I know can’t wait to go to the Super cup in August. Probably the CL winners don’t care about it but most other teams do - I’d wager you’d take 1000s if you got there.

 

[Spartan]

Praying for Milan away

Wouldn't say no to Benfica tho !
Whoever is drawn at home would be playing at the Stadium of Light

 

[Turnip from the Tip]

4 pots based on UEFA rankings. You play 2 teams from each pot, 1 home and 1 away. You can't play any team from your own country. We will likely be pot 3, AC Milan pot 1. There are 9 teams in each pot, so we have a 1 in 9 chance of being drawn away against AC Milan. (I think that's right anyway)

All I want is to get AC Milan away.
Nothing else matters.

 

[ErichZann]

The 4 or so PL games before the first Europa game are massive

 

[Turnip from the Tip]

We play fottball all over the place and at the end they hand us a big trophy and then we drink lots of beer.

I think that about sums it ip.

Sounds quite similar to the Friendship cup if you switch out ‘all over the place’ with ‘in Norwich’

 

[JL1985]

Scrambling for tickets for Real Sociedad away is a bit more appealing than Cheltenham Town.