2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League will be the third season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.
| Tournament details | |
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| Dates | Qualifying: 13 July – 31 August 2023 Competition proper: 21 September 2023 – 29 May 2024 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 32+8 Total: 21+37 (from 54 associations) |
The final will be played at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens, Greece. The winners of the tournament will automatically qualify for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League league stage, unless they qualify for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League through their league performance.
This edition will be the final season with the current format of 32 teams participating at the group stage, after UEFA announced that a brand new format would be introduced for the following edition.[1] Due to the format change, no clubs could be transferred to the UEFA Europa Conference League under the Swiss format, and the winners of this edition will not be able to defend the title.
Association team allocation
A total of 177 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations (excluding Russia) will participate in the 2023–24 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:[2]
- Associations 1–5 each have one team qualify.
- Associations 6–16 (except Russia)[Note RUS] and 51–55 each have two teams qualify.
- Associations 17–50 (except Liechtenstein) each have three teams qualify.
- Liechtenstein has only one team that qualifies as they organize only a domestic cup and no domestic league.
- Moreover, 18 teams eliminated from the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League and 25 teams eliminated from the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League are transferred to the Europa Conference League.
Association ranking
For the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2022 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2017–18 to 2021–22.[3]
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
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Distribution
The following is the access list for this season.[4]
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League | Teams transferred from Europa League | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round (62 teams) |
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| Second qualifying round (108 teams) |
Champions Path (18 teams) |
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| Main Path (90 teams) |
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| Third qualifying round (64 teams) |
Champions Path (10 teams) |
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| Main Path (54 teams) |
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| Play-off round (44 teams) |
Champions Path (10 teams) |
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| Main Path (34 teams) |
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| Group stage (32 teams) |
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| Preliminary knockout round (16 teams) |
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| Knockout phase (16 teams) |
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Due to the suspension of Russia for the 2023–24 European season, the following changes to the access list have been made:
- One of the Champions League first qualifying round losers enter the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of association 16 (Czech Republic) enter the Europa League third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of associations 17 to 19 (Norway, Denmark and Croatia) enter the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of associations 30 to 39 (Slovakia, Slovenia, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Luxembourg, Latvia and Kosovo) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
Should the Europa Conference League title holders also qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via their domestic league, the following changes will be made to the access list:
- The cup winners of association 17 (Norway) enter the Europa League third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of association 20 (Turkey) enter the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of associations 40 (Republic of Ireland) and 41 (Armenia) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
- CW: Domestic 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)
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 2023–24 UEFA Champions League or 2023–24 UEFA Europa League.
CC: 2023 UEFA club coefficients.[5]
Notes
- ^ Champions League (UCL Q1): One of the Champions League first qualifying round losers will be drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round (Champions Path), as one fewer loser will be transferred to the second qualifying round (Champions Path), due to the suspension of Russia from the 2023–24 European season.
- ^ Armenia (ARM): Urartu may still qualify for the Champions League by winning the 2022–23 Armenian Premier League.
- ^ Belarus (BLR):
- The winners (Shakhtyor Soligorsk) and runners-up (Energetik-BGU Minsk) of the 2022 Belarusian Premier League were both found guilty of match-fixing by the Football Federation of Belarus and were denied UEFA licenses. As a result, the Europa Conference League berths for the runners-up and third-placed teams were passed onto the fourth- and fifth-placed teams of the league respectively.
- Torpedo-BelAZ, who finished eighth in the league, have also qualified for the Europa Conference League as their opponents in the 2022–23 Belarusian Cup final, BATE Borisov, have qualified for the Champions League and the sixth- and seventh-placed teams, Minsk and Gomel, failed to obtain UEFA licenses. Torpedo-BelAZ will enter the second qualifying round if they win the cup, otherwise they will enter the first qualifying round and Dinamo Minsk will enter the second qualifying round.[6]
- ^ Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH): Borac Banja Luka have qualified for the Europa Conference League as they will finish second or third-place in the 2022–23 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- ^ Croatia (CRO): Hajduk Split will enter the third qualifying round regardless of whether they win the Croatian Cup, as their opponents in the final, Šibenik, failed to obtain a UEFA license.[7]
- ^ Denmark (DEN): Copenhagen may still qualify for the Champions League by winning the 2022–23 Danish Superliga.
- ^ Greece (GRE): PAOK may still qualify for the Europa League by winning the 2022–23 Greek Football Cup.
- ^ Liechtenstein (LIE): The seven teams affiliated with the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) all play in the Swiss football league system. The only competition organised by the LFV is the Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winners of which qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League.
- ^ Portugal (POR): The current seventh-placed team in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga, Chaves, may still finish in fifth or sixth-place and would usually qualify for the Europa Conference League, but failed to obtain a UEFA license. As a result, Vitória de Guimarães, who are guaranteed to finish at least seventh and may at best finish fifth, have qualified for the Europa Conference 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]
- ^ Slovenia (SVN): Celje and Maribor are assured of a place in the Europa Conference League as they will finish in the top three of the 2022–23 Slovenian PrvaLiga.
- ^ Ukraine (UKR): The 2022–23 Ukrainian Cup was abandoned due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The berths reserved for the third and fourth-placed teams in the league were transferred to the fourth and fifth-placed teams in the league respectively.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[10][11][12] Matches are scheduled for Thursdays apart from the final, which takes place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally can take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 20 June 2023 | 13 July 2023 | 20 July 2023 |
| Second qualifying round | 21 June 2023 | 27 July 2023 | 3 August 2023 | |
| Third qualifying round | 24 July 2023 | 10 August 2023 | 17 August 2023 | |
| Play-offs | Play-off round | 7 August 2023 | 24 August 2023 | 31 August 2023 |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 1 September 2023 | 21 September 2023 | |
| Matchday 2 | 5 October 2023 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 26 October 2023 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 9 November 2023 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 30 November 2023 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 14 December 2023 | |||
| Knockout phase | Knockout round play-offs | 18 December 2023 | 15 February 2024 | 22 February 2024 |
| Round of 16 | 23 February 2024 | 7 March 2024 | 14 March 2024 | |
| Quarter-finals | 15 March 2024 | 11 April 2024 | 18 April 2024 | |
| Semi-finals | 2 May 2024 | 9 May 2024 | ||
| Final | 29 May 2024 at TBA | |||
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
The draw for the first qualifying round will be held on 20 June 2023.
| Seeded | Seeding to be confirmed | Unseeded |
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The first legs will be played on 13 July and the second legs on 20 July 2023.
The winners of the ties will advance to the Main Path second qualifying round. The losers will be eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Second qualifying round
The draw for the second qualifying round will be held on 21 June 2023.
| Seeded | Unseeded |
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- † Winner of the first qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
The first legs will be played on 27 July and the second legs on 3 August 2023.
The winners of the ties will advance to the third qualifying round of their respective path. The losers will be eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying round will be held on 24 July 2023.
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| Seeded | Seeding to be confirmed |
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- Notes
- † Winner of the main path second qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
- †† Winner of the champions path second qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
The first legs will be played on 10 August and the second legs on 17 August 2023.
The winners of the ties will advance to the play-off round of their respective path. The losers will be eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round will be held on 7 August 2023.
| Seeded | Unseeded |
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| Seeding to be confirmed |
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- Notes
- † Winner of the third qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw. Teams in italics defeated a team with a higher coefficient, thus effectively taking the coefficient of their opponent in the draw.
- †† Loser of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, whose identity will not be known at the time of draw.
The first legs will be played on 24 August and the second legs on 31 August 2023.
The winners of the ties will advance to the group stage. The losers will be eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Group stage
The draw for the group stage will be held on 1 September 2023. The 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams will be seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on their 2023 UEFA club coefficients (CC).[13] Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
- 5 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path)
- 17 winners from the play-off round for (Main Path)
- 10 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round
Final
TBD  | v | TBD |
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See also
References
- "UEFA approves final format and access list for its club competitions as of the 2024/25 season". UEFA.com. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
- "Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League, 2023/24 Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
- "Country coefficients 2021/22". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "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.
- "Club coefficients 2022/23". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
- "БАТЭ не стане чэмпіёнам Беларусі, але будзе заяўляцца ў Лігу чэмпіёнаў". Tribuna. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- "Central procedure of the first degree club licensing completed" (Press release). Zagreb: HNS. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- "Ukraine crisis: Fifa and Uefa suspend all Russian clubs and national teams". BBC.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- "UEFA decisions for upcoming competitions relating to the ongoing suspension of Russian national teams and clubs" (Press release). Nyon: UEFA. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- "2023/24 UEFA Europa Conference League: Matches, final, key dates". UEFA. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- "International match calendar and access list for the 2023/24 season". UEFA Circular Letter. No. 65/2022. Union of European Football Associations. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- "2023 European football calendar: Match and draw dates for all UEFA competitions". UEFA. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- "UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2023". kassiesa.bet.