2009–10 UEFA Europa League
 The Volksparkstadion in Hamburg hosted the final. | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 17 September 2009 – 12 May 2010 (competition proper) 2 July – 27 August 2009 (qualifying) |
| Teams | 48+8 (competition proper) 159+33 (total) (from 53 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Atlético Madrid (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Fulham |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 205 |
| Goals scored | 539 (2.63 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) Óscar Cardozo (Benfica) 9 goals each |
The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years.[1]
Spain's Atlético Madrid won the tournament for the first time, beating Fulham – who were playing in their first European final – at the Volksparkstadion, home ground of Hamburger SV, in Hamburg, Germany.[2]
Shakhtar Donetsk were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual finalists Fulham in the round of 32.
Association team allocation
A total of 192 teams from 53
UEFA country coefficient, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2003–04 to 2007–08.[3]
Below iss the qualification scheme for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League:[4]
- Associations 1–6 each entered three teams
- Associations 7–9 each entered four teams
- Associations 10–51 each entered three teams, except Liechtenstein (it organised only a domestic cup competition and no domestic league competition)
- Associations 52–53 plus Liechtenstein each entered one team
- The top three associations of the 2008–09 UEFA Fair Play rankingeach gained an additional berth
- Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League
Association ranking
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- Notes
- (FP): Additional fair play berth (Norway, Denmark, Scotland)[5]
- (UCL): Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
Distribution
Since the winners of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, Shakhtar Donetsk, qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the group stage was vacated. As this was the first edition of the Europa League, it was initially unknown whether UEFA would simply disregard the vacant title holder spot and rearrange entries so that one more team would qualify from the play-off round, or replace the title holders' group stage place with that of the top-ranked association's cup winner and move teams from lower rounds appropriately, as the regulations were unclear on this matter.[4] The former set-up was confirmed by UEFA's official list of participants, published on 16 June 2009.[6] As a result, the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage:[7]
- The domestic cup winners of associations 16 and 17 (Switzerland and Bulgaria) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round.
- The domestic cup winners of associations 28 and 29 (Cyprus and Slovenia) were promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
- The domestic cup winners of associations 52 and 53 (Andorra and San Marino) and the domestic league runners-up of associations 35 and 36 (Republic of Ireland and Macedonia) were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
| Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First qualifying round (46 teams) |
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| Second qualifying round (80 teams) |
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| Third qualifying round (70 teams) |
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| Play-off round (76 teams) |
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| Group stage (48 teams) |
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| Knockout phase (32 teams) |
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Redistribution rules
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:[4]
- When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated, and the remaining Europa League qualifiers were moved up one place, with the final place (with the earliest starting round) taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they did not already qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League. Otherwise, this place was taken by the highest-placed league finisher which did not qualify for the Europa League yet.
- When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated, and the Europa League qualifiers which finished lower in the league were moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finisher which did not qualify for the Europa League yet.
- A place vacated by the League Cup winners was taken by the highest-placed league finisher which did not qualify for the Europa League yet.
- A Fair Play place was taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table which did not qualify for the Champions League or Europa League yet.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[6]
- CW: Cup winners
- CR: Cup runners-up
- LC: League Cup winners
- Nth: League position
- P-W: End-of-season European competition play-off winners
- FP: Fair play
- UCL: Relegated 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
- Notes
- TH Title Holder: Shakhtar Donetsk qualified for the UEFA Champions League as the runner-up of the 2008–09 Ukrainian Premier League. After losing in the Champions League third qualifying round, they entered the UEFA Europa League at the play-off round.
- Armenia (ARM): Mika, which finished fourth, took the first qualifying round spot.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH): Sloboda Tuzla, which finished third in the 2008–09 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not obtain a UEFA license, so Sarajevo, which finished fourth, were moved up to the second qualifying round. Borac Banja Luka, which finished fifth, also did not obtain a UEFA license, so Široki Brijeg, which finished sixth, took the first qualifying round spot.
- Israel (ISR): 2008–09 Israel State Cup winners Beitar Jerusalem (which also finished third in the 2008–09 Israeli Premier League) did not obtain a UEFA license. Since Maccabi Haifa, the cup runners-up, qualified for the Champions League as the league champions, all three Israeli Europa League spots were redistributed based on league position, with second-placed Hapoel Tel Aviv moving up to the third qualifying round, fourth-placed Maccabi Netanya moving up to the second qualifying round, and fifth-placed Bnei Yehuda taking the first qualifying round spot.
- Kazakhstan (KAZ): Lokomotiv Astana. However, the new club did not obtain a UEFA license. Following the denied license and withdrawal of three higher-placed teams in the 2008 Kazakhstan Premier League, Okzhetpes, which finished ninth, took the first qualifying round spot.
- Latvia (LVA): Daugava Daugavpils, the 2008 Latvian Football Cup winners, merged with Dinaburg. Skonto, which finished third in the 2008 Latvian Higher League, were moved up to the second qualifying round, while Dinaburg, which finished fourth, took the first qualifying round spot.
Round and draw dates
All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.[7]
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | 22 June 2009 | 2 July 2009 | 9 July 2009 |
| Second qualifying round | 16 July 2009 | 23 July 2009 | ||
| Third qualifying round | 17 July 2009 | 30 July 2009 | 6 August 2009 | |
| Play-off | Play-off round | 7 August 2009 | 20 August 2009 | 27 August 2009 |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 28 August 2009 (Monaco) |
17 September 2009 | |
| Matchday 2 | 1 October 2009 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 22 October 2009 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 5 November 2009 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 2–3 December 2009 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 16–17 December 2009 | |||
| Knockout phase | Round of 32 | 18 December 2009 | 18 February 2010 | 25 February 2010 |
| Round of 16 | 11 March 2010 | 18 March 2010 | ||
| Quarter-finals | 19 March 2010 | 1 April 2010 | 8 April 2010 | |
| Semi-finals | 22 April 2010 | 29 April 2010 | ||
| Final | 12 May 2010 at Volksparkstadion, Hamburg | |||
Qualifying rounds
In the qualifying phase and the play-off round, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis.
The draw for the first and second qualifying rounds, conducted by UEFA President
David Taylor, was held on 22 June 2009, and the draw for the third qualifying round, conducted by UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti and Head of Club Competitions Michael Heselschwerdt, was held on 17 July 2009. For the draws, clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient
. Because the draws for the second and third qualifying rounds took place before the previous round was completed, the teams were seeded assuming the seeded side in the previous round would be victorious.
First qualifying round
The first legs were played on 2 July, and the second legs were played on 9 July 2009.
| Team 1 | Agg.
|
Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sutjeska Nikšić 
|
2–3† |  MTZ-RIPO Minsk
|
1–1 | 1–2 (a.e.t.) |
Lahti 
|
4–3 | Dinamo Tirana
|
4–1 | 0–2 |
Grevenmacher 
|
0–6† |  Vėtra
|
0–3 | 0–3 |
NSÍ Runavík 
|
1–6† |  Rosenborg
|
0–3 | 1–3 |
Haladás 
|
2–2 (a) |  Irtysh
|
1–0 | 1–2 |
Sligo Rovers 
|
2–3 | Vllaznia
|
1–2 | 1–1 |
Olimpi Rustavi
 |
4–0 | B36 Tórshavn
|
2–0 | 2–0 |
Anorthosis Famagusta 
|
7–1 | Käerjéng 97
|
5–0 | 2–1 |
Slaven Belupo 
|
1–0 |  Birkirkara
|
1–0 | 0–0 |
Zimbru Chișinău 
|
3–2 | Okzhetpes
|
1–2 | 2–0 |
Lisburn Distillery 
|
1–11 | Zestaponi
|
1–5 | 0–6 |
Helsingborg 
|
4–2 |  Mika
|
3–1 | 1–1 |
| Valletta
|
5–2 | Keflavík
|
3–0 | 2–2 |
Dinaburg 
|
2–1 | Nõmme Kalju
|
2–1 | 0–0 |
| Budućnost Podgorica
|
1–2 |  Polonia Warsaw
|
0–2 | 1–0 |
Narva Trans
 |
1–6† |  Rudar Velenje
|
0–3 | 1–3 |
Motherwell 
|
3–1 | Llanelli
|
0–1 | 3–0 |
Banants
|
1–2† |  Široki Brijeg
|
0–2 | 1–0 |
Spartak Trnava 
|
5–2 | Inter Baku
|
2–1 | 3–1 |
| Dinamo Minsk
|
3–2 |  Renova
|
2–1 | 1–1 |
Randers 
|
7–0 | Linfield
|
4–0 | 3–0 |
Simurq
 |
0–4 |  Bnei Yehuda
|
0–1 | 0–3 |
Fram 
|
4–2† |  The New Saints
|
2–1 | 2–1 |
† Order of legs reversed after original draw
Second qualifying round
The first legs were played on 14 and 16 July, and the second legs were played on 23 July 2009.
Both the first and second legs between
Vllaznia were under investigation by UEFA and German authorities for possible match-fixing.[8]
† Order of legs reversed after original draw
Third qualifying round
The first legs were played on 28 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 4 and 6 August 2009.
The first leg between
Interblock Ljubljana and Metalurh Donetsk were under investigation by UEFA and German authorities for possible match-fixing.[8]
† Order of legs reversed after original draw
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round, conducted by UEFA General Secretary
David Taylor and UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti, was held on 7 August 2009. For the draw, clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient
. The first legs were played on 20 August, and the second legs were played on 25 and 27 August 2009.
† Order of legs reversed after original draw.
Note 1: The match was abandoned at 0–2 in the 88th minute after one
behind closed doors
.
Group stage
Steaua București
Location of teams of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League group stage.
Red: Group A; 
Yellow: Group B; 
Green: Group C; 
Dark green: Group D;
Purple: Group E; 
Pink: Group F; 
Blue: Group G; 
Orange: Group H;
Brown: Group I; 
Deep pink: Group J; 
Cyan: Group K; 
Spring green: Group L.
Red: Group A; 
Yellow: Group B; 
Green: Group C; 
Dark green: Group D;
Purple: Group E; 
Pink: Group F; 
Blue: Group G; 
Orange: Group H;
Brown: Group I; 
Deep pink: Group J; 
Cyan: Group K; 
