2018–19 UEFA Europa League
Tournament details | |
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Dates | Qualifying: 26 June – 30 August 2018 Competition proper: 20 September 2018 – 29 May 2019 |
Teams | Competition proper: 48+8 Total: 158+55 (from 55 associations) |
Final positions | |
Champions | Chelsea (2nd title) |
Runners-up | Arsenal |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 205 |
Goals scored | 565 (2.76 per match) |
Attendance | 5,038,109 (24,576 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Olivier Giroud (Chelsea) 11 goals |
Best player(s) | Eden Hazard (Chelsea)[1] |
The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
The
For the first time, the video assistant referee (VAR) system was used in the competition, where it was implemented in the final.[4]
As the title holders of the Europa League,
Format changes
On 9 December 2016, UEFA confirmed the reforming plan for the UEFA Champions League for the 2018–2021 cycle, which was announced on 26 August 2016.[5][6] As per the new regulations, all teams that are eliminated in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds will get a second chance in the Europa League.
Association team allocation
213 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[7][8]
- 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).[9]
- Moreover, 55 teams eliminated from the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League (default number was 57, but 2 fewer teams competed in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League).
Association ranking
For the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2017 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2012–13 to 2016–17.[10]
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
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Distribution
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).[11][7] However, one fewer loser would be transferred since the Champions League title holders already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league. Therefore, 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).[12]
In addition, originally three losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path).[11] However, one fewer loser would be transferred since the Europa League title holders already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league. As a result, the following changes to the access list was made:[12]
- The cup winners of association 18 (Denmark) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of association 25 (Norway) 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.
Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League | ||
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Preliminary round (14 teams) |
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First qualifying round (94 teams) |
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Second qualifying round | Champions Path (18 teams) |
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Main Path (74 teams) |
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Third qualifying round | Champions Path (20 teams) |
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Main Path (52 teams) |
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Play-off round | Champions Path (16 teams) |
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Main Path (26 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:[8]
- 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
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[13]
- 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 (SF: semi-finals; F: final)
Valencia (UCL GS) | Napoli (UCL GS )
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Shakhtar Donetsk (UCL GS) | Galatasaray (UCL GS) |
Inter Milan (UCL GS) | Benfica (UCL GS) | Club Brugge (UCL GS) | Viktoria Plzeň (UCL GS) |
Villarreal (5th) | Milan (6th)[Note ITA]
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Akhisarspor (CW )
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Dynamo Kyiv (UCL PO) |
Real Betis (6th) | Marseille (4th) | Jablonec (3rd) | PAOK (UCL PO) |
Eintracht Frankfurt (CW) | Rennes (5th) | Zürich (CW) | Spartak Moscow (UCL Q3) |
Bayer Leverkusen (5th) | Krasnodar (4th)[Note RUS] | Red Bull Salzburg (UCL PO) | Standard Liège (UCL Q3) |
Chelsea (CW) | Sporting CP (3rd)[Note POR] | Dinamo Zagreb (UCL PO) | Fenerbahçe (UCL Q3) |
Arsenal (6th) | Vorskla Poltava (3rd) | BATE Borisov (UCL PO) | Slavia Prague (UCL Q3) |
Lazio (5th )
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Anderlecht (3rd) | MOL Vidi (UCL PO )
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Champions Path | Main Path | ||
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Malmö FF (UCL Q3) | Astana (UCL Q3) | ||
Celtic (UCL Q3) | Spartak Trnava (UCL Q3) | ||
Qarabağ (UCL Q3) | Shkëndija (UCL Q3) |
Champions Path | Main Path | ||
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CFR Cluj (UCL Q2) | Ludogorets Razgrad (UCL Q2) | Zenit Saint Petersburg (5th)[Note RUS] | 3rd )
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Midtjylland (UCL Q2) | Sheriff Tiraspol (UCL Q2) | Braga (4th)[Note POR] | Rapid Wien (3rd) |
Legia Warsaw (UCL Q2) | HJK (UCL Q2) | Zorya Luhansk (4th) | Rijeka (2nd) |
Hapoel Be'er Sheva (UCL Q2) | Kukësi (UCL Q2) | Gent (4th) | Universitatea Craiova (CW) |
Rosenborg (UCL Q2) | Sūduva (UCL Q2) | İstanbul Başakşehir (3rd) | Brøndby (CW) |
Cork City (UCL Q1)[Note UCL Q1] | Sigma Olomouc (4th) | Basel (UCL Q2) | |
Luzern (3rd) | Sturm Graz (UCL Q2) | ||
Feyenoord (CW) |
Champions Path | Main Path | ||
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APOEL (UCL Q1) | F91 Dudelange (UCL Q1) | Sevilla (7th) | 4th )
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Olimpija Ljubljana (UCL Q1 )
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Crusaders (UCL Q1) | RB Leipzig (6th) | 5th )
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Valur (UCL Q1 )
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Valletta (UCL Q1) | Burnley (7th) | LASK (4th) |
Zrinjski Mostar (UCL Q1) | The New Saints (UCL Q1) | Atalanta (7th )
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Admira Wacker Mödling (5th) |
Torpedo Kutaisi (UCL Q1) | Víkingur Gøta (UCL Q1) | Bordeaux (6th) | Hajduk Split (3rd) |
Spartaks Jūrmala (UCL Q1) | Drita (UCL Q1) | Ufa (6th)[Note RUS] | FCSB (2nd) |
Flora Tallinn (UCL Q1) | Lincoln Red Imps (UCL PR F) | Rio Ave (5th)[Note POR] | Dynamo Brest (CW) |
Sutjeska Nikšić (UCL Q1) | FC Santa Coloma (UCL PR SF) | Mariupol (5th) | Jagiellonia Białystok (2nd) |
Alashkert (UCL Q1) | La Fiorita (UCL PR SF )
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Genk (PW) | Djurgårdens IF (CW) |
Beşiktaş (4th) | Hapoel Haifa (CW) | ||
Sparta Prague (5th) | Aberdeen (2nd) | ||
St. Gallen (5th) | AEK Larnaca (CW) | ||
AZ (3rd) | Lillestrøm (CW) | ||
Vitesse (PW) |
Trakai (3rd )
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Cefn Druids (PW) | St Joseph's (3rd) | Tre Fiori (3rd )
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Gżira United (3rd) | KÍ Klaksvík (2nd )
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Engordany (2nd) | Prishtina (CW) |
Birkirkara (4th) | B36 Tórshavn (3rd) | Sant Julià (3rd) | |
Bala Town (4th)[Note WAL] | Europa (CW) | Folgore (2nd )
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Notably one team that was not playing a national top division took part in the competition; Vaduz (representing Liechtenstein) played in 2017–18 Swiss Challenge League, which is Switzerland's second tier.
- Notes
- 2017–18 Albanian Superliga, the runners-up of the league, Kukësi, entered the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League instead of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. As a result, their Europa League first qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Partizani.