2020–21 UEFA Europa League
Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | Qualifying: 18 August 2020 – 1 October 2020 Competition proper: 22 October 2020 – 26 May 2021 |
Teams | Competition proper: 48+8 Total: 158+55 (from 55 associations) |
Final positions | |
Champions | Villarreal (1st title) |
Runners-up | Manchester United |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 204 |
Goals scored | 618 (3.03 per match) |
Attendance | 108,617 (532 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Pizzi (Benfica) Borja Mayoral (Roma) Gerard Moreno (Villarreal) Yusuf Yazıcı (Lille) 7 goals each |
Best player(s) | Gerard Moreno (Villarreal)[1] |
The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
As the title holders of the Europa League, Sevilla qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, although they had already qualified before the final through their league performance. They were unable to defend their title as they advanced to the Champions League knockout stage, and were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16.
Association team allocation
A total of 213 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[4]
- Associations 1–50 (except Liechtenstein) each had three teams qualify.
- Associations 51–55 each had two teams qualify (starting from this season, with association 51 losing one spot and association 55 gaining one spot).[5]
- Liechtenstein had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organised only a domestic cup and no domestic league).
- Moreover, 55 teams eliminated from the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League (default number was 57, but two fewer teams competed in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League).
Association ranking
For the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2019 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2014–15 to 2018–19.[6]
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
|
|
|
Distribution
The following was the access list for this season.[7]
Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Preliminary round (16 teams) |
|
|||
First qualifying round (94 teams) |
|
|
||
Second qualifying round | Champions Path (20 teams) |
| ||
Main Path (72 teams) |
|
|
||
Third qualifying round | Champions Path (18 teams) |
|
| |
Main Path (52 teams) |
|
|
| |
Play-off round | Champions Path (16 teams) |
|
| |
Main Path (26 teams) |
|
|||
Group stage (48 teams) |
|
|
| |
Knockout phase (32 teams) |
|
|
Changes were made to the default access list since the Champions League title holders, Bayern Munich, and the Europa League title holders, Sevilla, which were guaranteed berths in the Champions League group stage, already qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues, meaning there were fewer teams transferred from the Champions League due to changes in the Champions League access list. However, as a result of schedule delays to both the 2019–20 and 2020–21 European seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020–21 European season started before the conclusion of the 2019–20 European season. Therefore, the changes to the access list that should have been made based on the Champions League and Europa League title holders could not be certain until matches of the earlier qualifying rounds had been played and/or their draws had been made. UEFA used "adaptive re-balancing" to change the access list once the berths for the Champions League and Europa League title holders were determined, and rounds which had already been drawn or played by the time the title holders were determined would not be impacted (Regulations Article 3.07)[4] The following changes were made:
- Since the Champions League title holder berth in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage was vacated, only five losers of the Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path), instead of the original six, were transferred to the Europa League play-off round (Champions Path). In this case, two losers of Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path), determined by draw, received a bye to the play-off round (Champions Path) instead of entering the third qualifying round (Champions Path).
- At the time when the draws for the preliminary round and first qualifying round were held on 9 and 10 August 2020, it was not certain whether the Europa League title holder berth in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage would be vacated as four of the quarter-finalists of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bayer Leverkusen, Copenhagen and Basel, did not qualify for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues. Therefore, these draws proceeded as normal per the default access list, and the matches drawn, which were played on 18–21 and 25–27 August 2020, were not changed even though after the quarter-finals of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, which were played on 10–11 August 2020, it was confirmed all four semi-finalists, Sevilla, Manchester United, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, already qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage via their domestic leagues, meaning the Europa League title holder berth would be vacated. As a result, only three losers of the Champions League third qualifying round (League Path), instead of the original four, were transferred to the Europa League group stage, and "adaptive re-balancing" started from the second qualifying round (Main Path), whose draw was held on 31 August 2020, and the following changes to the access list were made:
- The cup winners of association 13 (Czech Republic), entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round (Main Path).
- The cup winners of associations 18 (Cyprus) and 19 (Serbia), entered the third qualifying round (Main Path) instead of the second qualifying round (Main Path).
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:
- 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 moved 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 moved 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
In early April 2020, UEFA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the deadline for entering the tournament had been postponed until further notice.[8] UEFA also sent a letter to all member associations that domestic leagues must be completed in full without ending prematurely in order to qualify for European competitions.[9] After meeting with the 55 UEFA associations on 21 April 2020, UEFA strongly recommended them to finish domestic top league and cup competitions, although in some special cases where it was not possible, UEFA developed guidelines concerning participation in its club competitions in case of a cancelled league or cup.[10][11] After the UEFA Executive Committee meeting on 23 April 2020, UEFA announced that if a domestic competition was prematurely terminated for legitimate reasons in accordance with conditions related to public health or economic problems, the national associations concerned were required to select their participating teams for the 2020–21 UEFA club competitions based on sporting merit in the 2019–20 domestic competitions, and UEFA reserved the right to refuse their admission if UEFA deemed the termination of the competitions not legitimate, or the selection procedure not objective, transparent and non-discriminatory, or the team was perceived by the public as qualifying unfairly. A suspended domestic competition could also be restarted with a different format from the original one in a manner which would still facilitate qualification on sporting merit.[12][13] All leagues were initially to communicate to UEFA by 25 May 2020 whether they intended to restart their competitions,[14] but this deadline was later extended. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that associations had to enter their teams by 3 August 2020.[3] If a cup was abandoned or not completed by the UEFA registration deadline, the Europa League places were distributed by league positions only.
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
- CW: 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 League play-offs winners
- UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
- GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
- CH/LP PO: Losers from the play-off round (Champions/League Path)
- CH/LP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
- CH/LP Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
- Q1: Losers from the first qualifying round
- PR: Losers from the preliminary round (F: final; SF: semi-finals)
- Abd-: League positions of abandoned season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe as determined by the national association; all teams were subject to approval by UEFA as per the guidelines for entry to European competitions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic[15]
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).
Notes
- ^ Champions Path (CH): Tirana and Ludogorets Razgrad, two of the ten losers of 2020–21 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path), were determined by a draw held on 31 August 2020 after the Europa League second qualifying round draw,[16] to receive a bye to the play-off round.
- Keşla and Sumgayit, were selected to play in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League by the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, entering the first qualifying round.[17]
- The 2019–20 Greek Football Cup was not completed by the UEFA registration deadline. However, since both finalists, Olympiacos and AEK Athens, were in the top three of the 2019–20 Super League Greece, the result of the final would have no impact on qualification for the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.
- Panathinaikos, the fourth-placed team of the 2019–20 Super League Greece, would have qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, but were banned from UEFA club competitions for the first season they would qualify between the 2018–19 and 2020–21 seasons by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body on 24 April 2018 due to overdue payables, which turned out to be the 2020–21 season since they did not qualify for either the 2018–19 or 2019–20 season.[23] As a result, OFI, the sixth-placed team, qualified for this berth.