2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
Roma (1st title) | |
Runners-up | Feyenoord |
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Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 140 |
Goals scored | 401 (2.86 per match) |
Attendance | 1,978,850 (14,135 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Cyriel Dessers (Feyenoord) 10 goals |
Best player(s) | Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)[1] |
The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA.
The
This season was the first since 1999–2000 (the first season after the dissolution of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) where three major European club competitions (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Europa Conference League) took place.[6]
On 24 June 2021, UEFA approved the proposal to abolish the away goals rule in all UEFA club competitions, which had been used since 1965. Therefore, if in a two-legged tie, two teams scored the same number of aggregate goals, the winner was not decided by the number of away goals scored by each team, but always by 30 minutes of extra time, and if the two teams scored the same number of goals in extra time, the winner was decided by a penalty shoot-out.[7]
Association team allocation
A total of 181 teams from 54 of the 55
- Associations 1–5 each had one team qualify.
- Association 1 (Spain) did not have any team qualify for this season, as the team which would have participated, Villarreal, won the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League and earned a place in the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.
- Associations 6–15 and 51–55 each had two teams qualify.
- Associations 16–50 (except Liechtenstein)[Note LIE] each had three teams qualify.
- As the UEFA Europa Conference League title holders' berth in the UEFA Europa League was vacant this season, association 16 (Cyprus) had their domestic cup winner promoted from the Europa Conference League to the Europa League, so they only had two teams qualify.
- Liechtenstein had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organised only a domestic cup and no domestic league).[Note LIE]
- Moreover, 20 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League and 26 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League were transferred to the Europa Conference League.
- For this season, only 19 teams eliminated from the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League were transferred, as there was one fewer team competing in the Champions Path qualifying of the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.
Association ranking
For the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2020 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2015–16 to 2019–20.[9]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa Conference League, as noted below:
- (UCL) – Additional/vacated teams transferred from/to 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.[10] In the default access list, the title holders of the Europa Conference League qualify for the Europa League group stage. However, since this berth was vacant this season, the following changes to the access list were made:
- The cup winners of association 16 (Cyprus) enter the Europa League third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The cup winners of associations 30 (Slovakia) and 31 (Liechtenstein) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
As Villarreal, which otherwise would have qualified for the Europa Conference League play-off round via their domestic league, won the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, thereby earning an automatic spot in the Champions League group stage as the Europa League title holders, thus vacating a berth in the play-off round and not passed down to any other Spanish club. The following changes were confirmed by UEFA:[11]
- The domestic cup winners of associations 17 (Switzerland) and 18 (Greece) enter the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.
- The domestic cup winners of associations 32 to 35 (Slovenia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Lithuania) enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
Moreover, in the default access list, originally 17 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa Conference League second qualifying round (Champions Path). However, since the Champions League title holders, Chelsea, which were guaranteed a berth in the Champions League group stage, already qualified via their domestic league, only 16 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa Conference League second qualifying round (Champions Path) after the Champions League access list was rebalanced. As a result, only 19 teams entered the Champions Path second qualifying round (one of the losers from the Champions League first qualifying round was drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round).
Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round | Teams transferred from Champions League or Europa League | ||
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First qualifying round (66 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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Teams
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)
- 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.[12]
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).
CC: 2021 UEFA club coefficients.[13]
Three teams not playing in a national top division took part in the competition: Gagra (2nd tier), Sileks (2nd tier) and Vaduz (2nd tier).
Notes
- ^ Champions League (UCL Q1): One of the Champions League first qualifying round losers was drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round (Champions Path), as one fewer loser was transferred to the second qualifying round (Champions Path), due to a Champions League group stage berth vacated by the Champions League title holders.
- ^ Iceland (ISL): The 2020 Úrvalsdeild and the 2020 Icelandic Cup were abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland. The second-placed, third-placed and fourth-placed teams of the league at the time of the abandonment based on the average number of points per matches played for each team, FH, Stjarnan and Breiðablik, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League by the Football Association of Iceland.[14]
- Football Federation of Kazakhstan.[15]
- The seven teams affiliated with the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) all played in the Swiss football league system. The only competition organised by the LFV was the Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winners of which qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League.
- The 2020–21 Liechtenstein Cup was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Liechtenstein. The team remaining in the cup with the highest UEFA club coefficient, Vaduz, were selected to play in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League by the Liechtenstein Football Association, entering the second qualifying round.[16]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[23] Matches were scheduled for Thursdays apart from the final, which took place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts (especially featuring teams from countries where there were very few sufficient stadiums, such as Gibraltar and Wales). Scheduled kick-off times starting from the group stage were 18:45 (instead of 18:55 previously) and 21:00 CEST/CET, though exceptionally could take place at 16:30 due to geographical reasons.[24]
All draws started at 13:00 or 14:00 CEST/CET and were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. On 16 July 2021, UEFA announced that the group stage draw would be held in Istanbul, Turkey.[25]
Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
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Qualifying | First qualifying round | 15 June 2021 | 8 July 2021 | 15 July 2021 |
Second qualifying round | 16 June 2021 | 22 July 2021 | 29 July 2021 | |
Third qualifying round | 19 July 2021 | 5 August 2021 | 12 August 2021 | |
Play-offs | Play-off round | 2 August 2021 | 19 August 2021 | 26 August 2021 |
Group stage | Matchday 1 | 27 August 2021 | 16 September 2021 | |
Matchday 2 | 30 September 2021 | |||
Matchday 3 | 21 October 2021 | |||
Matchday 4 | 4 November 2021 | |||
Matchday 5 | 25 November 2021 | |||
Matchday 6 | 9 December 2021 | |||
Knockout phase | Knockout round play-offs | 13 December 2021 | 17 February 2022 | 24 February 2022 |
Round of 16 | 25 February 2022 | 10 March 2022 | 17 March 2022 | |
Quarter-finals | 18 March 2022 | 7 April 2022 | 14 April 2022 | |
Semi-finals | 28 April 2022 | 5 May 2022 | ||
Final | 25 May 2022 at Arena Kombëtare, Tirana |
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 15 June 2021, 13:30 CEST.[26] The first legs were played on 6 and 8 July, and the second legs were played on 13 and 15 July 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Main Path second qualifying round. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Second qualifying round
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 16 June 2021, 13:30 CEST.[27] The first legs were played on 20, 21 and 22 July, and the second legs were played on 27 and 29 July 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round of their respective path. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Shamrock Rovers | Bye | N/A | — | — |
Teuta | 3–2 | Inter Club d'Escaldes | 0–2 | a.e.t. )
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Riga | 3–0 | Shkëndija | 2–0 | 1–0 |
Dinamo Tbilisi | 2–7 | Maccabi Haifa | 1–2 | 1–5 |
HB Tórshavn | 6–0[A] | Budućnost Podgorica | 4–0 | 2–0 |
Linfield | 4–0 | Borac Banja Luka | 4–0 | 0–0 |
Shakhtyor Soligorsk | 1–3 | Fola Esch | 1–2 | 0–1 |
3–7 | Hibernians | 1–3 | 2–4 | |
Prishtina | 6–5 | Connah's Quay Nomads | 4–1 | 2–4 |
Valur | 0–6 | Bodø/Glimt | 0–3 | 0–3 |
- ^ Order of legs reversed after original draw.
- ^ Order of legs reversed after original draw.
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 19 July 2021, 14:00 CEST.[28] The first legs were played on 3 and 5 August, and the second legs were played on 10 and 12 August 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective path. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Maccabi Haifa | 7–3 | HB Tórshavn | 7–2 | 0–1 |
Linfield | 2–4 | Fola Esch | 1–2 | 1–2 |
Shamrock Rovers | 3–0 | Teuta | 1–0 | 2–0 |
Riga | 4–2 | Hibernians | 0–1 | a.e.t. )
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Prishtina | 2–3 | Bodø/Glimt | 2–1 | 0–2 |
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Dinamo Batumi | 2–3 | Sivasspor | 1–2 | a.e.t. )
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KuPS | 5–4 | Astana | 1–1 | 4–3 |
Sochi | 3–3 (2–4 p) | Partizan | 1–1 | a.e.t. )
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Śląsk Wrocław | 2–5 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 2–1 | 0–4 |
Santa Clara | 3–0 | Olimpija Ljubljana | 2–0 | 1–0 |
Újpest | 1–6 | Basel | 1–2 | 0–4 |
IF Elfsborg | 5–2 | Velež Mostar | 1–1 | 4–1 |
Kolos Kovalivka | 0–0 (1–3 p) | Shakhter Karagandy | 0–0 | a.e.t. )
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Paços de Ferreira | 4–1 | Larne | 4–0 | 0–1 |
Luzern | 0–6 | Feyenoord | 0–3 | 0–3 |
Gent | 3–2 | RFS | 2–2 | 1–0 |
Hibernian | 2–5 | Rijeka | 1–1 | 1–4 |
Breiðablik | 3–5 | Aberdeen | 2–3 | 1–2 |
Trabzonspor | 4–4 (4–3 p) | Molde | 3–3 | a.e.t. )
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Bohemians | 2–3 | PAOK | 2–1 | 0–2 |
The New Saints | 5–5 (1–4 p) | Viktoria Plzeň | 4–2 | a.e.t. )
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Raków Częstochowa | 1–0 | Rubin Kazan | 0–0 | a.e.t. )
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Lokomotiv Plovdiv | 3–5 | Copenhagen | 1–1 | 2–4 |
Čukarički | 4–6 | Hammarby IF | 3–1 | 1–5 |
Tobol | 0–6 | Žilina | 0–1 | 0–5 |
CSKA Sofia | 5–3 | Osijek | 4–2 | 1–1 |
Vojvodina | 1–7 | LASK | 0–1 | 1–6 |
AEL Limassol | 1–2 | Qarabağ | 1–1 | 0–1 |
Spartak Trnava | 0–1 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Rosenborg | 8–2 | Domžale | 6–1 | 2–1 |
Laçi | 1–5 | Anderlecht | 0–3 | 1–2 |
Vitesse | 4–3 | Dundalk | 2–2 | 2–1 |
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2021, 14:00 CEST.[29] The first legs were played on 19 August, and the second legs were played on 26 August 2021.
The winners of the ties advanced to the group stage. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Žalgiris | 2–3 | Bodø/Glimt | 2–2 | 0–1 |
Neftçi Baku | 3–7 | Maccabi Haifa | 3–3 | 0–4 |
Flora | 5–2 | Shamrock Rovers | 4–2 | 1–0 |
Riga | 2–4 | Lincoln Red Imps | 1–1 | a.e.t. )
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Fola Esch | 2–7 | Kairat | 1–4 | 1–3 |
Team 1 | Agg.
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Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
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Qarabağ | 4–1 | Aberdeen | 1–0 | 3–1 |
Basel | 4–4 (4–3 p) | Hammarby IF | 3–1 | a.e.t. )
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Viktoria Plzeň | 2–3 | CSKA Sofia | 2–0 | a.e.t. )
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Paços de Ferreira | 1–3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1–0 | 0–3 |
Rennes | 5–1 | Rosenborg | 2–0 | 3–1 |
Anderlecht | 4–5 | Vitesse | 3–3 | 1–2 |
LASK | 3–1 | St Johnstone | 1–1 | 2–0 |
Shakhter Karagandy | 1–4 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–2 | 0–2 |
PAOK | 3–1 | Rijeka | 1–1 | 2–0 |
KuPS | 0–4 | Union Berlin | 0–4 | 0–0 |
Feyenoord | 6–3 | IF Elfsborg | 5–0 | 1–3 |
Raków Częstochowa | 1–3 | Gent | 1–0 | 0–3 |
Sivasspor | 1–7 | Copenhagen | 1–2 | 0–5 |
Santa Clara | 2–3 | Partizan | 2–1 | 0–2 |
Trabzonspor | 1–5 | Roma
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1–2 | 0–3 |
Hapoel Be'er Sheva | 1–3 | Anorthosis Famagusta | 0–0 | 1–3 |
Jablonec | 8–1 | Žilina | 5–1 | 3–0 |