The Europa League is more attractive in 2021/22 than before – especially a group win is worthwhile. Who is in it and how it will be run: All info at a glance.
How does the Europa League 2021/22 work?
With the introduction of the Europa Conference League, the third European Cup competition, UEFA has significantly slimmed down the Europa League. Instead of three, there is now only one qualifying round before the play-offs, and only 32 teams start in the group stage instead of the previous 48. Accordingly, there will also only be eight groups instead of twelve.
Why does winning a group in the Europa League pay off in particular from 2021/22 onwards?
The eight group winners will in future qualify directly for the Europa League round of 16 and can save themselves the two games in the intermediate round. Only the eight group runners-up will have to take this diversions – they will play the other eight round of 16 finalists with the eight group third-placed teams from the Champions League.
What happens to the third-placed teams in the Europa League?
They will no longer be eliminated altogether, but will be allowed to continue playing in the sixteenth finals (officially: “play-offs of the knock-out round”) of the Europa Conference League.
How to qualify for the Europa League?
Eleven clubs qualify directly for the Europa League group stage, ten clubs join from the Europa League qualifiers or play-offs. Another ten are relegated to the Europa League from the Champions League qualifiers or play-offs. UEFA has not yet determined who will be the 32nd participant in the group stage.
What changes to the qualifying rounds?
Only 27 teams will take part in the Europa League qualifiers or play-offs, the majority of them joining from the Champions League qualifiers. There is only one qualifying round left before the play-offs.
Who qualifies for the Europa League from the Bundesliga?
The DFB Cup winner and the fifth in the table are normally qualified for the Europa League group stage. Because Borussia Dortmund, the DFB Cup winner, finished in the top four, fifth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt and sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen will start in the Europa League group stage. In future, no Bundesliga team will compete in the Europa League qualifiers or play-offs.
What are the most important dates in the 2021/22 Europa League?
Qualification will not start until 5 August and thus much later than before. The group stage will be played between 16 September and 9 December, with the knockout stage starting on 17 February 2022. The Europa League final will take place on 18 May 2022, with the winner qualifying for the Champions League group stage the following season, as always.
Where will the 2022 Europa League Final take place?
The stadium of Sevilla FC, the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. The 2021 final should actually have been held there. But because of the Corona pandemic, all final venues have to wait a year. The Puskas Arena in Budapest, which was originally scheduled to host the 2022 Europa League final, will now host the final in 2023.
Will there also be new Europa League kick-off times from 2021/22?
Partially. There will still be two kick-off times on Thursdays, but the first will be at 6.45pm instead of 6.55pm. The second remains at 9 p.m.
Who will broadcast the Europa League live on TV in Germany?
RTL has secured all free-TV and pay-TV rights to the Europa League for three years. The matches will be shown on RTL, on Nitro and on the video portal TV Now?
