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.
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.[8]
Association team allocation
A total of 181 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League (the exception being Spain, as none of their teams finished third in the Europa League group stage). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[9]
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.[12]
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
Association ranking for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
The following is the access list for this season.[13] 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:[14]
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).
Access list for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
Teams transferred from Champions League or Europa League
First qualifying round (66 teams)
20 domestic cup winners from associations 36–55
25 domestic league runners-up from associations 30–55 (except Liechtenstein)[Note LIE]
21 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 29–50 (except Liechtenstein)[Note LIE]
Second qualifying round (108 teams)
Champions Path (18 teams)
3 teams eliminated from Champions League preliminary round
15 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
Main Path (90 teams)
17 domestic cup winners from associations 19–35
14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29
16 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–28
9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15
1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6
33 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round (64 teams)
Champions Path (10 teams)
9 winners from the second qualifying round (Champions Path)
1 team eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
Main Path (54 teams)
2 domestic cup winners from associations 17–18
6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12
1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6
45 winners from the second qualifying round (Main Path)
Play-off round (44 teams)
Champions Path (10 teams)
5 winners from the third qualifying round (Champions Path)
5 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round (Champions Path)
Main Path (34 teams)
1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 5
3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (EFL Cup winners for England) (except Europa League title holder)
27 winners from the third qualifying round (Main Path)
3 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path)
Group stage (32 teams)
5 winners from the play-off round (Champions Path)
17 winners from the play-off round (Main Path)
10 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round
Preliminary knockout round (16 teams)
8 group runners-up from the group stage
8 group third-placed teams from Europa League group stage
Knockout phase (16 teams)
8 group winners from the group stage
8 winners from the preliminary knockout round
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.[15]
The second qualifying round, third qualifying round and play-off round were divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).
Qualified teams for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
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.
The schedule of the competition was as follows.[25] 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.[26]
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.[27]
Schedule for 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 15 June 2021, 13:30 CEST.[28]
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.
^ abcdefgOrder of legs reversed after original draw.
Second qualifying round
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 16 June 2021, 13:30 CEST.[29]
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.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 19 July 2021, 14:00 CEST.[30]
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.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2021, 14:00 CEST.[31]
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.
Location of teams of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage. Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D; Green: Group E; Blue: Group F; Purple: Group G; Pink: Group H.
The draw for the group stage was held on 27 August 2021, 13:30 CEST (14:30 TRT), in Istanbul, Turkey.[27][32] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.[33] Teams from the same association, and due to political reasons, teams from Azerbaijan and Armenia, could not be drawn into the same group. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed pairings of teams from the same association, including those playing in the Europa League group stage (one pairing for associations with two or three teams, two pairings for associations with four or five teams), based on television audiences, where one team was drawn into Groups A–D and another team was drawn into Groups E–H, so that the two teams would have different kick-off times.[34]
The matches were played on 14 and 16 September, 30 September, 21 October, 4 November, 25 November, and 9 December 2021. The winners of each group advanced to the round of 16, while the runners-up advanced to the knockout round play-offs. The third-placed and fourth-placed teams were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
All teams made their debut appearance in the group stage. Alashkert, Bodø/Glimt, Flora, Kairat, Lincoln Red Imps, Mura, Randers and Union Berlin made their debut appearances in a UEFA competition group stage. Alashkert, Flora and Lincoln Red Imps were the first teams from Armenia, Estonia and Gibraltar, respectively, to play in a UEFA competition group stage.
In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the knockout round play-offs, the eight group runners-up were seeded, and the eight Europa League group third-placed teams were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. Since the identity of the Group G runners-up was not known at the time of the draw (due to the match between Tottenham Hotspur and Rennes not being played as scheduled), and could be either Tottenham Hotspur or Vitesse, they cannot be drawn against Leicester City or PSV Eindhoven.
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout round play-offs were unseeded. Again, the seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
The draw for the knockout round play-offs was held on 13 December 2021, 14:00 CET.[36]
The first legs were played on 17 February, and the second legs were played on 24 February 2022.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 25 February 2022, 13:00 CET.[37]
The first legs were played on 10 March, and the second legs were played on 17 March 2022.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 March 2022, 15:00 CET.[38]
The first legs were played on 7 April, and the second legs were played on 14 April 2022.
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 18 March 2022, 15:00 CET, after the quarter-final draw.[38]
The first legs were played on 28 April, and the second legs were played on 5 May 2022.
The final was played on 25 May 2022 at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana. A draw was held on 18 March 2022, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[38]
^"Country coefficients 2019/20". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2020. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
^"Access list 2021–24"(PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
