2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League knockout phase
The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League knockout phase began on 15 February with the knockout round play-offs and ended on 29 May 2024 with the final at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens, Greece, to decide the champions of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League.[1] A total of 24 teams competed in the knockout phase.[2]
Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Qualified teams
The knockout phase involved 24 teams: the 16 teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage, and the eight third-placed teams from the Europa League group stage.
Europa Conference League group stage winners and runners-up
Group
Winners (advance to round of 16 and seeded in draw)
Runners-up (advance to KO play-offs and seeded in draw)
Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, then 30 minutes of extra time were played (the away goals rule was not applied). If the score was still level at the end of extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.[2]
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 could not be drawn against each other.
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 could not 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 would be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
Schedule
The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).[1]
The final was played on 29 May 2024 at the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens, Greece. A draw was held on 15 March 2024, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[42]
^CET (UTC+1) for dates up to 25 March 2023 (round of 16), and CEST (UTC+2) for dates thereafter (quarter-finals, semi-finals and final).
^ abUnion Saint-Gilloise played their home matches at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, in Brussels, instead of their regular stadium, Joseph Marien Stadium, in Brussels, which did not meet UEFA requirements.
