2016–17 UEFA Europa League

The 2016–17 UEFA Europa League will be the 46th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 8th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

The 2017 UEFA Europa League Final will be played at the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden.^[1][2]

The UEFA Executive Committee approved in December 2014 changes to the rewards given according to the Respect Fair Play ranking, and starting from the 2016–17 season, the three Fair Play berths will no longer be allocated to the Europa League.^[3]

Association team allocation

A total of 189 teams from all 54 UEFA member associations are expected to participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:^[4]

• Associations 1–51 (except Liechtenstein) each have three teams qualify.
• Associations 52–53 each have two teams qualify.
• Liechtenstein and Gibraltar each have one team qualify (Liechtenstein organises only a domestic cup and no domestic league; Gibraltar as per decision by the UEFA Executive Committee).
• Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League.

Association ranking

For the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.^[6][7]

Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:

• (CL) – Additional teams transferred from Champions League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 Spain 99.999 3 2 England 80.391 3 Germany 79.415 4 Italy 70.510 5 Portugal 61.382 6 France 52.416 7 Russia 50.498 8 Ukraine 45.166 9 Netherlands 40.979 10 Belgium 37.200 11 Switzerland 34.375 12 Turkey 32.600 13 Greece 31.900 14 Czech Republic 29.125 15 Romania 26.299 16 Austria 25.675 17 Croatia 23.500 18 Cyprus 22.300

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 19 Poland 21.500 3 20 Israel 21.000 21 Belarus 20.750 22 Denmark 19.800 23 Scotland 17.900 24 Sweden 17.725 25 Bulgaria 16.750 26 Norway 14.375 27 Serbia 13.875 28 Slovenia 13.625 29 Azerbaijan 12.500 30 Slovakia 11.250 31 Hungary 11.000 32 Kazakhstan 10.375 33 Moldova 10.000 34 Georgia 9.375 35 Finland 8.200 36 Iceland 8.000

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 37 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7.500 3 38 Liechtenstein 6.000 1 39 Macedonia 5.875 3 40 Republic of Ireland 5.750 41 Montenegro 5.625 42 Albania 5.375 43 Luxembourg 5.125 44 Northern Ireland 4.875 45 Lithuania 4.500 46 Latvia 4.250 47 Malta 4.208 48 Estonia 3.500 49 Faroe Islands 3.500 50 Wales 2.875 51 Armenia 2.750 52 Andorra 0.833 2 53 San Marino 0.499 54 Gibraltar 0.250 1

Distribution

The table below shows the default access list.^[8][5][9]

The access list above is provisional, as changes will need to be made in the following cases:

• If the Champions League title holders or the Europa League title holders have qualified for the Europa League through domestic performance, their berth in the Europa League is vacated (not replaced by another team from the same association), and cup winners of the highest-ranked associations are moved to a later round accordingly.^[10]
• In some cases where changes to the access list of the Champions League are made, the number of losers of the Champions League third qualifying round which are transferred to the Europa League is increased or decreased from the default number of 15, which means changes to the access list of the Europa League will also need to be made.^[11]
• Because a maximum of five teams from one association can enter the Champions League, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders are from the same top three ranked association and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will be moved to the Europa League and enter the group stage, which means changes to the access list of the Europa League may also need to be made.^[12]

Redistribution rules

A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules (regulations Articles 3.03 and 3.04):^[4]

• When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualify for the Champions League, their Europa League place is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place".
• When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place" if possible.
• For associations where a Europa League place is reserved for the League Cup winners, they always qualify for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners have already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place is taken by the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions.

Teams

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
• LC: League Cup winners
• P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
• CL: Transferred from Champions League
  • GS: Third-placed teams from group stage
  • PO: Losers from play-off round
  • Q3: Losers from third qualifying round

Note: Teams in italics may still qualify for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, either through domestic performance, or by winning the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League or the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.

Round of 32
(CL GS)	(CL GS)	(CL GS)	(CL GS)
(CL GS)	(CL GS)	(CL GS)	(CL GS)
Group stage
(CW)	(4th)	(CW)	(CL PO)
(5th)	(CW)	(CW)	(CL PO)
(CW)	(CW)	(CL PO)	(CL PO)
(5th)	(CW)	(CL PO)	(CL PO)
(CW)	(CW)	(CL PO)	(CL PO)
(5th)	(CW)	(CL PO)
(CW)	(CW)	(CL PO)
Play-off round
(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)
(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)
(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)
(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)	(CL Q3)
Third qualifying round
(6th)	(LC)	(3rd)	(CW)
(LC)	(3rd)	(3rd)	(3rd)
(6th)	(4th)	(3rd)	(CW)
(5th)	(3rd)	(CW)	(CW)
(4th)	(4th)	(3rd)
(5th)	(3rd)	(CW)
(4th)	(P-W)	(3rd)
Second qualifying round
(P-W)	(4th)	(CW)	(CW)
(4th)	(2nd)	(CW)	Strømsgodset (2nd)
(4th)	(2nd)	(CW)
(4th)	(CW)	(CW)
(4th)	(CW)	(CW)
First qualifying round
(3rd)	(3rd)	(CW)	(CW)
(3rd)	(CW)	(2nd)	Skonto (CW/2nd)
(2nd)	(2nd)	(3rd)	Ventspils (CW/3rd)
(3rd)	(3rd)	(CW)	(CW)
(2nd)	(CW)	(CW)	(2nd)
(3rd)	(2nd)	(2nd)	(3rd)
(2nd)	(3rd)	(3rd)	(CW)
(3rd)	(CW)	Cork City (2nd)	Levadia Tallinn (2nd)
Dinamo Minsk (2nd)[Note BLR]	(2nd)	Shamrock Rovers (3rd)	Nõmme Kalju (CW/3rd)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (3rd)[Note BLR]	(3rd)	St Patrick's Athletic (4th)	Víkingur Gøta (CW)
(2nd)	Kairat (CW)	(CW)	NSÍ Runavík (2nd)
(3rd)	Aktobe (3rd)	(2nd)	HB (4th)
(2nd)	Ordabasy (4th)	(3rd)	(CW)
(3rd)	(CW)	(CW)	(2nd)
IFK Göteborg (2nd)[Note SWE]	(2nd)	(2nd)	(P-W)
AIK (3rd)[Note SWE]	(3rd)	(3rd)	(CW)
(2nd)	(CW)	(CW)	(2nd)
(3rd)	(2nd)	(2nd)	(3rd)
Stabæk (3rd)	(3rd)	(3rd)	(CW)
Odd (4th)	IFK Mariehamn (CW)	(CW)	(2nd)
(CW)	RoPS (2nd)	(2nd)	(CW)
(2nd)	HJK (3rd)	(P-W)	(2nd)
(3rd)	Valur (CW)	(CW)	(CW)
(CW)	Breiðablik (2nd)	Trakai (CW/2nd)
(2nd)	KR (3rd)	Atlantas (3rd)

Notes

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).^[5]

Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients,^[13][14] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

First qualifying round

A total of 98 teams are expected to play in the first qualifying round.

Second qualifying round

A total of 66 teams are expected to play in the second qualifying round: 17 teams which enter in this round, and the 49 winners of the first qualifying round.

Third qualifying round

A total of 58 teams are expected to play in the third qualifying round: 25 teams which enter in this round, and the 33 winners of the second qualifying round.

Play-off round

A total of 44 teams are expected to play in the play-off round: the 29 winners of the third qualifying round, and the 15 losers of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Group stage

The 48 teams are drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams are seeded into four pots based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients.^[13][14] If the title holders enter the group stage after losing in the Champions League play-off round, they are automatically seeded into Pot 1 (regulations Article 13.05).^[4]

In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32, where they are joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage.

A total of 48 teams play in the group stage: 16 teams which enter in this stage, the 22 winners of the play-off round, and the 10 losers of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League play-off round.

Knockout phase

In the knockout phase, teams play 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 is as follows:

• In the draw for the round of 32, the twelve group winners and the four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage with the better group records are seeded, and the twelve group runners-up and the other four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
• In the draw for the round of 16, there are seedings (regulations Article 17.03, although the seeding criteria are unspecified),^[4] with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group can be drawn against each other, but teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other (changed from seasons before 2015–16 where an open draw was used in the round of 16).
• In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other.

See also

• 2016–17 UEFA Champions League
• 2017 UEFA Super Cup

References

External links

• UEFA Europa League (official website)