What is the Europa League?
The UEFA Europa League is the second of UEFA’s three men’s club competitions, below the Champions League and above the Conference League. Clubs reach it through their domestic league positions and cup wins under UEFA’s access list, which allocates places by association coefficient, and through elimination from the Champions League qualifying rounds. The winner qualifies for the next Champions League league phase and plays the UEFA Super Cup.[1] [5]
How does it work?
Since 2024–25 the group stage has been replaced by a league phase: 36 clubs in one table, each playing eight different opponents. The top eight go straight to the round of 16, ninth to 24th play a two-leg knockout playoff, and the competition then proceeds through two-leg ties to a one-off final. No club transfers from the Champions League once its league phase begins. The 2026–27 edition opened with qualifying on 9 July 2026, starts its league phase on 16 September and ends with the final at the Waldstadion in Frankfurt on 26 May 2027; Aston Villa cannot defend the title because their 2025–26 domestic finish took them into the Champions League.[1] [3] [5]
Since when does it exist?
UEFA created the UEFA Cup in 1971 to replace the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which had run since 1955, and renamed it the UEFA Europa League from 2009–10, when it absorbed the Intertoto Cup; Shakhtar Donetsk were the last UEFA Cup winners in 2009. Sevilla hold the record with seven titles. The 2020 final was moved to Cologne and played behind closed doors during the pandemic.[2] [4] [5] [7] [8]
| Season | Pool / Format | Host cities |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | Aston Villa | Final: 3–0 vs SC Freiburg — Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul, 20 May 2026; first Europa League title |
| 2024–25 | Tottenham Hotspur | Final: 1–0 vs Manchester United — San Mamés, Bilbao |
| 2023–24 | Atalanta | Final: 3–0 vs Bayer Leverkusen — Aviva Stadium, Dublin |
| 2022–23 | Sevilla | Final: 1–1 aet, 4–1 pens vs Roma — Puskás Aréna, Budapest; record seventh title |
| 2021–22 | Eintracht Frankfurt | Final: 1–1 aet, 5–4 pens vs Rangers — Seville |
| 2020–21 | Villarreal | Final: 1–1 aet, 11–10 pens vs Manchester United — Gdańsk |
| 2019–20 | Sevilla | Final: 3–2 vs Inter — Cologne, behind closed doors |
| 2018–19 | Chelsea | Final: 4–1 vs Arsenal — Baku |
| 2017–18 | Atlético Madrid | Final: 3–0 vs Marseille — Lyon |
| 2016–17 | Manchester United | Final: 2–0 vs Ajax — Stockholm |
Winners of the last ten finals.
Why does it matter?
The Europa League distributes EUR 565m a season in 2026–27 — against EUR 2.467bn for the Champions League and Super Cup — and the winner’s place in the following Champions League is worth more than any domestic finish. For a player, a Europa League campaign is continental competition on the record, and the FA’s work-permit points system scores continental minutes separately from domestic ones.[3] [5] [6]
References
- UEFA — UEFA Europa League official site. Accessed September 2026.
- UEFA — UEFA Europa League history. Accessed September 2026.
- UEFA — Circular 48/2026: distribution to clubs 2026/27 (PDF). Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — 2026 UEFA Europa League final (background). Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — 2026–27 UEFA Europa League (background). Accessed September 2026.
- The FA — Men's Players Governing Body Endorsement criteria 2025/26 (PDF). Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — UEFA Europa League (background). Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — 2025 UEFA Europa League final (background). Accessed September 2026.