The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years.
Spain's Atlético Madrid won the tournament for the first time, beating Fulham – who were playing in their first European final – at the Volksparkstadion, home ground of Hamburger SV, in Hamburg, Germany.
Shakhtar Donetsk were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual finalists Fulham in the round of 32.
Association team allocation A total of 192 teams from 53 UEFA associations participated in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. Associations were allocated places according to their 2008 UEFA country coefficient, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2003–04 to 2007–08.
Below is the qualification scheme for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League: Associations 1–6 each entered three teams Associations 7–9 each entered four teams Associations 10–51 each entered three teams, except Liechtenstein (it organised only a domestic cup competition and no domestic league competition) Associations 52–53 plus Liechtenstein each entered one team The top three associations of the 2008–09 UEFA Fair Play ranking each gained an additional berth Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League
Association ranking RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes 1 75.749 3 +1(UCL) 2 75.266 +1(UCL) 3 60.410 +1(UCL) 4 52.668 +1(UCL) 5 48.722 +1(UCL) 6 43.750 +2(UCL) 7 40.599 4 +2(UCL) 8 39.927 +1(UCL) 9 38.213 +1(UCL) 10 33.375 3 +1(FP)+1(UCL) 11 31.725 +1(UCL) 12 30.100 +1(UCL) 13 26.700 +2(UCL) 14 25.831 +1(UCL) 15 25.750 +2(UCL) 16 24.225 17 23.166 +1(UCL) 18 22.425 +1(FP)+1(UCL)RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes 19 20.450 3 +1(FP)+1(UCL) 20 17.700 +1(UCL) 21 16.750 +1(UCL) 22 15.750 23 13.691 24 12.332 +1(UCL) 25 12.041 26 11.999 27 11.624 +1(UCL) 28 10.082 29 9.915 +1(UCL) 30 9.623 31 8.831 +1(UCL) 32 8.498 33 7.999 34 7.499 +1(UCL) 35 7.332 36 6.331RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes 37 5.999 3 38 5.831 39 5.500 1 40 5.332 3 +1(UCL) 41 4.332 +1(UCL) 42 3.832 +1(UCL) 43 3.666 44 3.665 45 2.582 +1(UCL) 46 2.332 47 2.331 48 1.832 49 1.498 50 0.832 51 0.500 52 0.500 1 53 0.250
Notes (FP): Additional fair play berth (Norway, Denmark, Scotland) (UCL): Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
Distribution Since the winners of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, Shakhtar Donetsk, qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League through domestic performance, the title holder spot reserved for them in the group stage was vacated. As this was the first edition of the Europa League, it was initially unknown whether UEFA would simply disregard the vacant title holder spot and rearrange entries so that one more team would qualify from the play-off round, or replace the title holders' group stage place with that of the top-ranked association's cup winner and move teams from lower rounds appropriately, as the regulations were unclear on this matter. The former set-up was confirmed by UEFA's official list of participants, published on 16 June 2009. As a result, the following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage: The domestic cup winners of associations 16 and 17 (Switzerland and Bulgaria) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round. The domestic cup winners of associations 28 and 29 (Cyprus and Slovenia) were promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The domestic cup winners of associations 52 and 53 (Andorra and San Marino) and the domestic league runners-up of associations 35 and 36 (Republic of Ireland and Macedonia) were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueFirst qualifying round (46 teams)14 domestic league runners-up from associations 37–51 (except Liechtenstein) 29 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein) 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play rankingsSecond qualifying round (80 teams)24 domestic cup winners from associations 30–53 18 domestic league runners-up from associations 19–36 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–21 6 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 10–15 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 7–923 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying round (70 teams)12 domestic cup winners from associations 18–29 3 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–18 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 10–15 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–9 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 4–6 (League Cup winners for France) 3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (League Cup winners for England)40 winners from the second qualifying roundPlay-off round (76 teams)17 domestic cup winners from associations 1–17 3 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–9 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 4–6 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–335 winners from the third qualifying round15 losers from the Champions League third qualifying roundGroup stage (48 teams)38 winners from the play-off round10 losers from the Champions League play-off roundKnockout phase (32 teams)12 group winners from the group stage 12 group runners-up from the group stage8 third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage
Redistribution rules A Europa League place was vacated when a team qualified for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualified for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place was vacated, it was redistributed within the national association by the following rules: When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated, and the remaining Europa League qualifiers were moved up one place, with the final place (with the earliest starting round) taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they did not already qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League. Otherwise, this place was taken by the highest-placed league finisher which did not qualify for the Europa League yet. When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated, and the Europa League qualifiers which finished lower in the league were moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finisher which did not qualify for the Europa League yet. A place vacated by the League Cup winners was taken by the highest-placed league finisher which did not qualify for the Europa League yet. A Fair Play place was taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table which did not qualify for the Champions League or Europa League yet.
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: TH: Title holders CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up LC: League Cup winners Nth: League position P-W: End-of-season European competition play-off winners FP: Fair play UCL: Relegated from the Champions League GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage PO: Losers from the play-off round Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
Round of 32 Juventus (UCL GS) VfL Wolfsburg (UCL GS) Marseille (UCL GS) Atlético Madrid (UCL GS) Liverpool (UCL GS) Rubin Kazan (UCL GS) Unirea Urziceni (UCL GS) Standard Liège (UCL GS)Group stage Timișoara (UCL PO) Sporting CP (UCL PO) Celtic (UCL PO) Anderlecht (UCL PO) Panathinaikos (UCL PO) Levski Sofia (UCL PO) Copenhagen (UCL PO) Red Bull Salzburg (UCL PO) Ventspils (UCL PO) Sheriff Tiraspol (UCL PO)Play-off round Everton (5th) Zenit Saint Petersburg (5th) Genk (CW) Maribor (UCL Q3) Aston Villa (6th) CFR Cluj (CW) AEK Athens (3rd) BATE Borisov (UCL Q3) Villarreal (5th) Dinamo București (3rd) Teplice (CW) Levadia Tallinn (UCL Q3) Valencia (6th) Benfica (3rd) Sion (CW) Baku (UCL Q3) Lazio (CW) Nacional (4th) Litex Lovech (CW) Aktobe (UCL Q3) Genoa (5th) Heerenveen (CW) Slavia Prague (UCL Q3) Dynamo Moscow (UCL Q3) Guingamp (CW) Ajax (3rd) Stabæk (UCL Q3) Twente (UCL Q3) Toulouse (4th) Heart of Midlothian (3rd) Partizan (UCL Q3) Sivasspor (UCL Q3) Werder Bremen (CW) Trabzonspor (3rd) Slovan Bratislava (UCL Q3) Shakhtar Donetsk (UCL Q3)TH Hertha BSC (4th) Vorskla Poltava (CW) Dinamo Zagreb (UCL Q3) Sparta Prague (UCL Q3) Amkar Perm (4th)Third qualifying round Fulham (7th) PSV Eindhoven (4th) CSKA Sofia (2nd) IFK Göteborg (CW) Athletic Bilbao (CR) Aberdeen (4th) Vålerenga (CW) Košice (CW) Roma (6th) Fenerbahçe (4th) Fredrikstad (2nd) Lech Poznań (CW) Lille (5th) Metalist Kharkiv (3rd) Odense (2nd) Honvéd (CW) Hamburger SV (5th) Club Brugge (3rd) Austria Wien (CW) Hajduk Split (2nd) Krylia Sovetov Samara (6th) PAOK (4th) Vojvodina (2nd) APOP Kinyras (CW) Vaslui (5th) Slovan Liberec (3rd) Hapoel Tel Aviv (2nd) Interblock (CW) Braga (5th) Young Boys (2nd)Second qualifying round Steaua București (6th) Sturm Graz (4th) Skonto (3rd) Naftan Novopolotsk (CW) Paços de Ferreira (CR) Red Star Belgrade (3rd) Slavija (CW) Flora (CW) NAC Breda (P-W) Sevojno (CR) Sarajevo (4th) Qarabağ (CW) Falkirk (CR) Maccabi Netanya (4th) Sūduva (CW) Flamurtari (CW) Galatasaray (5th) IF Elfsborg (2nd) Kaunas (2nd) Gandzasar Kapan (3rd) Metalurh Donetsk (4th) Žilina (2nd) Dacia Chișinău (2nd) Tobol (2nd) Gent (4th) Legia Warsaw (2nd) Iskra-Stal (3rd) Crusaders (CW) AEL (5th) Újpest (2nd) St Patrick's Athletic (2nd) Bangor City (CW) Sigma Olomouc (4th) Rijeka (3rd) Derry City (3rd) HB (2nd) Basel (3rd) Omonia (2nd) Rabotnicki (CW) Differdange 03 (2nd) Cherno More (3rd) HIT Gorica (2nd) Milano (2nd) Sliema Wanderers (CW) Tromsø (3rd) HJK (CW) KR (CW) Petrovac (CW) Brøndby (3rd) Honka (2nd) Dinamo Tbilisi (CW) FC Santa Coloma (CW) AaB (CR) Liepājas Metalurgs (2nd) Vaduz (CW) Juvenes/Dogana (CW) Rapid Wien (2nd)First qualifying round Bnei Yehuda (5th) Zimbru Chișinău (4th) Simurq (3rd) B36 (3rd) Helsingborgs IF (4th) Sligo Rovers (4th) Vllaznia (2nd) NSÍ (4th) Spartak Trnava (3rd) Renova (3rd) Dinamo Tirana (3rd) Grevenmacher (3rd) Polonia Warsaw (4th) Keflavík (2nd) Mika (4th) Käerjéng 97 (CR) Haladás (3rd) Fram (3rd) Banants (CR) Birkirkara (2nd) Slaven Belupo (4th) Olimpi Rustavi (3rd) Irtysh (3rd) Valletta (3rd) Anorthosis Famagusta (3rd) Zestaponi (4th) Okzhetpes (9th) Budućnost Podgorica (2nd) Rudar Velenje (3rd) Dinamo Minsk (2nd) Linfield (2nd) Sutjeska (3rd) Lahti (3rd) MTZ-RIPO Minsk (3rd) Lisburn Distillery (4th) Rosenborg (FP) Dinaburg (4th) Narva Trans (3rd) Llanelli (2nd) Randers (FP) Široki Brijeg (6th) Nõmme Kalju (4th) The New Saints (3rd) Motherwell (FP) Vėtra (3rd) Inter Baku (2nd)
Round and draw dates All draws held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland unless stated otherwise.
PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round22 June 20092 July 20099 July 2009Second qualifying round16 July 200923 July 2009Third qualifying round17 July 200930 July 20096 August 2009Play-offPlay-off round7 August 200920 August 200927 August 2009Group stageMatchday 128 August 2009(Monaco)17 September 2009Matchday 21 October 2009Matchday 322 October 2009Matchday 45 November 2009Matchday 52–3 December 2009Matchday 616–17 December 2009Knockout phaseRound of 3218 December 200918 February 201025 February 2010Round of 1611 March 201018 March 2010Quarter-finals19 March 20101 April 20108 April 2010Semi-finals22 April 201029 April 2010Final12 May 2010 at Volksparkstadion, Hamburg
Qualifying rounds