The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 26 June and ended on 30 August 2018.
A total of 178 teams competed in the qualifying system of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 35 teams in Champions Path and 143 teams in Main Path. The 21 winners in the play-off round (8 from Champions Path, 13 from Main Path) advanced to the group stage, to join the 17 teams that entered in the group stage, the 6 losers of the Champions League play-off round (4 from Champions Path, 2 from League Path), and the 4 League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round.
Teams Champions Path The Champions Path included all league champions which were eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League, and consisted of the following rounds: Second qualifying round (18 teams): 18 teams which entered in this round (3 losers of the Champions League preliminary round and 15 of the 16 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round). Third qualifying round (20 teams): 11 teams which entered in this round (1 loser of the Champions League first qualifying round which receives a bye and 10 losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 9 winners of the second qualifying round. Play-off round (16 teams): 6 teams which entered in this round (losers of the Champions League third qualifying round), and 10 winners of the third qualifying round.
Below are the participating teams (with their 2018 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to coloursWinners of play-off round advance to group stage +Play-off roundTeam Celtic31.000 Astana21.750 Qarabağ20.500 Malmö FF14.000 Shkëndija3.500 Spartak Trnava3.500+Third qualifying roundTeam Ludogorets Razgrad37.000 Legia Warsaw24.500 Sheriff Tiraspol14.750 Midtjylland11.500 Hapoel Be'er Sheva10.000 Rosenborg9.000 HJK8.000 Kukësi4.250 CFR Cluj4.090 Sūduva2.000 Cork City1.750+Second qualifying roundTeam APOEL27.000 The New Saints5.000 Zrinjski Mostar3.750 F91 Dudelange3.500 Valletta3.250 Víkingur Gøta3.000 Crusaders3.000 Olimpija Ljubljana2.900 FC Santa Coloma2.750 Lincoln Red Imps2.750 Alashkert2.500 Sutjeska2.500 Spartaks Jūrmala1.750 La Fiorita1.750 Valur1.650 Flora1.250 Torpedo Kutaisi1.000 Drita0.000 Notes
Main Path The Main Path included all cup winners and league non-champions which did not qualify directly for the group stage, and consisted of the following rounds: Preliminary round (14 teams): 14 teams which entered in this round. First qualifying round (94 teams): 87 teams which entered in this round, and 7 winners of the preliminary round. Second qualifying round (74 teams): 27 teams which entered in this round, and 47 winners of the first qualifying round. Third qualifying round (52 teams): 15 teams which entered in this round (including 2 League Path losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 37 winners of the second qualifying round. Play-off round (26 teams): 26 winners of the third qualifying round.
Below are the participating teams (with their 2018 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to coloursWinners of play-off round advance to group stage
+Third qualifying roundTeam Zenit Saint Petersburg78.000 Basel71.000 Olympiacos54.000 Braga30.500 Gent27.000 Feyenoord21.500 Rapid Wien21.500 Rijeka15.500 Zorya Luhansk9.000 İstanbul Başakşehir8.500 Sturm Graz6.570 Luzern6.040 Sigma Olomouc6.035 Brøndby5.190 Universitatea Craiova4.090+Second qualifying roundTeam Sevilla113.000 Beşiktaş57.000 Sparta Prague34.500 FCSB27.500 Genk27.000 AZ25.000 RB Leipzig17.000 Burnley15.921 Atalanta15.249 Bordeaux11.283 Ufa10.676 Rio Ave9.449 Asteras Tripolis9.000 Mariupol8.226 Hajduk Split7.000 Flyeralarm Admira6.570 LASK6.570 St. Gallen6.040 Vitesse6.000 Atromitos5.720 Hapoel Haifa4.350 AEK Larnaca4.310 Jagiellonia Białystok4.025 Aberdeen4.000 Djurgårdens IF3.995 Dynamo Brest3.725 Lillestrøm3.485+First qualifying roundTeam Copenhagen34.000 Maribor22.500 Maccabi Tel Aviv22.500 Partizan17.000 Molde12.500 Apollon Limassol10.000 Dinamo Minsk8.000 Lech Poznań7.000 FH5.500 Dundalk5.500 Žalgiris5.500 Gabala5.250 Osijek5.200 Nordsjælland5.190 Vardar5.000 Trenčín5.000 Slovan Bratislava5.000 Beitar Jerusalem4.350 Anorthosis Famagusta4.310 Dinamo Tbilisi4.250 Viitorul Constanța4.090 Górnik Zabrze4.025 AIK4.000 Nõmme Kalju4.000 BK Häcken3.995 Levski Sofia3.825 Keşla3.825 Neftçi3.825 Slavia Sofia3.825 CSKA Sofia3.825 Ventspils3.750 Radnički Niš3.750 Spartak Subotica3.750 Shakhtyor Soligorsk3.725 Rangers3.725 Hibernian3.725 Kairat3.625 Irtysh3.625 Tobol3.625 Fola Esch3.500 Sarpsborg 083.485 Rabotnicki3.250 Sarajevo3.250 Domžale3.000 Titograd Podgorica3.000 Željezničar3.000 Rudar Velenje2.900 Vaduz2.750 FCI Levadia2.750 Milsami Orhei2.750 Stjarnan2.750 Ferencváros2.500 Cliftonville2.500 DAC Dunajská Streda2.425 Budućnost Podgorica2.250 Široki Brijeg2.250 Pyunik2.250 Zaria Bălți2.000 Partizani2.000 Chikhura Sachkhere2.000 Petrocub Hîncești2.000 Rudar Pljevlja1.750 Laçi1.700 Luftëtari1.700 ÍBV1.650 Honvéd1.625 Újpest1.625 Liepāja1.500 Shkupi1.500 Lahti1.380 KuPS1.380 Ilves1.380 Shamrock Rovers1.340 Derry City1.340 Samtredia1.250 Riga1.125 Narva Trans1.100 Stumbras1.075 Gandzasar Kapan0.975 Banants0.975 Balzan0.900 Progrès Niederkorn0.875 Racing Union0.875 Coleraine0.850 Glenavon0.850 Connah's Quay Nomads0.775 NSÍ0.750+Preliminary roundTeam Birkirkara2.750 Trakai1.750 Europa1.500 B361.500 Folgore1.250 Bala Town1.000 Gżira United0.900 Cefn Druids0.775 Sant Julià0.750 KÍ0.750 St Joseph's0.600 Engordany0.266 Prishtina0.250 Tre Fiori0.099 Notes
Format Each tie 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, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.
For the Champions Path, in the draws for each round, teams (whose identity was not known at the time of the draws) were divided into seeded and unseeded pots, which may contain different numbers of teams, based on the following principles: In the second qualifying round draw, 15 of the 16 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round (excluding 1 team which receives a bye to the third qualifying round as decided by an additional draw held after the Champions League first qualifying round draw) were seeded, and the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round were unseeded. In the third qualifying round draw, the ten losers of the Champions League second qualifying round were seeded, and the loser of the first qualifying round which receives a bye (whose identity was known at the time of the draw) and the nine winners of the second qualifying round were unseeded. In the play-off round draw, the six losers of the Champions League third qualifying round were seeded, and the ten winners of the third qualifying round were unseeded. In the beginning of the draws, a seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw, until one of the pots was empty. Afterwards, the remaining teams from the non-empty pot were drawn against each other, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw.
For the Main Path, in the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. A seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw. As the identity of the winners of the previous round was not known at the time of the draws, the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie would advance to this round, which meant that if the team with the lower coefficient advanced, it simply took the seeding of its opponent.
Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they are purely for convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from the same association or from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA may not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie may be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
Schedule The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
+Qualifying phase and play-off round scheduleRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legPreliminary round12 June 201828 June 20185 July 2018First qualifying round19 June 2018 (Champions Path)20 June 2018 (Main Path)12 July 201819 July 2018Second qualifying round26 July 20182 August 2018Third qualifying round23 July 20189 August 201816 August 2018Play-off round6 August 201823 August 201830 August 2018
Matches may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
Preliminary round The draw for the preliminary round was held on 12 June 2018, 13:00 CEST.
Seeding A total of 14 teams were involved in the preliminary round draw. Seven teams were seeded and seven teams were unseeded. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie, and if such a pairing was drawn or was set to be drawn in the final tie, the second team drawn in the current tie would be moved to the next tie.
SeededUnseeded
Summary
Matches
First qualifying round The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 20 June 2018, 12:00 CEST.
Seeding A total of 94 teams were involved in the first qualifying round draw: 87 teams entering in this round, and the seven winners of the preliminary round. They were divided into nine groups: seven of ten teams, where five teams were seeded and five teams were unseeded, and two of twelve teams, where six teams were seeded and six teams were unseeded. Numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA so that the draw could be held in one run for all groups with ten teams and one run for all groups with twelve teams.
Group 1Group 2Group 3SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseededGroup 4Group 5Group 6SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseededGroup 7Group 8Group 9SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded Notes
Summary
Matches
Second qualifying round The draw for the second qualifying round Champions Path was held on 19 June 2018, 16:00 CEST, and the draw for the second qualifying round Main Path was held on 20 June 2018, 14:50 CEST.
Seeding A total of 18 teams were involved in the second qualifying round Champions Path draw. Seeded: 15 of the 16 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round (excluding the losers of the Champions League first qualifying round given a bye to the third qualifying round as decided by an additional draw held after the Champions League first qualifying round draw) Unseeded: the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round They were divided into three groups of six teams, where five teams were seeded and one team were unseeded. Teams from Serbia and Kosovo, and Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, could not be drawn into the same tie, and if such a potential pairing was drawn, the second team drawn in the current tie would be moved to the next tie.
Champions PathBye to third qualifying round(decided by draw)Group 1Group 2Group 3SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded Cork City