The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 27 June and ended on 29 August 2019.
A total of 178 teams compete in the qualifying system of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, which includes 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) advance to the group stage, to join the 17 teams that enter 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 includes all league champions which are eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League, and consists of the following rounds: Second qualifying round (18 teams): 18 teams which enter 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 enter 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 enter in this round (losers of the Champions League third qualifying round), and 10 winners of the third qualifying round.
Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2019 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to coloursWinners of play-off round advance to group stage +Play-off roundTeam Celtic31.000 Copenhagen31.000 PAOK23.500 Qarabağ22.000 Maribor18.500 Ferencváros3.500+Third qualifying roundTeam BATE Borisov27.500 Maccabi Tel Aviv16.000 HJK9.000 Dundalk7.000 The New Saints6.000 AIK5.500 Valletta4.250 Sarajevo4.250 Nõmme Kalju3.500 Sutjeska3.000 Saburtalo Tbilisi0.950+Second qualifying roundTeam Astana27.500 Ludogorets Razgrad27.000 Sheriff Tiraspol12.250 F91 Dudelange6.250 Shkëndija6.000 Slovan Bratislava6.000 Sūduva4.250 Lincoln Red Imps4.250 FC Santa Coloma4.000 Piast Gliwice3.850 Partizani3.000 Valur2.750 Linfield2.250 HB1.500 Riga1.125 Ararat-Armenia1.050 Tre Penne0.750 Feronikeli0.500 Notes
Main Path The Main Path includes all cup winners and league non-champions which do not qualify directly for the group stage, and consists of the following rounds: Preliminary round (14 teams): 14 teams which enter in this round. First qualifying round (94 teams): 87 teams which enter in this round, and 7 winners of the preliminary round. Second qualifying round (74 teams): 27 teams which enter in this round, and 47 winners of the first qualifying round. Third qualifying round (52 teams): 15 teams which enter 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 of the Main Path (with their 2019 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to coloursWinners of play-off round advance to group stage
+Third qualifying roundTeam PSV Eindhoven37.000 Sparta Prague35.500 Viktoria Plzeň33.000 Braga31.000 Feyenoord22.000 Spartak Moscow16.000 AEK Athens14.000 Midtjylland14.000 Rijeka13.500 Austria Wien8.000 Trabzonspor8.000 Antwerp7.980 Mariupol7.780 Thun5.380 Bnei Yehuda3.725+Second qualifying roundTeam Gent29.500 Eintracht Frankfurt24.000 Espanyol20.713 Partizan18.000 Wolverhampton Wanderers17.092 Torino14.945 Strasbourg11.699 Zorya Luhansk11.500 AZ10.500 Arsenal Tula10.109 Vitória de Guimarães9.646 Yeni Malatyaspor6.920 Utrecht6.486 Sturm Graz6.250 Gabala6.250 Jablonec5.735 Mladá Boleslav5.735 Atromitos5.520 Aris5.520 Osijek5.475 Esbjerg5.405 Luzern5.380 AEL Limassol4.985 BK Häcken4.180 Viitorul Constanța4.000 Lechia Gdańsk3.850 Lokomotiv Plovdiv3.500+First qualifying roundTeam Legia Warsaw24.500 FCSB23.000 Malmö FF20.000 Molde13.500 Apollon Limassol12.000 Hapoel Be'er Sheva12.000 MOL Fehérvár9.000 Dinamo Minsk9.000 Spartak Trnava8.500 AEK Larnaca8.000 Hajduk Split8.000 Brøndby7.500 Žalgiris6.000 Aberdeen5.500 Rangers5.250 Zrinjski Mostar5.250 Kairat5.000 Kukësi4.750 Alashkert4.500 Radnički Niš4.450 Čukarički4.450 Kilmarnock4.425 Shakhtyor Soligorsk4.375 Vitebsk4.375 Domžale4.250 Crusaders4.250 Ventspils4.250 Stjarnan4.250 IFK Norrköping4.180 Haugesund4.040 Brann4.040 Fola Esch4.000 Vaduz4.000 Tobol3.850 Ordabasy3.850 Cracovia3.850 Neftçi3.800 Sabail3.800 Olimpija Ljubljana3.750 Cork City3.750 Pyunik3.750 Dinamo Tbilisi3.750 Maccabi Haifa3.725 CSKA Sofia3.500 Levski Sofia3.500 Riteriai3.250 Budućnost Podgorica3.250 FCI Levadia3.250 Universitatea Craiova3.190 DAC Dunajská Streda3.125 Ružomberok3.125 B363.000 Chikhura Sachkhere3.000 Titograd Podgorica3.000 Debrecen3.000 Mura3.000 Torpedo Kutaisi2.750 Milsami Orhei2.750 Honvéd2.500 Flora2.500 Liepāja2.500 Hibernians2.500 KR2.500 Balzan2.250 Laçi2.250 Shamrock Rovers2.250 Široki Brijeg2.250 Connah's Quay Nomads1.750 Banants1.750 St Patrick's Athletic1.750 Shkupi1.600 Akademija Pandev1.600 Makedonija GP1.600 Petrocub Hîncești1.550 Speranța Nisporeni1.550 Teuta1.500 KuPS1.455 RoPS1.455 Inter Turku1.455 Breiðablik1.450 Radnik Bijeljina1.425 Kauno Žalgiris1.350 RFS1.125 Jeunesse Esch1.100 Gżira United1.025 Narva Trans1.000 Zeta0.825+Preliminary roundTeam La Fiorita3.000 Progrès Niederkorn2.750 Cliftonville2.500 Europa2.000 NSÍ1.750 KÍ1.250 Prishtina1.250 Sant Julià1.250 Engordany1.000 Tre Fiori1.000 Barry Town United0.825 Cardiff Metropolitan University0.825 St Joseph's0.800 Ballymena United0.775 Notes
Format Each tie is played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advance to the next round. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scores more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, then extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by penalty shoot-out.
For the Champions Path, in the draws for each round, teams (whose identity is not known at the time of the draws) are 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) are seeded, and the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round are unseeded. In the third qualifying round draw, the ten losers of the Champions League second qualifying round are seeded, and the loser of the first qualifying round which receives a bye (whose identity is known at the time of the draw) and the nine winners of the second qualifying round are unseeded. In the play-off round draw, the six losers of the Champions League third qualifying round are seeded, and the ten winners of the third qualifying round are unseeded. In the beginning of the draws, a seeded team is drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw, until one of the pots is empty. Afterwards, the remaining teams from the non-empty pot are 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 are 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 is 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 is not known at the time of the draws, the seeding is carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient is to advance, it simply take 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 round11 June 201927 June 20194 July 2019First qualifying round18 June 201911 July 201918 July 2019Second qualifying round19 June 201925 July 20191 August 2019Third qualifying round22 July 20198 August 201915 August 2019Play-off round5 August 201922 August 201929 August 2019
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 11 June 2019.
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 was moved to the next tie.
SeededUnseeded
Summary
Matches
First qualifying round
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2019.
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 groups of ten teams, where five teams were seeded and five teams were unseeded; and two groups of twelve teams, where six teams were seeded and six teams were unseeded. Numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA, with the draw held in two runs, one for Groups 1–7 with ten teams and one for Groups 8–9 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 was held on 19 June 2019.
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.
Champions PathBye to third qualifying round(decided by draw)Group 1Group 2Group 3SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded Sarajevo Tre Penne Lincoln Red Imps FC Santa Coloma