The 2026–27 UEFA Europa League is the 56th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
As the reigning champions, Aston Villa automatically qualified for the Champions League league phase, and are unable to defend their title as the new format does not allow clubs to transfer from the Champions League into the Europa League from the league phase onwards.
Association team allocation A total of 76 teams from 41 of the 55 UEFA member associations are participating in the 2026–27 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA association coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: The title holders of the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League received an entry into the Europa League (if they did not qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via league position). Associations 1–12 each have two teams. Associations 13–33 (except Russia) each have one team. Teams eliminated from the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round (except from the first qualifying round) were transferred to the Europa League.
Association ranking For the 2026–27 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2025 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below: – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Conference League
+Association ranking for 2026–27 UEFA Europa LeagueRankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1115.1962297.2313 94.453486.331573.093667.150762.266856.850944.1001043.9001139.6871239.3121336.45011435.5501535.0001633.9811733.6251831.6251927.537RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes2027.12512127.0252225.5002324.4002424.0002523.2502622.63202721.25012820.3432919.8753019.6253114.9683214.5003313.5203413.03103512.2503612.2503712.0413811.750RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes3911.12504010.750418.500428.333438.250448.000457.957467.875477.208486.875496.791506.625516.166526.000535.498545.457552.498
Distribution Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueFirst qualifying round (12 teams) 12 domestic cup winners from associations 21–33 (except Russia)Second qualifying round (18 teams) 5 domestic cup winner from associations 16–20 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6 6 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying round (26 teams)Champions Path (12 teams) 12 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path)Main Path (14 teams) 3 domestic cup winners from associations 13–15 9 winners from second qualifying round 2 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (League Path)Play-off round(24 teams) 5 domestic cup winners from associations 8–12 13 winners from third qualifying round 6 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path)League phase (36 teams) UEFA Conference League title holders 7 domestic cup winners from associations 1–7 5 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–5 12 winners from play-off round 5 losers from Champions League play-off round (Champions Path) 4 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (League Path) 2 losers from Champions League play-off round (League Path)Knockout phase play-offs(16 teams) 16 teams ranked 9–24 from the league phaseRound of 16(16 teams) 8 teams ranked 1–8 from the league phase 8 winners from the knockout phase play-offs
The information here reflects the ongoing suspension of Russia in European football, and so the following changes to the default access list were made: The cup winners of association 16 (Denmark) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
As the Europa League title holders (Aston Villa) qualified for the Champions League via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the following changes to the default access list were made:
The cup winners of associations 17 to 20 (Switzerland, Israel, Cyprus, Sweden) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round.
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: CON: Conference League title holders CW: Cup winners 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season CL: Transferred from the Champions League CH/LP PO: Losers from the play-off round (Champions/League Path) CH/LP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/League Path) CH/LP Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
The third qualifying round was divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).
+Qualified teams for 2026–27 UEFA Europa LeagueEntry roundTeamsLeague phase Crystal Palace Bournemouth Sunderland Milan Juventus Real Sociedad Celta Vigo TSG Hoffenheim Bayer Leverkusen Marseille Rennes AZ Torreense Celtic Hapoel Be'er Sheva Dinamo Zagreb Celje Levski Sofia Lyon NEC Union Saint-Gilloise Sparta Prague Olympiacos Sturm Graz Play-off round Sint-Truiden Viktoria Plzeň Trabzonspor Lillestrøm OFI AGF Mjällby AIF Red Star Belgrade Ararat-Armenia Kairat Kauno Žalgiris Third qualifying round Lech Poznań Thun Omonia Universitatea Craiova Shamrock Rovers Víkingur Reykjavík KuPS KÍ Larne Egnatia Iberia 1999 Lincoln Red Imps Red Bull Salzburg Rangers Jagiellonia Białystok Heart of Midlothian Górnik Zabrze Second qualifying round Twente Benfica Anderlecht Hradec Králové Beşiktaş Tromsø PAOK Midtjylland St. Gallen Maccabi Tel Aviv Pafos Hammarby IF First qualifying round Hajduk Split Vojvodina Dynamo Kyiv Ferencváros Universitatea Cluj Žilina Aluminij CSKA Sofia Qarabağ Derry City Sheriff Tiraspol Vestri
Two teams not playing in a national top division are taking part in the competition: Torreense (2nd tier), Vestri (2nd tier).
Notes
Schedule The schedule of the competition is as follows. Matches are scheduled for Thursdays, apart from the final, which takes place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally can take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.
+Schedule for 2026–27 UEFA Europa LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legQualifyingFirst qualifying round16 June 20269 July 202616 July 2026Second qualifying round17 June 202623 July 202630 July 2026Third qualifying round20 July 20266 August 202613 August 2026Play-offsPlay-off round3 August 202620 August 202627 August 2026League phaseMatchday 128 August 202616–17 September 2026Matchday 215 October 2026Matchday 322 October 2026Matchday 45 November 2026Matchday 526 November 2026Matchday 610 December 2026Matchday 721 January 2027Matchday 828 January 2027Knockout phaseKnockout round play-offs29 January 202718 February 202725 February 2027Round of 1626 February 202711 March 202718 March 2027Quarter-finalsrowspan="3" 8 April 202715 April 2027Semi-finals29 April 20276 May 2027Final26 May 2027 at Waldstadion, Frankfurt
Qualifying rounds
First qualifying round
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round
League phase
Ararat-Armenia, Bournemouth, Celje, Crystal Palace, Jagiellonia Białystok, Lillestrøm, NEC, OFI, Sunderland and Torreense are making their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage (although NEC had previously appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage).
Ararat-Armenia, Bournemouth, Lillestrøm, OFI, Sunderland and Torreense are making their debut appearances in a major UEFA competition group or league phase, with Bournemouth and Torreense qualifying for European football for the first time in their history.
Ararat-Armenia became the first team from Armenia to play in the Europa League group stage or league phase.
A total of 22 national associations are being represented in the league phase.
Table
Results
Statistics Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.
Table correct as of 17 September 2026
Top goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoalsMinutes played1 Tobias Guddal Sparta Prague2902Seventeen players1
See also 2026–27 UEFA Champions League 2026–27 UEFA Conference League 2026–27 UEFA Women's Champions League 2026–27 UEFA Women's Europa Cup
References
External links