The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League knockout phase began on 13 February with the knockout phase play-offs and ended on 21 May 2025 with the final at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain, to decide the champions of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League. A total of 24 teams competed in the knockout phase, with 16 entering in the play-offs and 8 receiving a bye to the round of 16.
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Qualified teams The knockout phase involved the top 24 teams that qualified from the league phase. The top 8 teams received a bye to the round of 16, while teams finishing in positions 9 to 24 entered the knockout phase play-offs. + Entering the round of 16 (seeded) Team 1 Lazio 2 Athletic Bilbao 3 Manchester United 4 Tottenham Hotspur 5 Eintracht Frankfurt 6 Lyon 7 Olympiacos 8 Rangers + Entering the play-offs (seeded) Team 9 Bodø/Glimt 10 Anderlecht 11 FCSB 12 Ajax 13 Real Sociedad 14 Galatasaray 15 Roma 16 Viktoria Plzeň + Entering the play-offs (unseeded) Team 17 Ferencváros 18 Porto 19 AZ 20 Midtjylland 21 Union Saint-Gilloise 22 PAOK 23 Twente 24 Fenerbahçe
Format Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, 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, then 30 minutes of extra time was played (the away goals rule was not applied). If the score was still level at the end of extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time would be played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.
Draw procedure
In the knockout phase, there was no country protection, with teams from the same association able to face each other in any round. Teams could also face opponents they played during the league phase.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows: In the draw for the knockout phase play-offs, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 9–16 were seeded, and the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 17–24 were unseeded. The draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams hosted the second leg. In the draw for the round of 16, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 1–8 were seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout phase play-offs were unseeded. Again, the draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams hosted the second leg. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the exact match pairings were predetermined based on the tournament bracket. A draw was conducted only to determine which team played the first leg at home. The winner of semi-final 1 was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
In the knockout phase, teams from the same or nearby cities were not scheduled to play at home on the same day or on consecutive days, due to logistics and crowd control. To avoid such scheduling conflict, several adjustments were made: For the knockout phase play-offs and the round of 16, if the two teams were drawn to play at home for the same leg, the home match of the team that had the lower league phase ranking was moved from Thursday from a regularly scheduled time to an earlier time slot, to a different day, and/or at an alternative venue without clashing any other competition. For the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the order of legs of the tie involving the team with the lowest priority was reversed from the original draw.
Predetermined pairings The bracket structure for the knockout phase was partially fixed in advance using seeding, with a symmetrical pattern on both sides. Teams' positions in the bracket were determined by their final standings in the league phase, ensuring that higher-ranked teams face lower-ranked opponents in earlier rounds. As a result, certain sets of teams, such as the top two from the league phase, could not meet until the final.
The structure of each side of the bracket can be summarised as follows, with the exact pairings of the play-offs and round of 16 determined by a draw: Knockout phase play-offs Pairing I: 9/10 vs 23/24 Pairing II: 11/12 vs 21/22 Pairing III: 13/14 vs 19/20 Pairing IV: 15/16 vs 17/18 Round of 16 Pairing A: 1/2 vs Winner IV Pairing B: 3/4 vs Winner III Pairing C: 5/6 vs Winner II Pairing D: 7/8 vs Winner I Quarter-finals Pairing 1: Winner A vs Winner D Pairing 2: Winner B vs Winner C Semi-finals: Winner 1 vs Winner 2
Schedule The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
RoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legKnockout phase play-offs31 January 2025, 13:00 CET13 February 202520 February 2025Round of 1621 February 2025, 13:00 CET6 March 202513 March 2025Quarter-finals10 April 202517 April 2025Semi-finals1 May 20258 May 2025Final21 May 2025 at San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
Bracket
Knockout phase play-offs
The draw for the knockout phase play-offs was held on 31 January 2025, 13:00 CET.
Seeding The draw was split into four seeded and four unseeded pots, based on the predetermined pairings for the knockout phase. Teams were allocated based on their final position in the league phase. Teams in positions 9 to 16 were seeded (playing the second legs at home), while teams in positions 17 to 24 were unseeded. The draw began with the unseeded teams, allocating them all to a tie. Once completed, all the seeded teams were drawn into a tie as their opponents.
9/10 vs 23/24 11/12 vs 21/22 Seeded Unseeded Seeded Unseeded 13/14 vs 19/20 15/16 vs 17/18 Seeded Unseeded Seeded Unseeded
Summary
The first legs were played on 13 February, and the second legs were played on 20 February 2025.
Matches
Viktoria Plzeň won 3–1 on aggregate.
Bodø/Glimt won 6–4 on aggregate.
Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.
AZ won 6–3 on aggregate.
Roma won 4–3 on aggregate.
Fenerbahçe won 5–2 on aggregate.
FCSB won 4–1 on aggregate.
Real Sociedad won 7–3 on aggregate.
Round of 16
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 21 February 2025, 13:00 CET.
Seeding As the bracket was fixed, the draw contained only four seeded pots, based on the predetermined pairings for the knockout phase, with the top-eight teams allocated based on their final position in the league phase. Teams in positions 1 to 8 were seeded (playing the second legs at home), while the bracket positions of the winners of the knockout phase play-offs (unseeded) were predetermined. The top-eight teams were drawn into the bracket against one of their two possible opponents.
1/2 vs 15/16/17/18 3/4 vs 13/14/19/20 Seeded Predetermined Seeded Predetermined 5/6 vs 11/12/21/22 7/8 vs 9/10/23/24 Seeded Predetermined Seeded Predetermined
Summary
The first legs were played on 6 March, and the second legs were played on 13 March 2025.
Matches
Lazio won 3–2 on aggregate.
Bodø/Glimt won 4–2 on aggregate.
Eintracht Frankfurt won 6–2 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 3–2 on aggregate.
Athletic Bilbao won 4–3 on aggregate.
3–3 on aggregate; Rangers won 3–2 on penalties.
Lyon won 7–1 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 5–2 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the order of the quarter-final legs was held on 21 February 2025, 13:00 CET, after the round of 16 draw.
Summary
The first legs were played on 10 April, and the second legs were played on 17 April 2025.
Matches
3–3 on aggregate; Bodø/Glimt won 3–2 on penalties.
Tottenham Hotspur won 2–1 on aggregate.
Athletic Bilbao won 2–0 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 7–6 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
The draw for the order of the semi-final legs was held on 21 February 2025, 13:00 CET, after the round of 16 and quarter-final draws.
Summary
The first legs were played on 1 May, and the second legs were played on 8 May 2025.
Matches
Tottenham Hotspur won 5–1 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 7–1 on aggregate.
Final
The final was played on 21 May 2025 at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao. The winner of semi-final 1 was designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
Notes
References
External links