2025–26 UEFA Europa League qualifying was the preliminary phase of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League, prior to the competition proper. Qualification consisted of the qualifying phase (first to third rounds) and the play-off round. It began on 10 July and ended on 28 August 2025.
A total of 53 teams competed in the qualifying system, which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round. The 12 winners of the play-off round advanced to the league phase, to join the 13 teams that entered in the league stage, along with the seven losers of the Champions League play-off round (five from the Champions Path and two from the League Path), and the four losers of the Champions League third qualifying round (League Path).
Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Format The qualifying phase was split into two paths – the Champions Path and the Main Path. The Champions Path contained teams which were eliminated from the Champions League Champions Path, and the Main Path contained teams which qualified as the third-placed or the fourth-placed team from their domestic league or as domestic cup winners. The paths were merged in the play-off round.
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 at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time was played, and if the same number of goals were scored by both teams during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out.
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 may not have been 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 advanced to the subsequent round. In practice, this meant if the team with the lower coefficient advanced in the Europa League or the team with the higher coefficient was eliminated from the Champions League, it simply took the seeding of its opponent.
Prior to the draws, UEFA formed "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, purely for the convenience of the draw and not to resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA could not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie could be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were scheduled for Thursdays, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts.
+Schedule for 2025–26 UEFA Europa LeagueRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legFirst qualifying round17 June 202510 July 202517 July 2025Second qualifying round18 June 202524 July 202531 July 2025Third qualifying round21 July 20257 August 202514 August 2025Play-off round4 August 202521 August 202528 August 2025
Teams In the qualifying stage, the teams were divided into two paths: Champions Path (12 teams): Third qualifying round: 12 losers of the Champions League Champions Path second qualifying round. Main Path: First qualifying round (16 teams): 16 teams which entered in this round. Second qualifying round (16 teams): 8 teams which entered in this round, and 8 winners of the first qualifying round. Third qualifying round (14 teams): 3 teams which entered in this round, 3 losers of the Champions League League Path second qualifying round, and 8 winners of the second qualifying round.
The winners of the third qualifying round were combined into a single path for the play-off round: Play-off round (24 teams): 5 teams which entered this round, 6 losers of the Champions League Champions Path third qualifying round, 6 winners of the Champions Path third qualifying round, and 7 winners of the Main Path third qualifying round.
All teams eliminated from the qualifying phase and play-off round entered the Conference League: The 8 losers of the Main Path first qualifying round entered the Main Path second qualifying round. The 8 losers of the Main Path second qualifying round entered the Main Path third qualifying round. The 6 losers of the Champions Path third qualifying round entered the Champions Path play-off round. The 7 losers of the Main Path third qualifying round entered the Main Path play-off round. The 12 losers of the play-off round entered the league phase.
Below were the participating teams (with their 2025 UEFA club coefficients, not used as seeding for the Champions Path, however), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to coloursWinners of play-off round advanced to league phaseLosers of play-off round entered Conference League league phaseLosers of third qualifying round entered Conference League play-off roundLosers of second qualifying round entered Conference League third qualifying roundLosers of first qualifying round entered Conference League second qualifying round
+Play-off roundTeam Young Boys34.500 Slovan Bratislava 33.500 Ludogorets Razgrad24.000 Dynamo Kyiv 23.500 Lech Poznań 19.000 Malmö FF 14.500 Genk11.370 Aberdeen9.500 Sigma Olomouc8.820 Samsunspor8.780 Shkëndija 7.500+Team Maccabi Tel Aviv 37.500 FCSB 22.500 Rijeka 12.000 RFS 11.000 Zrinjski Mostar 10.000 Lincoln Red Imps 10.000 KuPS 10.000 Drita 9.000 Breiðablik 9.000 Hamrun Spartans 6.000 Noah 5.000 Shelbourne 2.993 +Third qualifying round (Main Path)Team PAOK42.250 Panathinaikos 16.000 Servette 11.500 Wolfsberger AC9.500 Brann 7.937 Fredrikstad7.937+Second qualifying roundTeam Braga46.000 Midtjylland32.750 Anderlecht28.250 Lugano19.250 Beşiktaş15.000 Utrecht13.430 Baník Ostrava8.820 Hibernian7.110+First qualifying roundTeam Shakhtar Donetsk52.000 Legia Warsaw31.000 Partizan22.000 Sheriff Tiraspol20.000 CFR Cluj19.000 Hapoel Be'er Sheva16.500 Celje14.000 Spartak Trnava8.500 AEK Larnaca7.500 BK Häcken7.000 Paks4.800 Levski Sofia4.500 Sabah4.000 Ilves3.000 Aktobe3.000 Prishtina2.500 Notes
First qualifying round The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 17 June 2025.
Seeding A total of 16 teams played in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA allocated the teams into two groups of four seeded teams and four unseeded teams in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
Group 1Group 2SeededUnseededSeededUnseeded
Summary
The first legs were played on 10 July, and the second legs were played on 17 July 2025.
The winners of the ties advanced to the second qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path second qualifying round.
Matches
Shakhtar Donetsk won 6–0 on aggregate.
Sheriff Tiraspol won 5–2 on aggregate.
BK Häcken won 3–2 on aggregate.
Celje won 6–5 on aggregate.
Legia Warsaw won 2–0 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Levski Sofia won 3–1 on penalties.
2–2 on aggregate; AEK Larnaca won 6–5 on penalties.
CFR Cluj won 3–0 on aggregate.
Second qualifying round The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 18 June 2025.
Seeding A total of 16 teams played in the second qualifying round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA allocated the teams into two groups of four seeded teams and four unseeded teams in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
Group 1Group 2SeededUnseededSeededUnseeded Notes
Summary
The first legs were played on 24 July and the second legs were played on 31 July 2025.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Main Path third qualifying round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path third qualifying round.
Matches
CFR Cluj won 1–0 on aggregate.
AEK Larnaca won 3–2 on aggregate.
Braga won 1–0 on aggregate.
Legia Warsaw won 4–3 on aggregate.
2–2 on aggregate; BK Häcken won 4–2 on penalties.
Utrecht won 7–2 on aggregate.
Midtjylland won 3–2 on aggregate.
Shakhtar Donetsk won 6–2 on aggregate.
Third qualifying round The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 21 July 2025.
Seeding A total of 26 teams played in the third qualifying round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
+Champions PathGroup 1Group 2SeededUnseededSeededUnseeded
+Main PathGroup 1Group 2SeededUnseededSeededUnseeded
Notes
Summary
The first legs were played on 5, 6 and 7 August, and the second legs were played on 12 and 14 August 2025.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Conference League play-off round.
Champions Path matches
1–1 on aggregate; Lincoln Red Imps won 6–5 on penalties.
Rijeka won 4–3 on aggregate.
KuPS won 3–1 on aggregate.
Maccabi Tel Aviv won 5–2 on aggregate.
Zrinjski Mostar won 3–2 on aggregate.
FCSB won 6–3 on aggregate.
Main Path matches
AEK Larnaca won 5–3 on aggregate.
Midtjylland won 5–1 on aggregate.
Braga won 4–1 on aggregate.
PAOK won 1–0 on aggregate.
Utrecht won 5–2 on aggregate.
Brann won 2–1 on aggregate.
0–0 on aggregate; Panathinaikos won 4–3 on penalties.
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round was held on 4 August 2025.
Seeding A total of 24 teams played in the play-off round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
Group 1Group 2Group 3SeededUnseededSeededUnseededSeededUnseeded
Notes
Summary
The first legs were played on 21 August, and the second legs were played on 27 and 28 August 2025.
The winners of the ties advanced to the league phase. The losers were transferred to the Conference League league phase.
Matches
Maccabi Tel Aviv won 3–2 on aggregate.
Ludogorets Razgrad won 5–3 on aggregate.
Young Boys won 4–2 on aggregate.
Malmö FF won 5–0 on aggregate.
Panathinaikos won 2–1 on aggregate.
FCSB won 5–2 on aggregate.
Genk won 6–3 on aggregate.
Midtjylland won 6–0 on aggregate.
Braga won 9–1 on aggregate.
Utrecht won 2–0 on aggregate.
Brann won 6–1 on aggregate.
PAOK won 5–1 on aggregate.
Notes
References
External links