The 2025–26 UEFA Europa League league phase began on 24 September 2025 and ended on 29 January 2026. A total of 36 teams competed in the league phase to decide the 24 places in the knockout phase of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League.

Aston Villa, Bologna, Brann, Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest made their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage (although Aston Villa and Brann had previously appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage). Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest made their debut appearances in a major UEFA competition group or league phase.

A total of 23 national associations were represented in the league phase.

Format Each team played eight matches, four at home and four away, against eight different opponents, with all 36 teams ranked in a single league table (known as the Swiss system). Teams were separated into four pots based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients, and each team played two teams from each of the four pots – one at home and one away. The top eight teams in the standings received a bye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th contested the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th were eliminated from European competition.

Tiebreakers Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points upon completion of the league phase, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine their rankings:

While the league phase was in progress, teams were ranked according to criteria 1–5 only, and if still tied, were given equal ranking and sorted alphabetically. Criteria 6–10 were only used after the final matches took place.

Goal difference; Goals scored; Away goals scored; Wins; Away wins; Higher number of points obtained collectively by league phase opponents; Superior collective goal difference of league phase opponents; Higher number of goals scored collectively by league phase opponents; Lower disciplinary points total (direct red card or expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point); UEFA club coefficient.

Teams and seeding The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each, with teams allocated to pots based on their 2025 UEFA club coefficients. The participants included: 13 teams which entered at this stage 12 winners of the play-off round 7 losers of the Champions League play-off round (5 from the Champions Path, 2 from the League Path) 4 losers of the Champions League third qualifying round (League Path)

Key to coloursTeams ranked 1 to 8 advanced to the round of 16 as a seeded teamTeams ranked 9 to 16 advanced to the knockout phase play-offs as a seeded teamTeams ranked 17 to 24 advanced to the knockout phase play-offs as an unseeded team

+Pot 1TeamNotes Roma 104.500 Porto 79.750 Rangers 71.250 Feyenoord 71.000 Lille 66.000 Dinamo Zagreb 56.000 Real Betis 52.250 Red Bull Salzburg 48.000 Aston Villa 47.250+Pot 2TeamNotes Fenerbahçe 47.250 Braga 46.000 Red Star Belgrade 44.000 Lyon 43.750 PAOK 42.250 Viktoria Plzeň 39.250 Ferencváros 39.000 Celtic 38.000 Maccabi Tel Aviv 37.500+Pot 3TeamNotes Young Boys 34.500 Basel 33.000 Midtjylland 32.750 SC Freiburg 28.000 Ludogorets Razgrad 24.000 Nottingham Forest 23.039 Sturm Graz 23.000 FCSB 22.500 Nice 20.000+Pot 4TeamNotes Bologna 19.446 Celta Vigo 18.890 VfB Stuttgart 17.266 Panathinaikos 16.000 Malmö FF 14.500 Go Ahead Eagles 13.430 Utrecht 13.430 Genk 11.370 Brann 7.937

Notes

Draw The draw for the league phase pairings was held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 29 August 2025, 13:00 CEST, along with the draw for the Conference League league phase. The automated draw software instantly conducted the full digital draw at random, determining the home and away matches for all clubs. Each team faced two opponents from each of the four pots, one of which they faced at home and one away. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association. The draw results were then be revealed pot-by-pot, starting with Pot 1, with the intention of "maintaining suspense and clarity for viewers". This was a change of format from the previous season, where teams were individually drawn before their opponents were digitally determined.

+ League phase opponents by club Club Pot 1 opponents Pot 2 opponents Pot 3 opponents Pot 4 opponents Home Away Home Away Home Away Home Away Roma Lille Rangers Viktoria Plzeň Celtic Midtjylland Nice VfB Stuttgart Panathinaikos Porto Rangers Red Bull Salzburg Red Star Belgrade Viktoria Plzeň Nice Nottingham Forest Malmö FF Utrecht Rangers Roma Porto Braga Ferencváros Ludogorets Razgrad Sturm Graz Genk Brann Feyenoord Aston Villa Real Betis Celtic Braga Sturm Graz FCSB Panathinaikos VfB Stuttgart Lille Dinamo Zagreb Roma PAOK Red Star Belgrade SC Freiburg Young Boys Brann Celta Vigo Dinamo Zagreb Real Betis Lille Fenerbahçe Maccabi Tel Aviv FCSB Midtjylland Celta Vigo Malmö FF Real Betis Feyenoord Dinamo Zagreb Lyon PAOK Nottingham Forest Ludogorets Razgrad Utrecht Genk Red Bull Salzburg Porto Aston Villa Ferencváros Lyon Basel SC Freiburg Go Ahead Eagles Bologna Aston Villa Red Bull Salzburg Feyenoord Maccabi Tel Aviv Fenerbahçe Young Boys Basel Bologna Go Ahead Eagles Fenerbahçe Aston Villa Dinamo Zagreb Ferencváros Viktoria Plzeň Nice FCSB VfB Stuttgart Brann Braga Feyenoord Rangers Red Star Belgrade Celtic Nottingham Forest Nice Genk Go Ahead Eagles Red Star Belgrade Lille Porto Celtic Braga FCSB Sturm Graz Celta Vigo Malmö FF Lyon Red Bull Salzburg Real Betis PAOK Maccabi Tel Aviv Basel Young Boys Go Ahead Eagles Utrecht PAOK Real Betis Lille Maccabi Tel Aviv Lyon Young Boys Ludogorets Razgrad Brann Celta Vigo Viktoria Plzeň Porto Roma Fenerbahçe Ferencváros SC Freiburg Basel Malmö FF Panathinaikos Ferencváros Rangers Red Bull Salzburg Viktoria Plzeň Fenerbahçe Ludogorets Razgrad Nottingham Forest Panathinaikos Genk Celtic Roma Feyenoord Braga Red Star Belgrade Sturm Graz Midtjylland Utrecht Bologna Maccabi Tel Aviv Dinamo Zagreb Aston Villa Lyon PAOK Midtjylland SC Freiburg Bologna VfB Stuttgart Young Boys Lille Aston Villa Lyon PAOK Ludogorets Razgrad FCSB Panathinaikos VfB Stuttgart Basel Aston Villa Red Bull Salzburg Viktoria Plzeň Lyon FCSB SC Freiburg VfB Stuttgart Genk Midtjylland Dinamo Zagreb Roma Celtic Maccabi Tel Aviv Sturm Graz Nottingham Forest Genk Brann SC Freiburg Red Bull Salzburg Lille Maccabi Tel Aviv Viktoria Plzeň Basel Nice Utrecht Bologna Ludogorets Razgrad Real Betis Rangers PAOK Ferencváros Nice Young Boys Celta Vigo Malmö FF Nottingham Forest Porto Real Betis Ferencváros Braga Midtjylland Sturm Graz Malmö FF Utrecht Sturm Graz Rangers Feyenoord Red Star Belgrade Celtic Nottingham Forest Midtjylland Brann Panathinaikos FCSB Feyenoord Dinamo Zagreb Fenerbahçe Red Star Belgrade Young Boys Basel Bologna Go Ahead Eagles Nice Roma Porto Braga Fenerbahçe SC Freiburg Ludogorets Razgrad Go Ahead Eagles Celta Vigo Bologna Red Bull Salzburg Aston Villa Celtic Maccabi Tel Aviv SC Freiburg FCSB Brann Celta Vigo Celta Vigo Lille Dinamo Zagreb PAOK Red Star Belgrade Nice Ludogorets Razgrad Bologna VfB Stuttgart VfB Stuttgart Feyenoord Roma Maccabi Tel Aviv Fenerbahçe Young Boys Basel Celta Vigo Go Ahead Eagles Panathinaikos Roma Feyenoord Viktoria Plzeň Ferencváros Sturm Graz Young Boys Go Ahead Eagles Malmö FF Malmö FF Dinamo Zagreb Porto Red Star Belgrade Viktoria Plzeň Ludogorets Razgrad Nottingham Forest Panathinaikos Genk Go Ahead Eagles Aston Villa Red Bull Salzburg Braga Lyon FCSB Nice VfB Stuttgart Panathinaikos Utrecht Porto Real Betis Lyon Celtic Nottingham Forest SC Freiburg Genk Brann Genk Real Betis Rangers Ferencváros Braga Basel Midtjylland Malmö FF Utrecht Brann Rangers Lille Fenerbahçe PAOK Midtjylland Sturm Graz Utrecht Bologna

League phase table The top eight ranked teams receive a bye directly to the round of 16. Teams ranked from 9th to 24th contest the knockout phase play-offs, with teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw, while those ranked from 17th to 24th are not. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th are eliminated from all competitions.

Results summary

By team

Matches The fixture list was announced on 30 August 2025, the day after the draw. This was to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in the Champions League and Conference League playing in the same cities.

In principle, each team did not play more than two home matches or two away matches in a row, and played one home match and one away match across both the first and last two matchdays. The matches were played on 24–25 September (exclusive week), 2 October, 23 October, 6 November, 27 November, 11 December 2025, 22 January and 29 January 2026. All matches were played on Thursdays, except for the competition's exclusive week, which also included Wednesday fixtures. In principle, the scheduled kick-off times were 16:30, 18:45 and 21:00 CET/CEST. All fixtures on the final matchday were played simultaneously at 21:00.

Times are CET or CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Matchday 1

Matchday 2

Matchday 3

Matchday 4

Matchday 5

Matchday 6

Matchday 7

Matchday 8

Notes

References

External links