The Format

It’s not exactly easy to break down what happens when it comes to who gets into the UEFA Europa League. It’s usually down to teams who finished just outside of the Champions League qualification spots from domestic leagues.

That will vary depending on the UEFA coefficient of the participating nations, as to how many teams get to qualify for each. There is a huge qualification campaign that goes on before the group stage, involving three rounds and then a playoff round.

Teams enter at different stages, the more successful nations, say like England, will have their entrants come straight in at the playoff round. Also, teams falling out of the UEFA Champions League qualification rounds to drop down to the Europa League qualifiers as well.

The current Europa League format has the main draw starting with twelve groups of eight teams. This was a change that was made to the format in the 2009/10 season to expand the competition. The top two in each group qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.

In the knockout phases of the tournament, it is down to a straight knockout format over two-legs. At the start of the knockout phase, the round of 32, all eight of the third-placed finishers from the UEFA Champions League group stage make their way to the Europa League.

Notable Europa League Performances

Spanish side Sevilla produced an amazing run of three straight Europa League titles between 2014 and 2016. That was such a formidable feat that given how big the tournament is, it is going to be hard for anyone to replicate. Their 2016 title was the fifth time that the club had won the UEFA Cup/Europa League.

The first-ever UEFA Cup was an all-English affair with Tottenham beating Wolves 3-2 on aggregate to become the inaugural champions. Liverpool won it the following season against Borussia Monchengladbach.

The last two-legged final to be played in the competition was in 1997 when Schalke and Inter met. There was a 1-1 draw on aggregate after 210 minutes of play and it was settled in a penalty shoot-out with Schalke claiming the victory.

Five of the first six one-off game finals all produced at least three goals. One of the most entertaining ones was Liverpool’s 5-4 victory over Deportivo Alaves in 2001 while a couple of years later, FC Porto claimed a 3-2 win over Celtic in extra time.

Fulham, thanks to a 7th place finish in the 2008/09 Premier League met Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the 2010 Europa League Final. That was the first final of the newly rebranded tournament. Madrid won the match 2-1 after extra time.

While some of Europe’s biggest clubs have touched upon success in the tournament, such as Juventus, Inter, Real Madrid, Ajax, PSV, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, it’s a tournament that doesn’t come the way of the European elite too often.

That is because to get into the Europa League it generally means that a top club has had a disappointing league campaign the season before, or have had a misfire in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

2019 Europa League Final Review

The 2019 Final was an all-English affair as London rivals Chelsa and Arsenal met. Both teams had started in the group stage after having suffered disappointing Premier League campaigns in the previous season. Chelsea dropped just two points in their group stage campaign. Arsenal did likewise in theirs.

In the first knockout stage, Chelsea eased their way past Swedish side Malmo 5-1 on aggregate. It got even better for the Blues, who had Maurizio Sarri as the head coach. They thumped Dynamo Kyiv 8-0 on aggregate in the following round. They then had a tough battle against a resilient Slavia Prague, Chelsea winning 5-3 on aggregate.

Arsenal’s knockout stage campaign started with a 3-1 aggregate win over BATE Borisov, who had finished second behind Chelsea in the group stage. The Gunners then had a tight squeeze to get past Rennes, doing so with a 4-3 aggregate. That put them through to quarter-final tie against Napoli in which Arsenal performed superbly in to take a 3-0 aggregate.

In the semi-finals, Chelsea were up against German side Eintracht Frankfurt. It was a tense affair all the way, with both legs of the tie ending in a 1-1 draw. Chelsea managed to win through with a penalty shootout success in the second leg at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal were far more comfortable in their semi-final, landing a 7-3 aggregate win over Valencia.

2019 Final

The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan. The London derby final of Chelsea v Arsenal was goalless at half time. Then after the break, it was the Eden Hazard show for Chelsea who struck the opening goal through Olivier Giroud just four minutes after the restart. Eden Hazard set up Pedro for Chelsea’s second and then Hazard himself rolled in a penalty kick to push the Blues out to an unassailable lead.

In those 20 minutes of the second half, the wind was knocked out of Arsenal’s sails, but they did get a goal back in the 69th minute by Alex Iwobi. But just two minutes later Chelsea responded with a fourth goal, a wonderful solo effort from the man of the match Eden Hazard, in what was his final game for the club before moving to Real Madrid.

2020 Europa League Final Preview

The 2020 Europa League Final is set for May 27th in Gdansk, Poland. This will be the 11th final since the rebranding of the tournament to the UEFA Europa League. The winner of the match will gain entry to the following season’s Champions League group stage, as well as playing the winner of the current season’s Champions League in the 2021 UEFA Super Cup.

The Gdansk Stadium that is hosting the final was used at Euro 2012 and there was only one other stadium which had put in a bid to host, which was the Estadio do Dragao in Portugal. The UEFA Executive Committee selected Gdansk in May 2018.

The usual rules will apply with 30 minutes of extra time being played if needed before a penalty shoot-out if needed. A fourth substitute will be allowed by each team in extra time. There will be no title defence happening for holders Chelsea, as they progressed from their group in the UEFA Champions League.