UEFA Europa League: Everything you need to know about the UEFA Europa League Playoff Draws, Date, teams qualified, Live Streaming and much more- The Europa League may be Europe’s secondary club competition behind the lucrative UEFA Champions League, but the entertainment value and drama has been significantly improved after the changes made to the 2021-22 tournament to make it more exciting and competitive. Follow InsdeSport.IN for more updates
These major changes are:
- For the first time in the competition’s history, the group stages were reduced from 48 teams to 32.
- The eight Champions League third-place teams that in the past just walked into the Europa League’s knockouts as a consolation prize, will now be entering only after winning a playoff match.
- UEFA had terminated the Round of 32 that allotted slots for those Champions League underachievers to drop in.
The Europa League knockouts will now start with the Round of 16, and half of the participants will come via the playoffs.
That playoff draw is coming up on Monday, Dec. 13 (On the same day on which the Champions League round of 16 draws will be made).
A look at how it works and which teams are involved:
The eight underachieving Champions League teams will be drawn against the eight Europa League group runners-up in playoff series that will be played over two legs on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24. The team with the most goals in each series will officially clinch a berth into the Round of 16
Pot 1: Europa League Group Runners-up Pot 2: Champions League 3rd place
Rangers (Group A) RB Leipzig (Group A)
Real Sociedad (Group B) Porto (Group B)
Napoli (Group C) Borussia Dortmund (Group C)
Olympiakos (Group D) FC Sheriff Tiraspol (Group D)
Lazio (Group E) Barcelona (Group E)
Sporting Braga (Group F) Atalanta (Group F)
Real Betis (Group G) Sevilla (Group G)
Dinamo Zagreb (Group H) FC Zenit (Group H)
Only eight teams from the 16 above will advance from the playoffs to the Round of 16, where they will meet the Europa League group winners. Here are those eight group winners which are set to kick back and watch the playoffs unfold in anticipation of their opponents:
Europa League Group Winners
Group A Olympique Lyon
Group B AS Monaco
Group C Spartak Moscow
Group D Eintracht Frankfurt
Group E Galatasaray
Group F Red Star Belgrade
Group G Bayer Leverkusen
Group H West Ham United
When is the Europa League playoff draw?
The Europa League knockout playoff draw will be held on Dec. 13 at 10:30 a.m. from the UEFA headquarters in Switzerland. It will be streamed officially on the UEFA website and App.
UEFA Europa League: Everything you need to know about the UEFA Europa League Playoff Draws, Date, teams qualified, Live Streaming and much more-
The eight Europa League group runners-up (Pot 1 above) will be seeded for purposes of the draw. They will make up one pot, while the other pot will contain the third-place group finishers from the UEFA Champions League.
✅ Knockout round play-off teams confirmed! #UEL pic.twitter.com/NbJEx2GwcO
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) December 9, 2021
The two key details to remember for this playoff draw:
- Teams from the same country cannot be drawn against one another (see table below);
- The Europa League group runners-up will host the second leg of each playoff series. This is perceived to be an advantage because, if an extra-time session or penalty-kick shootout is needed after Leg 2, it would happen on home soil.
Europa League playoff qualifiers by country
Between the eight Europa League group runners-up and the eight Champions League third-place teams, there are a total of 16 teams involved in the knockout round playoffs.
All 16 spots are already accounted for. Here’s the breakdown by country:
Nation Total Clubs Clubs
Spain 4 Real Betis, Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Sociedad
Italy 3 Atalanta, Napoli, Lazio
Germany 2 Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig
Portugal 2 Porto, Sporting Braga
Croatia 1 Dinamo Zagreb
Greece 1 Olympiakos
Moldova 1 FC Sheriff Tiraspol
Russia 1 FC Zenit Saint Petersburg
Scotland 1 Rangers
The two legs of the Europa League knockout round playoffs will be played on Feb. 17 and Feb. 24.
The eight teams left standing after the playoffs will participate in the Europa League Round of 16 draw on Feb. 25. The quarterfinal draw on March 18 will determine the rest of the bracket through to the final in Sevilla on May 18.
Europa League Round of 16 schedule
We’ll learn the Round of 16 matchups at the Feb. 25 draw, taking place the day after the conclusion of the knockout playoffs. And after a three-month wait, the eight Europa League group winners will finally return to action, taking on the eight knockout round playoff survivors.
The 2021-2022 edition of the UEFA Europa League features a tweaked knockout-round format.
As usual, the tournament started out with a group stage (eight groups of four teams each), and only the top two finishers in each group advance: Group winners advance directly to the Round of 16 and runners-up head to knockout-round playoffs against Champions League third-place teams for the right to play in the Round of 16. Gone is the Round of 32 of past years.
Two-leg, aggregate-goal knockout rounds are played the entire way through to the single game final that will be held in Sevilla, Spain, on May 18, 2022.
Group stage: Sept. 16, Sept. 30, Oct. 21, Nov. 4, Nov. 25, Dec. 9
Knockout playoffs: Feb. 17 (Leg 1) & Feb. 24 (Leg 2)
Round of 16: March 10 (Leg 1) & March 17 (Leg 2)
Quarterfinals: April 7 (Leg 1) & April 14 (Leg 2)
Semifinals: April 28 (Leg 1), May 5 (Leg 2)
Final: May 18, 2022 (Sevilla, Spain)
No away goals tiebreaker in Europa League
Here’s that twist: For the first time since 1965, there will be no away goals tiebreaker used in any of the knockout rounds of UEFA competitions, including the Europa League, after it was abolished in June 2021.
Series that are tied on aggregate goals after the conclusion of the second leg will go straight to extra time and, if necessary, a penalty-kick shootout.
How to watch the UEFA Europa League
The 2021-22 UEFA Europa League can be watched on the Sony Sports Network and JioTV.
UEFA Europa League: Everything you need to know about the UEFA Europa League Playoff Draws, Date, teams qualified, Live Streaming and much more-
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