UEFA Europa Conference League

UEFA Europa Conference League

The UECL (UEFA EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE) is the annual football club competition which is organized by the Union of European Football Association for eligible football clubs. National leagues and cub competition decides the qualification of the clubs. After the Champions League and Europa League, UECL is the third tier of active European club football completion. UECL is also said to be the bottom tier of the Europa League which is now reduced from 48 to 32 teams in a group stage. There are mainly teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations competing in the competition. The Europa League play-offs eliminated 10 teams and the Europa Conference League qualifiers kept the remaining teams in the Europa League group stage. Europa League positions are awarded to the winners following the competition. In short, 184 teams participate further dividing them into 32 groups. UECL is organized in the European section. UEFA Champions League is a first-tier tournament, UEFA Europa League is the second tier whereas this UECL is the third-tier tournament.

HISTORY

Image source- in.pinterest.com

UECL was found on21 May'2021. UEFA was considering adding a third-tier competition in 2015. Clubs from lower-ranked UEFA member countries should have an opportunity to advance beyond their customary elimination from the Champions League and Europa League through a bottom-level tournament. UEFA announced it as a three-year competition cycle (2021-24), adding to it, UEFA said introducing a new tournament will bring more matches to the clubs and associations. The official name of the tournament "UEFA Europa Conference League" was announced on 24 September '2019. On 24 May'2021, the official brand identity and trophies were introduced. In a 2021–22 qualifying round match against Spartak Trnava, Mosta's Evo Christ scored the first ever Europa Conference League goal on 6 July 2021. During Tottenham Hotspur's group stage match against Mura on 30 September 2021, Harry Kane scored the competition's first-ever hat-trick. Roma has been crowned as the inaugural champions.

Image source- in.pinterest.com

What's the Format and Qualification?

Image source- in.pinterest.com

Like the UEFA Champions League, the Europa Conference League's qualification process consists of three rounds plus a play-off round and separates champions and non-champions. It should be noted, however, that the Champions Path is available to teams that have either been relegated directly into the Europa Conference League or via a second relegation from the Europa League after two straight eliminations from the Champions League group stage and lost their qualification for the Champions League group stage.

· Nations ranked 1 to 5 have one team;

· Nations ranked 6 to 15 have two teams;

· Nations ranked 16 to 50 have three teams;

· Nations ranked 51 to 55 have two teams;

In essence, the tournament is a subset of the Europa League but separated into two separate events.

The preliminary round is played between the teams second in their groups and the third-ranked teams of the UEFA Europa League Groups before the round of 16 teams. The format is scheduled as eight groups of 4 teams followed by the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final match. 141 matches are played over 15 match weeks in which 56 teams participate as per the new competition feature. A neutral venue is selected for the Final match. The winner of the UECL qualifies for the UEFA Europa League in the following year. All the competition matches are played on Thursdays. Qualifications for the tournament are based on the UEFA's assumption that each association will submit its' highest ranked qualified domestic cup winner and the remaining will be defined by their position in the previous year in the league tournament.

ROUNDS AND PLAYOFFS

First qualifying

invites 72 teams in which entries are 26 domestic cup winners from associations 30–55, 25 domestic league runners-up from associations 30–55, and 21 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 29–50.

The second qualifying round is divided into two – Champions (20 teams) and Non-Champions(90 teams). Champions are transferred from the Champions League and Non- Champions enter as follows - 14 domestic cup winners from associations 16–29, 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29, 16 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–28, 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15, 1 domestic league fifth-place team from association and 36 teams winners from the first qualifying round.

The third Qualifying round consists of champions(10 winners from the second qualifying round) and non-champions(52 teams) from 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12, 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6, and 45 winners from the second qualifying round for non-champions.

Play-offs are further divided into Champions (5 winners from the third qualifying round for champions and 5 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for champions) and Non-Champions(34 teams) -1 domestic league fifth-place team from association 5, 4 domestic league sixth-place teams from associations 1–4 (EFL Cup winners for England) and 26 winners from the third qualifying round of non-champions and 3 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for non-champions.

Thereafter it starts with the group stage(32 teams) followed by quarter-finals(16 team) , semi-finals(4 teams), and the final.

Prize

· First qualifying round elimination: €150,000

· Second qualifying round elimination: €350,000

· Third qualifying round elimination: €550,000

· Play-off round elimination: €750,000

· Qualified to Group Stage: €2,940,000

· Match won in Group Stage: €500,000

· Match drew in Group Stage: €166,000

· 1st in Group Stage: €650,000

· 2nd in Group Stage: €325,000

· Knockout round play-offs: €300,000