The2025–26 UEFA Europa League league phase began on 24 September 2025 and will end on 29 January 2026. A total of 36 teams are competing in the league phase to decide the 24 places in theknockout phase of the2025–26 UEFA Europa League.
Aston Villa,Bologna,Brann,Go Ahead Eagles andNottingham Forest made their debut appearances since the introduction of the group stage (although Aston Villa and Brann had previously appeared in theUEFA 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 are represented in the league phase.
Each team will play eight matches, four at home and four away, against eight different opponents, with all 36 teams ranked in a single league table (known as theSwiss system). Teams were separated into four pots based on their2025 UEFA club coefficients, and each team will play two teams from each of the four pots – one at home and one away. The top eight teams in the standings will receive abye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th are eliminated from European competition.
Teams will be ranked according topoints (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points upon completion of the league phase, the following tiebreaking criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine their rankings:[1]
While the league phase is in progress, teams are ranked according to criteria 1–5 only, and if still tied, are given equal ranking and sorted alphabetically. Criteria 6–10 are only used after the final matches have taken 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);
The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each, with teams allocated to pots based on their 2025UEFA club coefficients.[2][3] The participants include:
The draw for the league phase pairings was held at theGrimaldi Forum inMonaco on 29 August 2025, 13:00CEST, along with the draw for theConference League league phase.[4] The automated draw software instantly conducted the full digital draw at random, determining the home and away matches for all clubs. Each team will face two opponents from each of the four pots, one of which they will face 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.[5][6]
The fixture list was announced on 30 August 2025, the day after the draw.[9][10][11] This was to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in theChampions League andConference League playing in the same cities.
In principle, each team will not play more than two home matches or two away matches in a row, and will play one home match and one away match across both the first and last two matchdays. The matches will be played on 24–25 September (exclusive week),[note 1] 2 October, 23 October, 6 November, 27 November, 11 December 2025, 22 January and 29 January 2026. All matches will be played on Thursdays, except for the competition's exclusive week, which also includes 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 will be played simultaneously at 21:00.[12][1]
Times areCET orCEST,[note 2] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
^As part of the scheduling for the 2025–26 UEFA men's club season, each competition has an "exclusive week" in the calendar, with no other competitions scheduled during this week. For the Europa League, this took place on matchday 1 (24–25 September 2025).
^CEST (UTC+2) for dates up to 25 October 2025 (matchdays 1–3), andCET (UTC+1) for dates thereafter (matchdays 4–8).
^abcdReal Betis will play their home matches at La Cartuja, Seville, instead of their regular stadium,Benito Villamarín, Seville, due to renovation works.[25]
^abcdDue to theGaza war, Israeli teams are required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.[76] Therefore, Maccabi Tel Aviv will play their home matches at TSC Arena, Bačka Topola, Serbia, instead of their regular stadium,Bloomfield Stadium,Tel Aviv.
^The Feyenoord v Slovan Panathinaikos match was originally scheduled for 18:45. The day prior to the match, the kick-off was initially moved forward to 16:30 due to adverse weather conditions.[103] However, on the day of the match, the kick-off time was pushed back to 21:00 due to a change in the weather forecast.[104]
Note: Between the 1999–2000 and 2008–09 seasons, the competition was still known as the UEFA Cup. All seasons are included following the competition's absorption of the Cup Winners' Cup.
Midtjylland
Aston Villa
SC Freiburg
Ferencváros
Porto
Celta Vigo
Lille
Viktoria Plzeň
Roma
PAOK
Brann
Fenerbahçe
Genk
Celtic
Dinamo Zagreb
Basel
Go Ahead Eagles
Ludogorets Razgrad
Red Star Belgrade
Sturm Graz
FCSB
Malmö FF
Maccabi Tel Aviv