This was the second season played under a new format, which replaced the 32-team group stage with a 36-team league phase. The 2025–26 UEFA Europa League was the 55th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 17th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. When you find “Language ready” under your new language, the download is complete.

The first legs were played on 19 February, and the second legs were played on 26 February 2026. The winner of semi-final 1 was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes, as it was played at a neutral venue). The bracket structure for the knockout phase was partially fixed in advance using seeding, with teams' positions in the bracket determined by the final standings in the league phase. In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th were eliminated from European competition. 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.

The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path third qualifying round. The first legs were played on 24 July and the second legs were played on 31 July 2025. The losers were transferred to the Conference League Main Path second qualifying round. The first legs were played on 10 July, and the second legs were played on 17 July 2025. Matches were scheduled for Thursdays, apart from the final, which took place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally could take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts. Among them, 32 associations had teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 23 associations that did not have any teams directly qualifying, 9 of them had teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League.

• For the 2026–27 UEFA Europa League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2025 UEFA association coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2020–21 to 2024–25.
• For the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2024 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2019–20 to 2023–24.
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• A total of 23 national associations were represented in the league phase.
• When the 36 teams were manually drawn one at a time, the draw was entirely computer generated with all 36 teams' opponents and home/away locations drawn at once, but revealed pot by pot.

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The first legs were played on 23 July, and the second legs were played on 30 July 2026. The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 17 June 2026. The first legs were played on 9 July, and the second legs were played on 16 July 2026. The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 16 June 2026. Matches are scheduled for Thursdays, apart from the final, which takes place on a Wednesday, though exceptionally can take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays due to scheduling conflicts. A total of 76 teams from at least 40 UEFA member associations are expected to participate in the 2026–27 UEFA Europa League.

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The first legs were played on 21 August, and the second legs were played on 27 and 28 August 2025. The losers were transferred to the Conference League play-off round. The first legs were played on 5, 6 and 7 August, and the second legs were played on 12 and 14 August 2025.

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A total of 23 national associations were represented in the league phase. Go Ahead Eagles and Nottingham Forest made their debut appearances in a major UEFA competition group or league phase. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association. When the 36 teams were manually drawn one at a time, the draw was entirely computer generated with all 36 teams' opponents and home/away locations drawn at once, but revealed pot by pot. The 36 teams were divided into four pots of nine teams each, based on their UEFA club coefficient. The league phase draw for the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League took place on 29 August 2025.