52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA
International football competition
The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League was the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
Sevilla defeated Roma in the final played at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary, 4–1 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time, winning the competition for a record-extending seventh time.[3] Budapest was originally scheduled to host the final match for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League, but several hosts were shifted because of the delay and ultimate relocation of the 2020 final due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
As winners of the tournament, Sevilla automatically qualified for the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League group stage and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League, Manchester City, in the 2023 UEFA Super Cup.
As the title holders, Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. They were unable to defend their title after advancing to the knockout phase, and were eliminated by Napoli in the first knockout round.
Association team allocation
A total of 57 teams from 33 of the 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League. Among them, 15 associations had teams directly qualifying for the Europa League, while for the other 40 associations that did not have any teams directly qualifying, 18 of them had teams playing after being transferred from the Champions League (the only member associations which could not have a participant were Russia and Liechtenstein, which did not organise a domestic league, and could only enter their cup winner into the UEFA Europa Conference League given their association ranking). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[5]
- The title holders of the UEFA Europa Conference League were given an entry in the Europa League (as they did not qualify for the Champions League group stage).
- Associations 1–5 each had two teams qualify.
- Associations 6–7 and 9–15 each had one team qualify.
- 36 teams eliminated from the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League.
Association ranking
For the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2021 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2016–17 to 2020–21.[6]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have had additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:
- (UCL) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
- (UECL) – Additional berth for UEFA Europa Conference League title holders
Distribution
The following is the access list for this season.[7]
Due to the suspension of Russia for the 2022–23 European season, the following changes to the access list were made:
- The cup winners of associations 13 (Turkey) and 14 (Denmark) enter the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round.
- The cup winners of association 16 (Serbia) enter the third qualifying round instead of the Europa Conference League second qualifying round.
Since the Europa Conference League title holders (Roma) qualified through their league position, the following changes to the access list were made:
- The cup winners of association 7 (Netherlands) enter the group stage instead of the play-off round.
- The cup winners of association 15 (Cyprus) enter the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round.
- The cup winners of association 17 (Czech Republic) enter the third qualifying round instead of the Europa Conference League second qualifying round.
Redistribution rules
A Europa League place was vacated when a team qualified for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualified for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place was vacated, it was redistributed within the national association by the following rules:
- When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moved up one "place".
- When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moved up one "place" if possible.
- For associations where a Europa League place was reserved for either the League Cup or end-of-season European competition play-offs winners, they always qualified for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners had already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place was taken by the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
- ECL: Europa Conference League title holders
- CW: Cup winners
- 4th, 5th, etc.: League position of the previous season
- Abd-: League positions of abandoned season as determined by the national association; all teams were subject to approval by UEFA
- UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
- GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
- CH/LP PO: Losers from the play-off round (Champions/League Path)
- CH/LP Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
- CH/LP Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round (Champions/League Path)
The third qualifying round was divided into Champions Path (CH) and Main Path (MP).
CC: 2022 UEFA club coefficients.[8]
Notes
- ^
Russia (RUS): On 28 February 2022, Russian football clubs and national teams were suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions due to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.
[9] On 2 May 2022, UEFA confirmed that Russian clubs would be excluded from the 2022–23 UEFA competitions.
[10] - ^
Ukraine (UKR): The
2021–22 Ukrainian Cup was abandoned due to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. The berth reserved for the cup winners was transferred to the third-placed team of the league at the time of the abandonment,
SC Dnipro-1, who were selected to play in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League by the
Ukrainian Association of Football.
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows. 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. Scheduled kick-off times starting from the group stage were 18:45 and 21:00 CEST/CET, though exceptionally could take place at 16:30 due to geographical reasons.
As the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place in Qatar between 20 November and 18 December 2022, the group stage commenced in the first week of September 2022 and concluded in the first week of November 2022 to make way for the World Cup.
The draws for the qualifying round were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.[11] The group stage draw took place in Istanbul, Turkey.[12]
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 18 July 2022.
The first legs were played on 4 August, and the second legs were played on 9 and 11 August 2022.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League play-off round of their respective path.
Play-off round
The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2022.
The first legs were played on 18 August, and the second legs were played on 25 August 2022.
The winners of the ties advanced to the group stage. The losers were transferred to the Europa Conference League group stage.
Group stage
Location of teams of the
2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage.
Brown: Group A;
Red: Group B;
Orange: Group C;
Yellow: Group D;
Green: Group E;
Blue: Group F;
Purple: Group G;
Pink: Group H.
The draw for the group stage was held on 26 August 2022. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on their 2022 UEFA club coefficients (CC).[15] Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group.
Bodø/Glimt, Nantes, Union Berlin and Union Saint-Gilloise made their debut appearances in the group stage. Union Saint-Gilloise made their debut appearance in a UEFA competition group stage.
A total of 23 national associations were represented in the group stage.
Group A
Source: UEFA
Group B
Source: UEFA
Group C
Source: UEFA
Group D
Source: UEFA
Group E
Source: UEFA
Notes:
- ^ a b Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference is used as the tiebreaker.
Group F
Source: UEFA
Notes:
- ^ a b c d Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference is used as the tiebreaker. Between Feyenoord and Midtjylland, overall goals scored is used as the tiebreaker.
Group G
Source: UEFA
Group H
Source: UEFA
Notes:
- ^ a b Head to head points: Ferencváros 4, Monaco 1.
Knockout 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.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
- In the draw for the knockout round play-offs, the eight group runners-up were seeded, and the eight Champions League group third-placed teams were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
- In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout round play-offs were unseeded. Again, the seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
- In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner would be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
Bracket
Knockout round play-offs
The draw for the knockout round play-offs was held on 7 November 2022, 13:00 CET.[16]The first legs were played on 16 February, and the second legs were played on 23 February 2023.
Round of 16
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 24 February 2023, 12:00 CET.[17]The first legs were played on 9 March, and the second legs were played on 16 March 2023.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2023, 13:00 CET.[18]The first legs were played on 13 April, and the second legs were played on 20 April 2023.
Semi-finals
The draw for the semi-finals was held on 17 March 2023, 13:00 CET, after the quarter-final draw.[18]The first legs were played on 11 May, and the second legs were played on 18 May 2023.
Final
The final was played on 31 May 2023 at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. A draw was held on 17 March 2023, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[18]
Statistics
Statistics exclude qualifying round and play-off round.
Top goalscorers
Team of the season
The UEFA technical study group selected the following players as the team of the tournament.[21]
Player of the Season
Young Player of the Season
See also
References
- ^ a b "Jesús Navas named 2022/23 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Florian Wirtz named 2022/23 UEFA Europa League Young Player of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 4 June 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Steve (31 May 2023). "Sevilla 1–1 Roma (4–1 on pens): Gonzalo Montiel scores winning penalty as La Liga side lift seventh Europa League". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ "Budapest to host 2022 UEFA Europa League Final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2 March 2020. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ "Regulations of the UEFA Europa League, 2022/23 Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 May 2022. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
- ^ "Country coefficients 2020/21". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2020. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Access list 2021–24" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Club coefficients 2021/22". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ "Ukraine crisis: Fifa and Uefa suspend all Russian clubs and national teams". BBC.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 February 2022. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ "Uefa announces further sanctions on Russian clubs and national teams amid Ukraine invasion". BBC.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2 May 2022. Archived from the original on 23 June 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ "2022 European football calendar: Match and draw dates for all UEFA competitions". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 1 January 2022. Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ "Venues appointed for club competition finals". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 16 July 2021. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "International match calendar and access list for 2022/23". UEFA Circular Letter. No. 51/2021. Union of European Football Associations. 19 July 2021. Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
- ^ "2022/23 UEFA Europa League: Matches, draws, final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 26 July 2021. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
- ^ "UEFA 5-year Club Ranking 2022". kassiesa.net. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ "UEFA Europa League knockout round play-off draw". UEFA.com.
- ^ "UEFA Europa League round of 16 draw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
- ^ a b c "UEFA Europa League quarter-final, semi-final and final draws". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations.
- ^ "Full Time Summary Final – Sevilla v Roma" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ "UEFA Europa League – Top Scorers". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ "2022/23 UEFA Europa League Team of the Season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 4 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
External links
Yellow: Group D;
Green: Group E; 
Blue: Group F; 
Purple: Group G; 
Pink: Group H.
Jesús Navas (
