Europa League
International
Brighton vs. Roma, Liverpool vs. Sparta Prague in Europa League
Liverpool will face Sparta Prague in the 1/8 finals of the Europa League, while Brighton will play vs. AS Roma. West Ham will […]
Conference League
Gabriel Jesus to undergo scan for potential hamstring injury
Gabriel Jesus will undergo scan in the next couple of days for a potential hamstring injury. The forward limped off the pitch in […]
UEFA investigates three Conference League games
Two Conference League matches are being investigated by UEFA for potential match-fixing, reports The Athletic. The one match that falls under the supervision […]
Aston Villa demolish Hibernian 5-0; Watkins bags hat-trick
Aston Villa destroyed Hibernian in a commanding fashion 5-0 in the first-leg Europa Conference League play-off on Wednesday night. A commanding lead to […]
West Ham and Fiorentina charged for incidents in final
Both West Ham and Fiorentina have been charged by UEFA for incidents occurring in the Conference League final, which took place on Wednesday. […]
West Ham wins Conference League in a late drama vs Fiorentina
West Ham United won the Conference League final against Fiorentina 2-1 and became the second champion in tournament history. In the first half […]
The UEFA Conference League (UECL) Facts
Since the 2021-2022 season, the UECL serves as a tournament related to the Europa League, which was shrunken down to 32 teams instead of 48. The UECL mostly consists of clubs from UEFA club members with lower rankings. No direct qualifications for the group stage are allowed. All UECL teams qualify either through the qualifiers or by elimination from the Europa League (10 teams in total).
The UECL winner automatically wins a spot for next year’s Europa League, but if that same club has managed to qualify for the Champions League in the meantime, this privilege is not applicable. The current UECL champion is West Ham – the club was able to steal the victory from Fiorentina in the final match of the 2022-2023 season and qualified for the next UEL season.
Qualifying Stages
The qualification phase for the Conference League is quite similar to the one we are already familiar with – the Champions League. The stage is divided into a couple of paths: champions and non-champions. The teams in the main paths are ranked based on their UEFA coefficients, ranging from 1 to 55. The nations ranked the highest have one team included.
The upcoming season (2023-2024) will be the third consecutive one for the Conference League, and the same rules as always apply. The winner gets a guaranteed spot for the 2024-2025 season of the UEFA Europa League, but (as mentioned above) this privilege will not be applicable if the same club manages to qualify for the Champions League meanwhile.
There is an interesting fact to note for the upcoming season (2023-2024) of the UEFA Europa Conference League. Despite that it’s a relatively new tournament, there are already changes coming. The following season will be the last one based on the initial and still existing format. After that, it will be completely overhauled, and UEFA has yet to announce all the changes that it will undergo.
Despite that UEFA’s most popular competitions – the Champions League and the Europa League, steal all the attention of fans across the globe, the UEFA Europa Conference League should never be underestimated. For the few years it’s been around, this club competition has proven that it serves no less than the other two tournaments in terms of action and excitement. If you’re all about the joy of watching quality football, you should follow this event. If you’re not able to dedicate time to it, you can always use 7sport as your best source of up-to-date information, stats, and analyses.
