UEFA Europa League (UEL) and the UEFA Conference League (UECL)

UEL and UECL Season 2025-2026

Source: https://www.instagram.com/europaleague/ https://www.instagram.com/conferenceleague/

The main difference between the UEFA Europa League (UEL) and the UEFA Conference League (UECL) is their hierarchy: the Europa League is the “second tier” of European club football, while the Conference League is the “third tier,” designed to give more teams from more countries the chance to play in Europe.

Following the 2024 revamp, both competitions now use a similar League Phase format rather than traditional groups, but they still differ in several key ways.

Comparison at a Glance

Feature	Europa League (Tier 2)	Conference League (Tier 3)
Number of Teams	36 Teams	36 Teams
Matches in League Phase	8 matches (4 home, 4 away)	6 matches (3 home, 3 away)
Prize for Winner	Spot in next year’s Champions League	Spot in next year’s Europa League
Participants	Winners of domestic cups and high-placed league teams.	Mid-table league teams and clubs from smaller nations.
Game Days	Thursday nights	Thursday nights

1. Level of Competition

The Europa League typically features famous “giants” that missed out on the Champions League (e.g., Manchester United, Roma, Porto). The Conference League was created to be more inclusive, allowing clubs from smaller leagues (like those in Iceland, Armenia, or Ireland) to experience continental football.

2. The Rewards

The stakes are significantly higher in the Europa League:

The Big Prize: Winning the Europa League grants an automatic ticket to the Champions League—the most prestigious and lucrative competition in the world.
The Conference Prize: Winning the Conference League grants a ticket to the Europa League.
Money: Europa League participants receive roughly double the prize money of those in the Conference League. For example, qualifying for the Europa League league phase is worth roughly €4.3m, whereas the Conference League is worth about €3.1m.

3. League Phase Format

Under the new “Swiss-style” format introduced for the 2024/25 season:

Europa League: Every team plays 8 different opponents (4 at home, 4 away).
Conference League: Every team plays 6 different opponents (3 at home, 3 away).

4. Promotion and Relegation

Previously, teams that finished 3rd in their Europa League group would “drop down” into the Conference League mid-season. As of the 2024/25 season, this has changed. Teams are no longer transferred between competitions once the League Phase begins. If you are eliminated from the Europa League league phase, you are out of Europe entirely.

The Europa League is currently in its final week of the league phase, meaning all 18 matches happen this Thursday. The Conference League has finished its league phase and won’t return until the knockout playoffs in late February.

Here are the schedules for the upcoming matches in both competitions.

UEFA Europa League: Matchday 8

To ensure fair play for the final standings, all matches kick off at the same time.

To ensure competitive fairness, all 18 matches for the final round of the Europa League league phase are scheduled for the same night and time.

UEFA Europa League: Matchday 8 (The Final Round)

Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026

Kick-off Time: 21:00 CET / 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET

Home Team	vs.	Away Team	Venue
FC Porto	vs	Rangers FC	Estádio do Dragão, Porto
Aston Villa	vs	Red Bull Salzburg	Villa Park, Birmingham
Real Betis	vs	Feyenoord	Estadio Benito Villamarín, Seville
Nottingham Forest	vs	Ferencváros	City Ground, Nottingham
VfB Stuttgart	vs	Young Boys	MHPArena, Stuttgart
Olympique Lyonnais	vs	PAOK FC	Groupama Stadium, Lyon
Lille OSC	vs	SC Freiburg	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille
Celtic FC	vs	FC Utrecht	Celtic Park, Glasgow
Panathinaikos	vs	AS Roma	Olympic Stadium, Athens
Maccabi Tel-Aviv	vs	Bologna	Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv
FCSB	vs	Fenerbahçe	Arena Națională, Bucharest
FC Basel	vs	Viktoria Plzeň	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
FK Crvena zvezda	vs	RC Celta de Vigo	Rajko Mitić Stadium, Belgrade
Sturm Graz	vs	SK Brann	Merkur Arena, Graz
FC Midtjylland	vs	GNK Dinamo Zagreb	MCH Arena, Herning
KRC Genk	vs	Malmö FF	Cegeka Arena, Genk
Ludogorets Razgrad	vs	OGC Nice	Huvepharma Arena, Razgrad
Go Ahead Eagles	vs	Sporting Braga	De Adelaarshorst, Deventer

What happens after these games?

Top 8 Teams: Advance directly to the Round of 16 (skipping the February matches).
9th to 24th Place: Enter a Knockout Play-off round (two legs in February) to earn a spot in the Round of 16.
25th to 36th Place: Eliminated from all European competitions.

UEFA Conference League: Knockout Play-offs

The next games are the first legs of the knockout round. These games feature teams that finished between 9th and 24th in the league phase.

Date	Time (CET)	Home Team	Away Team
Thursday, Feb 19	14:00	FC Noah	AZ Alkmaar
Thursday, Feb 19	16:00	KuPS Kuopio	Lech Poznań
Thursday, Feb 19	17:00	HSK Zrinjski	Crystal Palace
Thursday, Feb 19	17:00	Jagiellonia Białystok	Fiorentina
Thursday, Feb 19	17:00	Drita	NK Celje
Thursday, Feb 19	17:00	KF Shkëndija	Samsunspor
Thursday, Feb 19	17:00	Sigma Olomouc	Lausanne-Sport
Thursday, Feb 19	18:45	Omonia Nicosia	Rijeka

Important Dates to Watch

January 30, 2026: The Europa League knockout playoff draw (to decide who plays in February).
February 26, 2026: Second leg matches for the Conference League playoffs.
February 27, 2026: Round of 16 draw for both competitions, where the top 8 teams from the league phase (who have a “bye” right now) find out their opponents.

As of today, January 26, 2026, the UEFA Conference League is in a mid-winter break. The League Phase (the first stage of the competition) concluded on December 18, 2025.

The next action begins with the Knockout Play-offs in February. Below are the final standings from the league phase and the upcoming schedule.

Final League Phase Results (Top 24 Teams)

These teams have successfully advanced to the knockout stages. The Top 8 earned a direct ticket to the Round of 16, while teams 9–24 must play in the February play-offs.

Rank	Team	Points	Status
1	Strasbourg (FRA)	16	Advance to Round of 16
2	Raków Częstochowa (POL)	14	Advance to Round of 16
3	AEK Athens (GRE)	13	Advance to Round of 16
4	Sparta Prague (CZE)	13	Advance to Round of 16
5	Rayo Vallecano (ESP)	13	Advance to Round of 16
6	Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)	13	Advance to Round of 16
7	Mainz 05 (GER)	13	Advance to Round of 16
8	AEK Larnaca (CYP)	12	Advance to Round of 16
9–16	Seeded Teams (e.g., Crystal Palace, Fiorentina)	9–11	Advance to Play-offs
17–24	Unseeded Teams (e.g., Omonia, FC Noah)	7–9	Advance to Play-offs

Upcoming Knockout Play-offs (Feb 2026)

The draw for this round was held on January 16, 2026. Since the first leg hasn’t happened yet, there are no scores to report.

Matchup	First Leg (Feb 19)	Second Leg (Feb 26)
FC Noah vs. AZ Alkmaar	18:45 CET	21:00 CET
KuPS Kuopio vs. Lech Poznań	18:45 CET	21:00 CET
Zrinjski Mostar vs. Crystal Palace	18:45 CET	21:00 CET
Jagiellonia Białystok vs. Fiorentina	21:00 CET	18:45 CET
KF Shkëndija vs. Samsunspor	21:00 CET	18:45 CET
Drita vs. NK Celje	21:00 CET	18:45 CET
Sigma Olomouc vs. Lausanne-Sport	21:00 CET	18:45 CET
Omonia Nicosia vs. Rijeka	21:00 CET	18:45 CET

Key Highlights of the Season So Far

Biggest Surprise: Strasbourg finished the league phase unbeaten (5 wins, 1 draw), securing the #1 seed.
Top Scorers: Three players are currently tied for the lead with 5 goals each: Franko Kovačević (Celje), Mikael Ishak (Lech Poznań), and Nardin Mulahusejnović (Noah).
Eliminations: Notable clubs like Aberdeen and Rapid Wien finished in the bottom 12 and have been eliminated from the competition.

What are the updated Standings before Knockouts?