UEFA Conference League

UEFA Conference League

Organising body	UEFA
Founded	2021 (2021) (rebranded in 2024)
Region	Europe
Number of teams	36 (league phase) 184 (total)
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa League
Related competitions	UEFA Champions League (1st tier) UEFA Europa League (2nd tier)
Current champions	Olympiacos (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Olympiacos Roma West Ham United (1 title each)
Website	uefa.com/uefaconferenceleague
2024–25 UEFA Conference League

The UEFA Conference League (previously known as the UEFA Europa Conference League), abbreviated as UECL, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the third tier of continental club football in Europe, behind the second-tier Europa League, and the first-tier Champions League.

Introduced in 2021 as the UEFA Europa Conference League, the competition was initially intended as the bottom level of the Europa League. The competition is primarily contested by teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations. No teams qualify directly for the league phase: instead the teams eliminated in the Europa League play-off round qualify, with the rest coming from the Conference League qualifying and play-off rounds. The winners of the competition qualify for the following season's Europa League, unless they also qualify for the Champions League via their domestic league position.

From the 2024–25 season, the competition was rebranded to the UEFA Conference League, and the group stage was replaced with an expanded league phase.

Roma were the inaugural winners of the competition, having beaten Feyenoord 1–0 in the 2022 final. The current holder of the title is Olympiacos.

History

Winners UEFA Conference League

Season	Winner
2021–22	Roma
2022–23	West Ham United
2023–24	Olympiacos

The UEFA Europa Conference League trophy on display in Rome

UEFA had reportedly considered adding a third-tier competition since at least 2015, believing that a bottom-level tournament could act as a means of giving clubs from lower-ranked UEFA member countries a chance of progressing beyond their customary elimination from the Champions League and Europa League. In mid-2018, talk of an announcement intensified, with news sources claiming an agreement had already been reached for the competition to be launched and that the 48-team Europa League group stage would be split in two, with the lower half forming the nucleus of what would be the new event.

On 2 December 2018, UEFA announced that the competition – provisionally known as "Europa League 2" or just "UEL2" – was to be launched as part of the 2021–24 three-year competition cycle, with UEFA adding that the new tournament would bring "more matches for more clubs and more associations".

The original official name of the competition, "UEFA Europa Conference League", was announced on 24 September 2019.

On 24 May 2021, UEFA revealed the competition's trophy and brand identity. The Europa Conference League Trophy stands 57.5 cm (22.6 in) tall and weighs 11 kg (24 lb).

The first goal in the then-named Europa Conference League qualifiers was scored on 6 July 2021 by Mosta player Evo Chris in a 2021–22 qualifying round match against Spartak Trnava. The first goal in the then-named Europa Conference League group stage was scored on 14 September 2021 by Maccabi Tel Aviv player Stipe Perica in a 2021–22 group stage match against Alashkert. On 30 September 2021, the competition's first hat-trick was scored by Harry Kane for Tottenham Hotspur in a group stage match against NS Mura. Kane came on as a 59th minute substitute at 2–1 before scoring three goals within 20 minutes of each other to finish off the game (5–1).

On 5 May 2022, Feyenoord and Roma became the first teams ever to reach the Europa Conference League final, ending with Roma being crowned the inaugural champions.

On 3 November 2022, West Ham United became the first side to win all six of their Europa Conference League group stage matches, picking up wins against FCSB, Silkeborg and Anderlecht. They went on to win the competition by defeating Fiorentina 2–1 in the 2023 final, in the process becoming the first side to finish the competition undefeated, with 12 wins and one draw.

On 28 June 2023, UEFA announced that the competition would be renamed to the UEFA Conference League from the 2024–25 season onwards. According to UEFA, removing 'Europa' from the name of the competition would enable further development as a stand-alone competition in their research amongst fans and commercial partners. In the same season, the 32-team group stage was replaced with a 36-team league phase, in line with similar changes made to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

In the 2024 final, Olympiacos beat Fiorentina 1–0, becoming the first Greek club to win a major European competition.

A match between CSKA Sofia and Roma in the inaugural 2021–22 season

Trophy

UEFA Conference League trophy

The Conference League trophy, designed by Pentagram, is made from brass, with galvanic steel and silver plating. It features 32 hexagonal columns, to represent the 32 teams in the original group stage, curving upwards in a manner intended to resemble a football curling through the air towards the goal.

Format

Qualification

See also: UEFA coefficient

A map of UEFA associations whose teams have reached the league phase or group stage of the UEFA Conference League

  UEFA member association that has been represented in the league phase or group stage

  UEFA member association that has not been represented in the league phase or group stage

Similar to the UEFA Champions League, qualification to the Conference League is split into two paths – separating champions and non-champions – and contains three rounds plus a play-off. However, unlike the Champions League, the Champions Path will only be contested by teams eliminated from Champions League qualifying and consequently relegated either directly into the Conference League or via a second relegation from the UEFA Europa League as a result of two straight eliminations.

The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams in main path qualification for each association:

• Nations ranked 1 to 5 have one team;
• Nations ranked 6 to 15 have two teams;
• Nations ranked 16 to 50 have three teams;
• Nations ranked 51 to 55 have two teams;
• Liechtenstein does not have a domestic league and will provide the winner of the Liechtenstein Football Cup irrespective of their coefficient ranking.

Based on this reorganisation, no association benefits from more berths to continental football than they had before the 2021–24 competition cycle, with the tournament essentially being the lower orders of the previous Europa League tournament split off into a secondary tournament.

League phase and knockout phase

The format involves a league phase and a knockout phase consisting of preliminary knockout play-offs, followed by a round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (all of the knockout games except the final are played over two legs). The top eight teams from the league phase receive a bye to the round of 16, while the teams ranked 9th to 24th contest the knockout play-offs with the winners advancing to the round of 16. The teams ranked 25th to 36th in the league phase and the losers of the play-offs are eliminated from the competition.

The final is played at a neutral venue. The winner of the competition is entitled to participate in the UEFA Europa League league phase the following season. The competition's matches are usually played on Thursdays.

Distribution (from 2021–22 to 2023–24)

All qualification berths are based on UEFA's default assumption that each association will submit one domestic cup winner as its highest-ranked qualifier after those eligible to enter the Europa League, and will define its remaining entrants by their league position in the previous year. England allocates its lowest-ranked qualification place to the winners of the EFL Cup or, if they already qualified for the Champions League or Europa League, to the sixth or seventh placed in the Premier League.

		Teams entering this round	Teams advancing from the previous round	Teams transferred from the Champions League	Teams transferred from the Europa League
First qualifying round (72 teams)		26 domestic cup winners from associations 30–55 25 domestic league runners-up from associations 30–55 (except Liechtenstein) 21 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 29–50 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round	Champions (20 teams)			17 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round 3 teams eliminated from Champions League preliminary round
	Non-champions (90 teams)	14 domestic cup winners from associations 16–29 14 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–29 16 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–28 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6	36 winners from the first qualifying round
Third qualifying round	Champions (10 teams)		10 winners from the second qualifying round for champions
	Non-champions (52 teams)	6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 6	45 winners from the second qualifying round for non-champions
Play-off round	Champions (10 teams)		5 winners from the third qualifying round for champions		5 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for champions
	Non-champions (34 teams)	1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 5 4 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (EFL Cup winners for England)	26 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions		3 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for non-champions
Group stage (32 teams)			5 winners from the play-off round for champions 17 winners from the play-off round for non-champions		10 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round
Preliminary knockout round (16 teams)			8 group runners-up from the group stage		8 group third-placed teams from Europa League group stage
Knockout phase (16 teams)			8 group winners from the group stage 8 winners from the preliminary knockout round

Distribution (from 2024–25)

		Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from previous round	Teams transferred from Champions League	Teams transferred from Europa League
First qualifying round (58 teams)		17 domestic cup winners from associations 39–55 21 domestic league runners-up from associations 34–55 (except Liechtenstein) 20 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 30–50 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round	Champions (16 teams)			16 teams eliminated from Champions League first qualifying round
	Non-champions (88 teams)	5 domestic cup winners from associations 34–38 18 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–33 17 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–29 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15 1 domestic league fifth-placed team from association 6	29 winners from the first qualifying round		9 teams eliminated from Europa League first qualifying round
Third qualifying round	Champions (8 teams)		8 winners from the second qualifying round for champions
	Non-champions (52 teams)		44 winners from the second qualifying round for non-champions		8 teams eliminated from Europa League second qualifying round
Play-off round	Champions (10 teams)		4 winners from the third qualifying round for champions		6 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for champions
	Non-champions (38 teams)	5 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–5 (EFL Cup winners for England)	26 winners from the third qualifying round for non-champions		7 teams eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round for non-champions
League phase (36 teams)			5 winners from the play-off round for champions 19 winners from the play-off round for non-champions		12 teams eliminated from Europa League play-off round

Changes will be made to the access list above if the Conference League title holder qualifies for the tournament via their domestic leagues.

• If the Conference League title holders qualify for the league phase via their domestic league's standard berth allocation, the best-ranked club in the qualifying rounds enter the league phase, without leapfrogging, then clubs of associations in the UEFA coefficient ranking are promoted to later qualifying rounds, and teams of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds are also promoted accordingly.
• If the Conference League title holders qualify for the qualifying rounds via their domestic league, their spot in the qualifying rounds is vacated, and teams of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds are promoted accordingly.

Prize money

Similar to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, the prize money received by the clubs is divided into fixed payments based on participation and results, and variable amounts that depend on the value of their TV market.

For the 2024–25 season, League Phase participation in the Conference League was awarded a base fee of €3,170,000. A victory in the group pays €400,000 and a draw €133,000. Teams which placed in the top 8 of the League Phase earned €400,000 and progressed automatically to the Round of 16. Teams which placed between 9th and 24th qualified for the knockout round play-offs and earned €200,000. Reaching the knock-out stage triggered additional bonuses: €800,000 for the round of 16, €1,300,000 for the quarter-finals and €2,500,000 for the semi-finals. The losing finalists received €4,000,000 and the champions received €7,000,000.

• First qualifying round elimination: €150,000 + €175,000 per qualifying round played
• Second qualifying round elimination: €350,000 + €175,000 per qualifying round played
• Third qualifying round elimination: €550,000 + €175,000 per qualifying round played
• Play-off round elimination: €750,000 + €175,000 per qualifying round played
• Qualified to League Phase: €3,170,000
• Match won in League Phase: €400,000
• Match drawn in League Phase: €133,000
• 1st–8th in League Phase: €400,000
• 9th–24th in League Phase: €200,000
• Round of 16: €800,000
• Quarter-final: €1,300,000
• Semi-final: €2,500,000
• Runner-up: €4,000,000
• Champion: €7,000,000

Additionally, each domestic champion not qualifying for the League Phase of any tournament received an additional €260,000.

Each club which qualifies for the League Phase will also receive a bonus payment based on their league ranking. The total amount initially available for the league ranking bonus is €18,648,000 divided into 666 equal shares of €28,000. As €400,000 is available for each match played in the league phase, for every draw in the League Phase, €133,000 is unallocated and is added to the total league ranking bonus fund, increasing the value of each share. The team that finishes 1st in the League Phase receives 36 shares, with the amount of shares received falling by 1 for each subsequent position, with the 36th place team receiving a single share.

Records and statistics

Performances by club

Main article: List of UEFA Conference League finals

Performance in the UEFA Conference League by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Roma	1	0	2022	—
West Ham United	1	0	2023	—
Olympiacos	1	0	2024	—
Fiorentina	0	2	—	2023, 2024
Feyenoord	0	1	—	2022

Performances by nation

Performance in finals by nation

Nation	Winners	Runners-up	Total
Italy	1	2	3
England	1	0	1
Greece	1	0	1
Netherlands	0	1	1

Number of participating clubs of the Conference League

The following is a list of clubs that have played or will be playing in the Conference League league phase (group stage prior to the 2024–25 season).

Nation	No.	Clubs	Seasons
Belgium (5)	4	Gent	2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25
	1	Anderlecht	2022–23
	1	Club Brugge	2023–24
	1	Genk	2023–24
	1	Cercle Brugge	2024–25
Czech Republic (5)	2	Slavia Prague	2021–22, 2022–23
	1	Jablonec	2021–22
	1	Slovácko	2022–23
	1	Viktoria Plzeň	2023–24
	1	Mladá Boleslav	2024–25
Cyprus (5)	2	Omonia	2021–22, 2024–25
	1	Anorthosis	2021–22
	1	Apollon Limassol	2022–23
	1	APOEL	2024–25
	1	Pafos	2024–25
Denmark (4)	2	Copenhagen	2021–22, 2024–25
	1	Randers	2021–22
	1	Silkeborg	2022–23
	1	Nordsjælland	2023–24
Turkey (4)	2	İstanbul Başakşehir	2022–23, 2024–25
	1	Sivasspor	2022–23
	1	Fenerbahçe	2023–24
	1	Beşiktaş	2023–24
England (4)	1	Tottenham Hotspur	2021–22
	1	West Ham United	2022–23
	1	Aston Villa	2023–24
	1	Chelsea	2024–25
Germany (4)	1	Union Berlin	2021–22
	1	1. FC Köln	2022–23
	1	Eintracht Frankfurt	2023–24
	1	1. FC Heidenheim	2024–25
Netherlands (3)	3	AZ	2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
	1	Feyenoord	2021–22
	1	Vitesse	2021–22
Switzerland (3)	2	Basel	2021–22, 2022–23
	2	Lugano	2023–24, 2024–25
	1	St. Gallen	2024–25
Israel (3)	2	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2021–22, 2023–24
	1	Maccabi Haifa	2021–22
	1	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	2022–23
Serbia (3)	2	Partizan	2021–22, 2022–23
	1	Čukarički	2023–24
	1	TSC	2024–25
Austria (3)	2	LASK	2021–22, 2024–25
	1	Austria Wien	2022–23
	1	Rapid Wien	2024–25
Slovenia (3)	2	Olimpija Ljubljana	2023–24, 2024–25
	1	Mura	2021–22
	1	Celje	2024–25
Poland (3)	2	Legia Warsaw	2023–24, 2024–25
	1	Lech Poznań	2022–23
	1	Jagiellonia Białystok	2024–25
France (3)	1	Rennes	2021–22
	1	Nice	2022–23
	1	Lille	2023–24
Armenia (3)	1	Alashkert	2021–22
	1	Pyunik	2022–23
	1	Noah	2024–25
Slovakia (2)	3	Slovan Bratislava	2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
	1	Spartak Trnava	2023–24
Italy (2)	3	Fiorentina	2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25
	1	Roma	2021–22
Norway (2)	2	Bodø/Glimt	2021–22, 2023–24
	2	Molde	2022–23, 2024–25
Romania (2)	2	CFR Cluj	2021–22, 2022–23
	1	FCSB	2022–23
Ukraine (2)	2	Zorya Luhansk	2021–22, 2023–24
	1	Dnipro-1	2022–23
Greece (2)	2	PAOK	2021–22, 2023–24
	1	Panathinaikos	2024–25
Kazakhstan (2)	2	Astana	2023–24, 2024–25
	1	Kairat	2021–22
Scotland (2)	2	Heart of Midlothian	2022–23, 2024–25
	1	Aberdeen	2023–24
Bulgaria (2)	1	CSKA Sofia	2021–22
	1	Ludogorets Razgrad	2023–24
Spain (2)	1	Villarreal	2022–23
	1	Real Betis	2024–25
Bosnia and Herzegovina (2)	1	Zrinjski Mostar	2023–24
	1	Borac Banja Luka	2024–25
Iceland (2)	1	Breiðablik	2023–24
	1	Víkingur Reykjavík	2024–25
Finland (1)	3	HJK	2021–22, 2023–24, 2024–25
Kosovo (1)	2	Ballkani	2022–23, 2023–24
Republic of Ireland (1)	2	Shamrock Rovers	2022–23, 2024–25
Sweden (1)	2	Djurgårdens IF	2022–23, 2024–25
Azerbaijan (1)	1	Qarabağ	2021–22
Estonia (1)	1	Flora	2021–22
Gibraltar (1)	1	Lincoln Red Imps	2021–22
Latvia (1)	1	RFS	2022–23
Liechtenstein (1)	1	Vaduz	2022–23
Lithuania (1)	1	Žalgiris	2022–23
Croatia (1)	1	Dinamo Zagreb	2023–24
Faroe Islands (1)	1	KÍ	2023–24
Hungary (1)	1	Ferencváros	2023–24
Belarus (1)	1	Dinamo Minsk	2024–25
Moldova (1)	1	Petrocub Hîncești	2024–25
Northern Ireland (1)	1	Larne	2024–25
Portugal (1)	1	Vitória de Guimarães	2024–25
Wales (1)	1	The New Saints	2024–25

Season in Bold: Team qualified for knockout phase

Most goals

As of 29 May 2024

Players taking part in the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League are highlighted in bold.

Players still active but not in this year's Conference League are highlighted in italics.

The table below does not include goals scored in the qualification phase of the competition.

Rank	Player	Goals	Apps	Ratio	Years	Club(s) (Goals/Apps)
1	Eran Zahavi	12	14	0.86	2021–	PSV Eindhoven (4/6), Maccabi Tel Aviv (8/8)
	Arthur Cabral		20	0.6	2021–	Basel (5/6), Fiorentina (7/14)
	Vangelis Pavlidis		21	0.57	2021–	AZ
4	Ayoub El Kaabi	11	9	1.22	2023–	Olympiacos
5	Gift Orban	10	11	0.91	2022–	Gent
	Cyriel Dessers		13	0.77	2021–	Feyenoord
7	Tammy Abraham	9	13	0.69	2021–	Roma
	Hugo Cuypers		16	0.56	2022–	Gent
	Aleksandar Čavrić		20	0.45	2021–	Slovan Bratislava
10	Ricardo Gomes	8	16	0.5	2021–	Partizan
	Gaëtan Laborde		17	0.47	2021–	Rennes (5/7), Nice (3/10)
	Amahl Pellegrino		19	0.42	2021–	Bodø/Glimt
	Antonín Barák		22	0.36	2022–	Fiorentina

Other records

• The largest single match margin of victory in the current Conference League format is 8–0: Chelsea beat FC Noah in the group stage in 2024–25 UEFA Conference League

Awards

Starting from the first edition of the competition, UEFA introduced an award that will presumably now be called the UEFA Conference League Player of the Season award, having previously been the UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season award prior to the renaming of the league.

The jury is composed of the coaches of the clubs which participate in the league phase (group stage prior to 2024-25 season) of the competition, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, one from each UEFA member association.

Pellegrini, the first winner of the Player of the Season award in 2022

Winners

Season	Player	Club
UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season
2021–22	Lorenzo Pellegrini	Roma
2022–23	Declan Rice	West Ham United
2023–24	Ayoub El Kaabi	Olympiacos
UEFA Conference League Player of the Season
2024–25

In the same season, UEFA also introduced what will likely now be called the UEFA Conference League Young Player of the Season award (previously the UEFA Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season').

Winners

Season	Player	Club
UEFA Europa Conference League Young Player of the Season
2021–22	Luis Sinisterra	Feyenoord
2022–23	Andy Diouf	Basel
2023–24	Igor Thiago	Club Brugge
UEFA Conference League Young Player of the Season
2024–25

See also

• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Europa League
• List of UEFA Intertoto Cup winning managers
• UEFA club competition records
• UEFA Intertoto Cup

External links

• Official website
• UEFA – Official website