All statistics correct as of 01:41, 24 October 2009 (UTC).
International football competition
The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League is the first season of the UEFA Europa League, the competition previously known as UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years.[1]
A total of 192 teams from 53 UEFA associations are expected to participate in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. Countries are allocated places according to their UEFA league coefficient.
The previous season's winners, Shakhtar Donetsk, would have been guaranteed a place in the group stage even if they did not obtain a qualifying place through their domestic league. However, as Shakhtar qualified for the UEFA Champions League, the original allocation places will be altered to compensate for the vacant title holder spot in the group stage. As this is the first edition of the Europa League, it was initially unknown whether UEFA would simply disregard the vacant Title Holder spot and rearrange entries so that one more team qualifies from the play-off round, or replace the title holders' group stage place with that of the top-ranked association's cup winner and move teams from lower rounds appropriately, as the regulations are unclear on this matter.[3] The former set-up was confirmed by UEFA's official list of participants, published on 16 June 2009.[4]
Below is the qualification scheme as the Title Holder spot is not replaced (not counting teams relegated from the Champions League):
Associations 1–6 each enter three teams
Associations 7–9 each enter four teams
Associations 10–53 each enter three teams, except Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino, who enter one team each
The three Associations with the best Fair Play scores (Norway, Denmark, Scotland) each gain an additional berth[5]
Distribution
First qualifying round (46 teams)
14 domestic league runners-up from associations 37–51 (except Liechtenstein)
29 domestic league 3rd place teams from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein)
A Europa League place is vacated when the team also qualifies for the Champions League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules:
When a domestic cup winner (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association) also qualifies for the Champions League, its Europa League place is vacated, and the remaining Europa League qualifiers are moved up one place, with the final place (with the earliest entrance) taken by the domestic cup runners-up, provided they do not already qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League. Otherwise, this place is taken by the highest-placed league finisher which do not qualify for the Europa League yet.
When a cup winner also qualifies for the Europa League through league position, its place through the league position is vacated, and the Europa League qualifiers which finish lower in the league are moved up one place, with the final place taken by the highest-placed league finisher which do not qualify for the Europa League yet.
A place vacated by the League Cup winner is taken by the highest-placed league finisher which do not qualify for the Europa League yet.
A Fair Play place is taken by the team which finishes highest in the domestic Fair Play table which do not qualify for the Champions League or Europa League yet.
If the Europa League title holder also qualifies for the Champions League or the Europa League through domestic performance, its vacated place in the Europa League is not taken by any team.
Note 5: Daugava Daugavpils, the Latvian Football Cup winners, merged with Dinaburg. Skonto, which finished third in the league, took the vacated second qualifying round spot, while Dinaburg, which finished fourth, took the first qualifying round spot.
Note 6: Sloboda Tuzla, which finished third in the league, did not obtain a UEFA license, so Sarajevo, which finished fourth, were moved up to the second qualifying round. Borac Banja Luka, which finished fifth, also did not obtain a UEFA license, so Široki Brijeg, which finished sixth, took the vacated first qualifying round spot.
Note 7: The Armenian Premier League 2008 runner-up Ararat Yerevan did not obtain a UEFA license, so Gandzasar, which finished third, were moved up to the second qualifying round, while MIKA, which finished fourth, took the vacated first qualifying round spot.
Note 8: Almaty, the losing cup finalists, merged with Megasport to form Lokomotiv Astana. However, the new club did not obtain a UEFA license. Following the denied license and withdrawal of three higher-placed teams in the league, Okzhetpes replaced the spot of Lokomotiv Astana.
TH Title Holder: Shakhtar Donetsk, the title holders of the competition, initially entered the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League as the runner-up of their domestic league. After losing in the Champions League third qualifying round, they entered the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League at the play-off round.
The draw, conducted by UEFA President Michel Platini and David Taylor, UEFA General Secretary, for the first and second qualifying rounds was held on Monday, 22 June 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. The first leg matches were held on 1 July and 2 July, while the second legs were played on 9 July 2009.
For the draw clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient, and because the draw for this round took place before the first qualifying round matches were played, the teams were seeded as if the higher-ranked side in the previous round will be victorious. The first leg matches were played on 16 July (two matches played on 14 July), while the second legs were played on 23 July 2009.
Both the first and second legs between Bnei Yehuda and Dinaburg and between Rapid Wien and Vllaznia are currently under investigation by UEFA and German authorities for possible match-fixing.[6]
Note 10: Paços de Ferreira, Polonia Warsaw and Rabotnički were originally drawn to play the first leg at home, but their ties were reversed and they hosted the second leg instead.
Third qualifying round
The draw for the third qualifying rounds, which was conducted by UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti and Michael Heselschwerdt, Head of Club Competitions, was held on Friday, 17 July 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. For the draw clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient, and because the draw for this round took place before the second qualifying round matches were played, the teams were seeded assuming the higher-ranked side in the previous round was victorious. The first leg matches were played on 30 July (one match played on 28 July), while the second legs were played on 6 August 2009 (one match played on 4 August).
The first leg between Fenerbahçe and Budapest Honvéd and the second leg between Interblock Ljubljana and Metalurh Donetsk are currently under investigation by UEFA and German authorities for possible match-fixing.[6]
Note 11: Sarajevo, Gent, Galatasaray and APOP were originally drawn to play the first leg at home, but their ties were reversed and they hosted the second leg instead.
The draw ceremony for the play-off round, conducted by UEFA General Secretary David Taylor and UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti, was held on 7 August 2009 in Nyon, Switzerland. For the draw clubs were separated into seeded and unseeded teams based on their club coefficient. The first leg matches were played on 20 August, while the second legs were played on 27 August 2009, except the Shakhtar Donetsk v Sivasspor match, which was moved to 25 August due to Shakhtar's participation in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup.
Note 13: The match was abandoned at 0–2 in the 88th minute after one Dinamo Bucureşti fan entered the playing field and other fans invaded the running track around the pitch. The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body awarded a default 0–3 defeat against Dinamo during an emergency meeting on 25 August.[8] After advancing to the group stage, Dinamo were punished by having their first two home matches in the group stage played behind closed doors.
The draw for the group stage took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 28 August 2009 at 13:00 CEST. A total of 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four. Teams were divided into four pots, based on UEFA coefficients. Clubs from the same pot or the same association cannot be drawn into the same group.
Each team will play against each other in its group twice. The top two in each group will proceed to the knockout stage.
During this stage of the tournament, matches will feature five on-field officials - with two additional officials monitoring play around the penalty area as part of a FIFA-sanctioned experiment.[9]
Tie-breaking criteria
Based on Article 7.05 in the UEFA regulations, if two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria will be applied to determine the rankings:[10]
higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;
superior goal difference from all group matches played;
higher number of goals scored;
higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.
Note 14: On 29 October 2009, UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body ruled that Dinamo Zagreb would have to play their next two home matches in the UEFA Europa League behind closed doors due to the actions of their supporters in their match at Timişoara. They also deducted three points from the Croatian club's points tally in Group A. The club appealed, but the appeal was not heard until after the first closed-doors game against Ajax.[11] After the appeal was heard, UEFA replaced the three point deduction with a €75,000 fine, and a three-year suspended ban from European competition.[12]
The group winners, along with the four better third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage, will be drawn against the group runners-up and the other four third-placed Champions League teams. In this round, teams from the same group, or teams from the same association, may not be drawn with each other. Group winners and the four better third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage play the second leg at home.
Round of 16
The sixteen winners from the first knockout round are drawn into eight pairs of home-and-away matches. Starting from this round, the draw is made regardless of association or previous group status.
Quarter-finals
The eight winners from the second knockout round are drawn into four pairs of home-and-away matches.
Semi-finals
The four quarter-final winners are drawn into two pairs of home-and-away matches.
The final of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League will be held at the HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg, Germany, on 12 May 2010. This will be the second time that the home stadium of Hamburger SV hosts a UEFA Final, with the other final occurring with the 1982 UEFA Cup Final. Due to UEFA rules banning corporate sponsorship outside the federation, the stadium will be referred to by its original name, Volksparkstadion.
Top goalscorers
The top scorers from the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League (excluding qualifying rounds and play-off round) are as follows:
MTZ-RIPO
Dinamo Tirana
Vėtra
Rosenborg
Irtysh
Birkirkara
MIKA
Keflavík
Nõmme Kalju
Polonia Warsaw
Rudar Velenje
Llanelli
Široki Brijeg
Inter Baku
Renova
Bnei Yehuda
Fernando Llorente
Gervinho
Lille
Claudio Pizarro
Werder Bremen
Jonathan Reis
PSV Eindhoven
Javier Saviola
Benfica
Óscar Cardozo
Alexander Frei
Shakhtar Donetsk