2018–19 UEFA Europa League
The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the Europa League.
The final was played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, between English sides Chelsea and Arsenal. It was the first Europa League final to feature two teams from the same city, and marked the first time all four teams in European club competition finals were from the Premier League, with Liverpool and Tottenham competing in the Champions League final. Chelsea defeated Arsenal 4–1 and earned the right to play against Liverpool, the winners of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. As winners, Chelsea would also have been qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage; however, since they had already qualified after finishing third in the Premier League, the berth reserved was given to the third-placed team of the 2018–19 Ligue 1 – the 5th-ranked association according to next season's access list.
For the first time, the video assistant referee system was used in the competition, where it was implemented in the final.
As the title holders of the Europa League, Atlético Madrid qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, although they had already qualified before the final through their league performance. They were unable to defend their title as they advanced to the Champions League knockout stage, and were eliminated by Juventus in the round of 16.
Format changes
On 9 December 2016, UEFA confirmed the reforming plan for the UEFA Champions League for the 2018–2021 cycle, which was announced on 26 August 2016. As per the new regulations, all teams that are eliminated in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds will get a second chance in the Europa League.Association team allocation
213 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:- Associations 1–51 each had three teams qualify.
- Associations 52–54 each had two teams qualify.
- Liechtenstein and Kosovo each had one team qualify.
- Moreover, 55 teams eliminated from the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League.
Association ranking
For the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2017 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2012–13 to 2016–17.Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
- – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
DistributionIn the default access list, originally 17 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round. However, one fewer loser would be transferred since the Champions League title holders already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league. Therefore, only 19 teams entered the Champions Path second qualifying round.In addition, originally three losers from the Champions League second qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round. However, one fewer loser would be transferred since the Europa League title holders already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league. As a result, the following changes to the access list was made:
Redistribution rulesA 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:
TeamsThe labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
Notably one team that was not playing a national top division took part in the competition; Vaduz played in 2017–18 Swiss Challenge League, which is Switzerland's second tier. ;Notes Round and draw datesThe schedule of the competition was as follows.Matches in the qualifying and knockout rounds could also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts. From this season, the kick-off times starting from the group stage were slightly changed to 18:55 CET and 21:00 CET. Kick-off times starting from the quarter-finals were 21:00 CEST. Qualifying roundsIn the qualifying and play-off rounds, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients, or based on which round they qualified from, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties.Preliminary roundIn the preliminary round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. The draw for the preliminary round was held on 12 June 2018.First qualifying roundThe draw for the first qualifying round was held on 20 June 2018.Second qualifying roundThe second qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path and Main Path. The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June, and the draw for the second qualifying round was held on 20 June 2018.Third qualifying roundThe third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path and Main Path. The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 23 July 2018.Play-off roundThe play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path and Main Path. The draw for the play-off round was held on 6 August 2018.Group stageThe draw for the group stage was held on 31 August 2018 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams are seeded into four pots based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients.In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32 where they are joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays are 20 September, 4 October, 25 October, 8 November, 29 November, and 13 December 2018. A total of 27 national associations were represented in the group stage. Akhisarspor, Chelsea, F91 Dudelange, Jablonec, Rangers, RB Leipzig, Sarpsborg 08, Spartak Moscow and Spartak Trnava made their debut appearances in the UEFA Europa League group stage. Furthermore, Akhisarspor and Sarpsborg 08 and F91 Dudelange made their debuts in any European football group stage and F91 Dudelange were the first team from Luxembourg to play in either the Champions League or Europa League group stage.
Group HKnockout phaseIn the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.Round of 32The draw for the round of 32 was held on 17 December 2018. The first legs were played on 12 and 14 February, and the second legs were played on 20 and 21 February 2019.Round of 16The draw for the round of 16 was held on 22 February 2019. The first legs were played on 7 March, and the second legs were played on 14 March 2019.Quarter-finalsThe draw for the quarter-finals was held on 15 March 2019. The first legs were played on 11 April, the second legs were played on 18 April 2019.Semi-finalsThe draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 March 2019. The first legs were played on 2 May, and the second legs were played on 9 May 2019.StatisticsStatistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.Squad of the SeasonThe UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament.
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