UEFA Europa League

The UEFA Europa League – previously called the UEFA Cup and founded in 1971 – is Europe's second-tier international club competition.

Teams from around Europe battle to win the competition through a lengthy group stage and five KO stages. Added to a handsome trophy, the winners earn a spot in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League in the following season. Furthermore, the Europa League winners get to face the UEFA Champions League holder in the annual UEFA Super Cup match.

The Europa League follows the typical double round-robin format, with each team facing every other side in their group twice -- both home and away -- for a total of six Matchdays. The group winners and runners-up progress to the knockout stage and are joined by eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.

Games in this tournament are often played on Thursdays to avoid clashes with matches from the Champions League. While the media focus tends to lean towards the Champions League, the Europa League holds its own in popularity. European giants such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma, Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, and Ajax have all blessed the UEL with their presence, with some even winning this European silverware.

Similar to the UEFA Champions League, the team with the most wins in this tournament is also from Spain: Sevilla, which set a record by winning the competition three times in a row in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

Memorable names from the beautiful game have featured in the Europa League and won the title, with the likes of Jupp Heynckes, Dennis Bergkamp, Radamel Falcao, Antoine Griezmann, and Eden Hazard all getting their hands on the trophy. Due to the plethora of talented players and teams participating in this tournament every season, it comes as little surprise that the UEL ranks as one of the most competitive club competitions in world football. As a result, TV broadcasts and streaming options are widely available across the globe as the broadcast rights are typically bundled together with the very popular Champions League rights.

Qualifying

The UEFA Europa League qualifiers are a series of matches contested in order to determine which teams will successfully secure a spot in the UEFA Europa League group stage. The qualifiers generally take place in late July through August ahead of the UEFA Europa League tournament proper’s group stage matches in September.

There are two main rounds in UEFA Europa League qualifiers: the third qualifying round and then the play-off round. The third qualifying round is made up of two paths: the Champions Path (which includes teams eliminated from the Champions League second qualifying round) and the Main Path.

The teams in the Champions Path play each other over two legs, with the winners progressing to the play-off round, while the losers drop down into the UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs (Champions Path). Meanwhile, the teams in the Main Path also play each other over two legs, with the winners progressing to the play-off round while the losing teams drop down into the UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs (Main Path).

In the USA, broadcast rights for the UEFA Europa League qualifiers have been held by several broadcasters over the years. From 2009 to 2012, ESPN broadcasted and streamed UEL matches throughout the course of the tournament, before Fox Sports acquired the TV broadcasting rights until the 2015 season. TV broadcasts and live-streaming were then shifted to beIN Sports before CBS Sports Network acquired the multi-platform broadcast rights of the UEFA Europa League in a multi-year deal lasting through to the 2029/30 season. Under this deal, CBS carries several qualifying matches on its TV channels while also live-streaming matches via Paramount+.

Meanwhile, for Spanish speakers, Univision secured TV and live-streaming rights to the UEFA Europa League qualifiers, with games live-streamed on the ViX+ platform.