The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the final, played at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, 3–2 for a record-extending sixth title in the competition. As winners, Sevilla earned the right to play against Bayern Munich, the winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, in the 2020 UEFA Super Cup. Since they had already qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage through their league performance, the berth originally reserved for the Europa League title holders was given to the third-placed team of the 2019–20 Ligue 1 (Rennes), the 5th-ranked association according to next season's access list.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was suspended in mid-March 2020 and resumed in August. The quarter-finals onwards were played as a single match knockout ties at neutral venues in Germany (RheinEnergieStadion, MSV-Arena, Merkur Spiel-Arena and Arena AufSchalke) behind closed doors from 10 to 21 August. The video assistant referee (VAR) system was used in the competition from the knockout stage onwards.
As the title holders of the Europa League, Chelsea qualified for the 2019–20 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 the ultimate winners Bayern Munich in the round of 16.
Association team allocation A total of 213 teams from all 55 UEFA member associations participated in the 2019–20 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 (except Liechtenstein) each had three teams qualify. Associations 52–54 each had two teams qualify. Liechtenstein and Kosovo (association 55) each had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organised only a domestic cup and no domestic league; Kosovo as per decision by the UEFA Executive Committee). Moreover, 55 teams eliminated from the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League were transferred to the Europa League (default number was 57, but 2 fewer teams competed in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League).
Association ranking For the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2018 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2013–14 to 2017–18.
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
+Association ranking for 2019–20 UEFA Europa LeagueRankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1106.9983279.605376.249471.427556.415653.382747.248841.133938.5001035.8001132.8501230.2001330.1751429.7491528.6001626.0001725.9501821.7501921.550RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes2020.45032120.1252219.9752319.1252419.1252518.7502618.6252718.6252818.1252917.4253014.5003113.00013212.12533310.000348.500358.250368.125377.500RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes386.9003396.700406.625415.625425.500435.375445.000455.000464.875474.500484.375494.250503.875513.750523.0002531.331540.499550.0001
Distribution The following is the access list for this season.
+Access list for 2019–20 UEFA Europa LeagueTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeaguePreliminary round(14 teams)4 domestic cup winners from associations 52–55 6 domestic league runners-up from associations 49–54 4 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 48–51First qualifying round(94 teams)26 domestic cup winners from associations 26–51 30 domestic league runners-up from associations 18–48 (except Liechtenstein) 31 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–47 (except Liechtenstein)7 winners from preliminary roundSecond qualifying roundChampions Path(18 teams)15 losers from Champions League first qualifying round 3 losers from Champions League preliminary roundMain Path(74 teams)7 domestic cup winners from associations 19–25 2 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–17 3 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 13–15 9 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–15 2 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 5–6 (League Cup winners for France) 4 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–4 (League Cup winners for England)47 winners from first qualifying roundThird qualifying roundChampions Path(20 teams)9 winners from second qualifying round (Champions Path)10 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path) 1 losers from Champions League first qualifying round (Champions Path)Main Path(52 teams)6 domestic cup winners from associations 13–18 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–12 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 637 winners from second qualifying round (Main Path)2 losers from Champions League second qualifying round (League Path)Play-off roundChampions Path(16 teams)10 winners from third qualifying round (Champions Path)6 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path)Main Path(26 teams)26 winners from third qualifying round (Main Path)Group stage(48 teams)12 domestic cup winners from associations 1–12 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 5 4 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–48 winners from play-off round (Champions Path) 13 winners from play-off round (Main Path)4 losers from Champions League play-off round (Champions Path) 2 losers from Champions League play-off round (League Path) 4 losers from Champions League third qualifying round (League Path)Knockout phase(32 teams)12 group winners from group stage 12 group runners-up from group stage8 third-placed teams from Champions League group stage
Changes were made to the default access list, if any of the teams that qualified for the Europa League via their domestic competitions also qualified for the Champions League as the Champions League or Europa League title holders, or if there were fewer teams transferred from the Champions League due to changes in the Champions League access list. In any case where a spot in the Europa League was vacated, cup winners of the highest-ranked associations in earlier rounds were promoted accordingly. In the default access list, originally 17 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path). However, since the Champions League title holders (Liverpool) qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, only 16 losers from the Champions League first qualifying round were transferred to the Europa League second qualifying round (Champions Path). As a result, only 19 teams entered the Champions Path second qualifying round (one of the losers from the Champions League first qualifying round would be drawn to receive a bye to the third qualifying round). In the default access list, originally three losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). However, since the Europa League title holders (Chelsea) qualified for the Champions League group stage via their domestic league, only two losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (League Path) were transferred to the Europa League third qualifying round (Main Path). As a result, the following changes to the access list were made: The cup winners of association 18 (Israel) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round. The cup winners of association 25 (Serbia) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round. The cup winners of associations 50 (Wales) and 51 (Faroe Islands) entered the first qualifying round instead of the preliminary round.
Redistribution rules A 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: When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualified for the Champions League, their Europa League place was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moving up one "place". When the domestic cup winners also qualified for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position was vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions qualified for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finished above them in the league moving up one "place" if possible. For associations where a Europa League place was reserved for either the League Cup or end-of-season European competition play-offs winners, they always qualified for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners had already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place was taken by the highest-placed team in the league which had not yet qualified for European competitions.
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: CW: Cup winners 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position LC: League Cup winners RW: Regular season winners PW: End-of-season Europa League play-offs winners UCL: Transferred from the Champions League GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage PO: Losers from the play-off round Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round Q2: Losers from the second qualifying round Q1: Losers from the first qualifying round PR: Losers from the preliminary round (F: final; SF: semi-finals)
+Qualified teams for 2019–20 UEFA Europa League (by entry round)Round of 32 Club Brugge Shakhtar Donetsk Red Bull Salzburg Benfica Olympiacos Bayer Leverkusen Inter Milan Ajax +Group stage Getafe VfL Wolfsburg Beşiktaş Krasnodar Sevilla Rennes Wolfsberger AC LASK Arsenal Saint-Étienne Lugano Porto Manchester United CSKA Moscow Young Boys Dynamo Kyiv Lazio Sporting CP APOEL İstanbul Başakşehir Roma Oleksandriya CFR Cluj Basel Borussia Mönchengladbach Standard Liège Rosenborg +Play-off roundChampions PathMain Path PAOK Celtic Copenhagen Maribor Qarabağ Ferencváros +Third qualifying roundChampions PathMain Path Maccabi Tel Aviv Nõmme Kalju Spartak Moscow Feyenoord AIK Sutjeska Braga AEK Athens BATE Borisov Saburtalo Tbilisi Mariupol Rijeka HJK Valletta Antwerp Midtjylland Dundalk The New Saints Trabzonspor Bnei Yehuda Sarajevo Austria Wien Viktoria Plzeň Thun PSV Eindhoven Sparta Prague +Second qualifying roundChampions PathMain Path Piast Gliwice Sūduva Espanyol AZ Ludogorets Razgrad Ararat-Armenia Wolverhampton Wanderers Utrecht Astana F91 Dudelange Torino Atromitos Slovan Bratislava Linfield Eintracht Frankfurt Aris Sheriff Tiraspol HB Strasbourg Osijek Partizani Feronikeli Arsenal Tula Esbjerg Valur FC Santa Coloma Vitória de Guimarães AEL Limassol Shkëndija Lincoln Red Imps Zorya Luhansk Viitorul Constanța Riga Tre Penne Gent Lechia Gdańsk Yeni Malatyaspor BK Häcken Sturm Graz Gabala Luzern Lokomotiv Plovdiv Jablonec Partizan Mladá Boleslav