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Seeding in the Europa League 2023/2024

UEFA European Cup Football
by Bert Kassies

Last update:

If you have any information about data at this page being incorrect, incomplete, or out-of-date, please send a message to bert@kassiesa.net. Qualified clubs are assumed to obtain a UEFA license for European football unless they lost a final appeal at the national Appeals Body.

This page shows the list of seeded and unseeded clubs for draws in the qualifying rounds and the group stage of the Europa League 2023/2024. The UEFA Club Ranking of 2023 determines the seeding of the clubs in the tables below. See Qualification 2023/2024 for a list of qualified clubs, and Access List 2023/2024 for an overview of berths per country. More detailed information may also be found in the EL regulations (pdf or online).

This seeding list is according to the format of the 2021-24 period. All clubs eliminated in the qualifying round and play-off round of the Europa League are transferred to the Europa Conference League. For details, see the new Access List 2023/2024 and 2021-24 qualifying scheme. The 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League is split into two sections: one for champions and one for non-champions. The Europa league has no 1st and 2nd qualifying round.

Russian clubs are suspended from participation in UEFA competitions. The access list will be re-balanced as follows:

  1. The champion of Serbia (Red Star Belgrade) moves from CL-PO to CL-GS,
  2. The champion of Belgium (Royal Antwerp) moves from CL-Q3 to CL-PO,
  3. The champion of Greece (AEK Athens) moves from CL-Q2 to CL-Q3,
  4. The champions of Denmark (FC København) and Croatia (Dinamo Zagreb) move from CL-Q1 to CL-Q2,
  5. The runner-up of Serbia (TSC Backa Topola) moves from CL-Q2nc to CL-Q3nc,
  6. The cup winners (or league 3rd) of Belgium (Union Saint-Gilloise) and Switzerland (FC Lugano) move from EL-Q3 to EL-PO,
  7. The cup winner of Czechia (Slavia Praha) moves from ECL-Q2 to EL-Q3,
  8. The cup winners (or runners-up) of Norway (SK Brann Bergen), Denmark (FC Nordsjælland), and Croatia (Hajduk Split) move from ECL-Q2 to ECL-Q3,
  9. The cup winners (or runners-up) of Slovakia (Spartak Trnava), Slovenia (NK Celje), Belarus (Torpedo Zhodino), Moldova (Petrocub Hîncesti), Lithuania (Kauno Zalgiris), Bosnia-Herzegovina (FK Borac Banja Luka), Finland (KuPS Kuopio), Luxembourg (Differdange 03), Latvia (FK Auda), and Kosovo (FC Drita) move from ECL-Q1 to ECL-Q2,
  10. As a result there will be only 16 CL-Q1 losers in ECL-Q2ch, one of them gets a bye to ECL-Q3ch (to be determined by a draw).

The Champions League title holder (Manchester City or Internazionale) qualified already for the CL group stage by the domestic league. The access list will be re-balanced as follows:

  1. The champion of Ukraine (Shakhtar Donetsk) moves from CL-PO to CL-GS,
  2. The champion of Switzerland (Young Boys) moves from CL-Q3 to CL-PO,
  3. The champion of Czechia (Sparta Praha) moves from CL-Q2 to CL-Q3,
  4. The champions of Turkey (Galatasaray) and Cyprus (Aris Limassol) move from CL-Q1 to CL-Q2,
  5. As a result there will be only 15 CL-Q1 losers in ECL-Q2ch, two of them get a bye to ECL-Q3ch (to be determined by a draw).

EL-Q3: Qualifying Round (4 clubs)
Seeded clubs                   coef.             Unseeded clubs                 coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------    ------------------------ --- ----------------
Slavia Praha             Cze  52.000             CL-Q2nc @2                     6.335 - 18.000
Olympiakos Piraeus       Gre  39.000             CL-Q2nc @2                     5.045 -  8.000

Clubs in EL-Q3 that qualify directly are seeded above clubs eliminated from CL-Q2nc. Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. See last year's UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round draw for more info.

EL-Q3ch: Qualifying Round for Champions (10 clubs)
No seeding                     coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
CL-Q2 @2                      13.000 - 55.000
CL-Q2 @2                      13.000 - 40.500
CL-Q2 @2                      11.000 - 31.500
CL-Q2 @2                      11.000 - 27.000
CL-Q2 @2                      10.500 - 25.000
CL-Q2 @2                       9.000 - 24.500
CL-Q2 @2                       9.000 - 24.000
CL-Q2 @2                       9.000 - 19.500
CL-Q2 @2                       8.500 - 15.000
CL-Q2 @2                       4.895 - 21.000

No clubs are seeded for EL-Q3ch. An open draw is held to determine pairings.

EL-PO: Play-off Round (20 clubs)
Priority 1                     coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
Ajax                     Ned  89.000
LASK                     Aut  36.000
Union Saint-Gilloise     Bel  19.000
Zorya Luhansk            Ukr  16.000
Aberdeen                 Sco   8.000
Cukaricki Belgrade       Srb   6.475

Priority 2                     coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
CL-Q3 @3                      24.000 - 55.000
CL-Q3 @3                      19.500 - 40.500
CL-Q3 @3                      15.000 - 31.500
CL-Q3 @3                      14.000 - 27.000
CL-Q3 @3                      14.000 - 25.000
CL-Q3 @3                      11.000 - 24.500

Priority 3                     coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
EL-Q3ch @2                     9.000 - 24.000
EL-Q3ch @2                     9.000 - 21.000
EL-Q3ch @2                     9.000 - 19.500
EL-Q3ch @2                     8.500 - 15.000
EL-Q3ch @2                     4.895 - 14.000

Priority 4                     coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
Slavia Praha *3          Cze  52.000
Olympiakos Piraeus *3    Gre  39.000
FC Lugano                Sui   6.335

The teams are drawn in accordance with the priorities in the following order:
1) P1 teams are drawn against P4 teams.
2) The remaining P1 teams are drawn against P3 teams.
3) The remaining P3 teams are drawn against P2 teams.
4) The remaining P2 teams are drawn against each other.

Once the play-off round has been completed, the 32 remaining clubs are drawn into eight groups of four. For the purpose of the draw the clubs are divided into 4 pots. The ECL title-holder is placed in pot 1, and then all pots are filled according to the club ranking.

EL-GS: Group Stage (32 clubs)
pot 1            > 54.000
pot 2  < 43.000  > 37.000
pot 3  < 17.000  > 24.000
pot 4  <  9.000

Unknown                      coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------
Sporting CP Lisbon       Por  52.500
Stade Rennais            Fra  44.000
Real Betis               Esp  37.000
Brighton & Hove Albion   Eng >21.799
SC Freiburg              Ger  16.496
Toulouse FC              Fra  12.232

CL-PO @4                      27.000 - 55.000
CL-PO @4                      25.000 - 40.500
CL-PO @4                      24.500 - 34.500
CL-PO @4                      17.000 - 31.500

CL-POnc @4                    43.000 - 54.000
CL-POnc @4                    33.000 - 44.000

CL-Q3nc @4                    17.000 - 43.000
CL-Q3nc @4                    12.500 - 33.000
CL-Q3nc @4                     8.000 - 19.000
CL-Q3nc @4                     6.475 - 16.000

EL-PO *4 (P2P2)               15.000 - 27.000
EL-PO *4 (P2P2)               14.000 - 25.000
EL-PO *4 (P1P3)                9.000 - 89.000
EL-PO *4 (P3P2)                9.000 - 24.500
EL-PO *4 (P3P2)                9.000 - 24.000
EL-PO *4 (P1P3)                8.500 - 36.000
EL-PO *4 (P1P4)                8.000 - 52.000
EL-PO *4 (P1P4)                7.280 - 39.000
EL-PO *4 (P1P4)                6.335 - 16.000
EL-PO *4 (P1P3)                4.895 - 19.000


Pot 1                          coef.             Pot 2                          coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------    ------------------------ --- ----------------
ECL-TH                                           .
Liverpool                Eng 123.000             .
AS Roma                  Ita  97.000             .
Villarreal               Esp  82.000             .
Bayer Leverkusen         Ger  72.000             .
Atalanta                 Ita  55.500             .
.                                                .
.                                                .

Pot 3                          coef.             Pot 4                          coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------    ------------------------ --- ----------------
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Clubs from the same association will not be drawn into the same group and are paired to play on separate days as much as possible. The groups A-D are assigned a red colour and the groups E-H are blue. When a paired club is drawn into a group the other paired club can only be drawn into a group with another colour.

A computer draw determines the fixtures such that each club plays one home and one away match against each other club in its group. A club does not play more than two home or two away matches in a row and each club plays one home match and one away match on the first two matchdays and the last two matchdays.

The eight group-winners of the group stage qualify for the round of 16. The eight runners-up of the group stage qualify for the knockout round play-offs of the Europa League. The clubs that finish this stage in third position in their group qualify for the knockout play-offs of the Europa Conference League. The clubs that finish this stage in fourth position in their group are eliminated.

In the knockout round play-offs the runners-up of the Europa League group stage are seeded above the teams that finish third in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Clubs from the same association can not be drawn against each other.

EL-KO: Knockout round play-offs (16 clubs)
2nd in EL group                                  3rd in CL group
------------------------ --- ----------------    ------------------------ --- ----------------
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For the round of 16, the group winners are seeded above the eight winners of the knockout round play-offs. Clubs from the same association can not be drawn against each other.

EL-R16: Round of 16 (16 clubs)
1st in EL group                                  winner of knockout round play-offs
------------------------ --- ----------------    ------------------------ --- ----------------
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For the draw of the quarter-finals and semi-finals no clubs will be seeded.

KEY:

*3=club started in 3rd qualifying round
*4=club started in play-off round
@2=club eliminated in CL 2nd qualifying round
@3=club eliminated in CL 3rd qualifying round
@4=club eliminated in CL 4th qualifying round
#=qualified for knockout round play-offs from group stage of the Champions League
*!=Russian clubs are suspended

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