The 2024–25 UEFA Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 10 July and will end on 29 August 2024.[1]
A total of 152 teams will compete in the qualifying system of the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League, which includes the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 20 teams in the Champions Path and 132 teams in the Main Path. The 24 winners of the play-off round advanced to the league phase, to join the 12 losers of the Europa League play-off round.[2]
The qualifying phase and play-off round is split into two paths – the Champions Path and the Main Path. The Champions Path contains teams which were eliminated from the Champions League Champions Path and the Europa League Champions Path and the Main Path contains teams which qualify through their domestic league or as domestic cup winners as well as teams eliminated from the Europa League Main Path.
Each tie will be played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs will advance to the next round. If the aggregate score is level at the end of normal time of the second leg, extra time will be played, and if the same number of goals is scored by both teams during extra time, the tie will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[3]
In the draws for each round in the Main Path, teams will be seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. A seeded team will be drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw. As the identity of the winners of the previous round may not known at the time of the draws, the seeding will be carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to the subsequent round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient advances, it will simply take the seeding of its opponent.
In the draws for each round in the Champions Path, teams will be seeded based on the round in which they enter the Conference League. As a result, there will be no seeding in the second and third qualifying rounds.
Prior to the draws, UEFA can form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee purely for the convenience of the draw and not to resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA can not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie can be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.
The schedule of the competition is as follows. All matches are scheduled to be played on Thursdays.[1]
Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg | |
---|---|---|---|---|
First qualifying round | 18 June 2024 | 11 July 2024 | 18 July 2024 | |
Second qualifying round | 19 June 2024 | 25 July 2024 | 1 August 2024 | |
Third qualifying round | 22 July 2024 | 8 August 2024 | 15 August 2024 | |
Play-off round | 5 August 2024 | 22 August 2024 | 29 August 2024 |
See main article: 2024–25 UEFA Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round (Champions Path).
The Champions Path will include league champions which were eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League and the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Europa League and consists of the following rounds:
Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2024 UEFA club coefficients, not to be used as seeding for the Champions Path, however), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to colours | |
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Winners of play-off round advance to league stage | |
Teams eliminated |
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See main article: 2024–25 UEFA Conference League qualifying phase and play-off round (Main Path).
The Main Path will include league non-champions and domestic cup winners and consists of the following rounds:
Below are the participating teams of the League Path (with their 2024 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their starting rounds.
Key to colours | |
---|---|
Winners of play-off round advance to league stage | |
Teams eliminated |
The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 18 June 2024.
A total of 50 teams took part in the first qualifying round. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. Before the draw, UEFA allocated the teams into five groups of five seeded and five unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee.[4] The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | |||||||||
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width=16.7% | Seeded | width=16.7% | Unseeded | width=16.7% | Seeded | width=16.7% | Unseeded | width=16.6% | Seeded | width=16.6% | Unseeded |
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | ||||||
Group 4 | Group 5 | ||||||||||
Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | ||||||||
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 10 and 11 July, and the second legs were played on 17 and 18 July 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the Main Path second qualifying round. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2024.
A total of 98 teams played in the second qualifying round – 12 in the Champions Path and 86 in the Main Path. Seeding of teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. For the winners of the first qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. For the losers of the Champions League first qualifying round and the Europa League first qualifying round, the club coefficient of the lower-ranked team in each tie was used. Before the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
---|---|---|---|---|
valign=top | valign=top |
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
width=16.7% | Seeded | width=16.7% | Unseeded | width=16.7% | Seeded | width=16.7% | Unseeded | width=16.6% | Seeded | width=16.6% | Unseeded | |
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | |||||||
Group 4 | Group 5 | Group 6 | ||||||||||
Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | |||||||
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | |||||||
Group 7 | Group 8 | Group 9 | ||||||||||
Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | |||||||
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 23, 24 and 25 July, and the second legs were played on 30, 31 July and 1 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the third qualifying round of their respective path. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 22 July 2024.
A total of 60 teams played in the third qualifying round – eight in the Champions Path and 52 in the Main Path. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients. For the winners of the second qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. For the losers of the Europa League second qualifying round, the club coefficient of the lower-ranked team in each tie was used. Before the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie was the home team for the first leg.
width=50% | Seeded | width=50% | Unseeded | |
---|---|---|---|---|
valign=top | valign=top |
Group 2 | Group 3 | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
width=16.7% | Seeded | width=16.7% | Unseeded | width=16.7% | Seeded | width=16.7% | Unseeded | width=16.6% | Seeded | width=16.6% | Unseeded |
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | ||||||
Group 4 | Group 5 | ||||||||||
Seeded | Unseeded | Seeded | Unseeded | ||||||||
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs were played on 6, 7 and 8 August, and the second legs were played on 13, 14 and 15 August 2024.
The winners of the ties advanced to the play-off round of their respective path. The losers were eliminated from European competitions for the season.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2024.
A total of 48 teams play in the play-off round – 10 in the Champions Path and 38 in the Main Path. Seeding of the teams was based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.[5] For the winners of the third qualifying round, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, the club coefficient of the highest-ranked remaining team in each tie was used. For the losers of the Europa League third qualifying round, the club coefficient of the lower-ranked team in each tie was used. Before the draw, UEFA formed groups of seeded and unseeded teams per the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. The first team drawn in each tie would be the home team for the first leg.
Unseeded | ||||
valign=top | valign=top |
Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | ||||||||||||||
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width=12.5% | Seeded | width=12.5% | Unseeded | width=12.5% | Seeded | width=12.5% | Unseeded | width=12.5% | Seeded | width=12.5% | Unseeded | width=12.5% | Seeded | width=12.5% | Unseeded | |
valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top | valign=top |
The first legs will be played on 20, 21 and 22 August, and the second legs will be played on 28 and 29 August 2024.
The winners of the ties will advance to the league phase. The losers are eliminated from European competitions for the season.