The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 18 August and ended on 1 October 2020.^[1]

A total of 178 teams competed in the qualifying system of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, which includes the qualifying phase and the play-off round, with 35 teams in Champions Path and 143 teams in Main Path. The 21 winners in the play-off round (8 from Champions Path, 13 from Main Path) advanced to the group stage, to join the 18 teams that enter in the group stage, the 6 losers of the Champions League play-off round (4 from Champions Path, 2 from League Path), and the 3 League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round.^[2]

Times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Teams

Champions Path

Main article: 2020–21 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round (Champions Path)

The Champions Path includes all league champions which are eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League, and consists of the following rounds:

• Second qualifying round (20 teams): 20 teams which enter in this round (3 losers of the Champions League preliminary round and 17 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round).
• Third qualifying round (18 teams): 8 teams which enter in this round (8 of the 10 losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 10 winners of the second qualifying round.
• Play-off round (16 teams): 7 teams which enter in this round (2 of the 10 losers of the Champions League second qualifying round and 5 losers of the Champions League third qualifying round), and 9 winners of the third qualifying round.

Below are the participating teams of the Champions Path (with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients),^[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Key to colours
Winners of play-off round advance to group stage

Play-off round Team Coeff.[3] Dinamo Zagreb[Q3] 33.500 Ludogorets Razgrad[Q2 Bye] 26.000 Young Boys[Q3] 25.500 Red Star Belgrade[Q3] 22.750 Qarabağ[Q3] 21.000 Dynamo Brest[Q3] 3.775 Tirana[Q2 Bye] 1.475

Third qualifying round Team Coeff.[3] Celtic[Q2] 34.000 Legia Warsaw[Q2] 17.000 Sheriff Tiraspol[Q2] 12.750 CFR Cluj[Q2] 12.500 Sūduva[Q2] 6.750 Sarajevo[Q2] 4.750 KÍ[Q2] 2.750 Celje[Q2] 2.600

Second qualifying round Team Coeff.[3] Astana[Q1] 29.000 Dundalk[Q1] 8.500 Slovan Bratislava[Q1] 7.000 Dinamo Tbilisi[Q1] 4.750 Fola Esch[Q1] 4.750 Djurgårdens IF[Q1] 4.550 Linfield[Q1] 4.250 Budućnost Podgorica[Q1] 4.250 Flora[Q1] 4.000 Riga[Q1] 3.500 Connah's Quay Nomads[Q1] 3.250 Europa[Q1] 2.750 Ararat-Armenia[Q1] 2.500 KuPS[Q1] 2.500 KR[Q1] 2.500 Tre Fiori[PR SF] 1.500 Drita[PR F] 1.500 Sileks[Q1] 1.475 Floriana[Q1] 1.150 Inter Club d'Escaldes[PR SF] 0.566

Notes

1. ^Q3 Losers of Champions League third qualifying round (Champions Path).
2. ^{Q2 Bye} Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path), determined by a draw held on 31 August 2020 after the Europa League second qualifying round draw,^[4] which received a bye to the Europa League play-off round.
3. ^Q2 Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (Champions Path).
4. ^Q1 Losers of Champions League first qualifying round.
5. ^{PR F} Losers of Champions League preliminary round final.
6. ^{PR SF} Losers of Champions League preliminary round semi-finals.

Main Path

Main article: 2020–21 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round (Main Path)

The Main Path includes all cup winners and league non-champions which do not qualify directly for the group stage, and consists of the following rounds:

• Preliminary round (16 teams): 16 teams which enter in this round.
• First qualifying round (94 teams): 86 teams which enter in this round, and 8 winners of the preliminary round.
• Second qualifying round (72 teams): 25 teams which enter in this round, and 47 winners of the first qualifying round.
• Third qualifying round (52 teams): 16 teams which enter in this round (including 3 League Path losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 36 winners of the second qualifying round.
• Play-off round (26 teams): 26 winners of the third qualifying round.

Below are the participating teams of the Main Path (with their 2020 UEFA club coefficients),^[3] grouped by their starting rounds.

Key to colours
Winners of play-off round advance to group stage

Third qualifying round Team Coeff.[3] Beşiktaş[CL] 54.000 Sporting CP 50.000 PSV Eindhoven 37.000 Viktoria Plzeň[CL] 34.000 AEK Athens 16.500 LASK 14.000 Rostov 12.000 Rijeka 11.000 Charleroi 7.580 Desna Chernihiv 7.220 Alanyaspor 6.720 SønderjyskE 5.850 Anorthosis 5.350 St. Gallen 5.280 Vojvodina 5.100 Lokomotiva[CL] 4.975

Second qualifying round Team Coeff.[3] Tottenham Hotspur 85.000 Basel 58.500 Copenhagen 42.000 VfL Wolfsburg 36.000 BATE Borisov 24.000 Galatasaray 23.500 Standard Liège 20.500 Granada 20.456 Milan 19.000 Rangers 16.250 Reims 11.849 Rio Ave 9.889 Dynamo Moscow 9.109 Slovan Liberec 8.000 Hajduk Split 7.500 Kolos Kovalivka 7.220 Willem II 7.150 Jablonec 7.000 Hartberg 6.585 Aris 5.260 OFI 5.260 Osijek 4.975 IFK Göteborg 4.550 Viking 4.350 Kaisar 3.850

First qualifying round Team Coeff.[3] APOEL 27.500 Malmö FF 22.000 Partizan 22.000 FCSB 20.500 Maribor 14.000 Hapoel Be'er Sheva 14.000 Rosenborg 13.500 Apollon Limassol 12.500 Fehérvár 10.500 Shkëndija 7.250 The New Saints 7.000 Dinamo Minsk 7.000 Lech Poznań 7.000 Aberdeen 6.500 Zrinjski Mostar 6.250 Alashkert 6.000 Kairat 6.000 Žalgiris 6.000 AGF 5.850 Motherwell 5.575 Vaduz 5.500 Kukësi 5.500 Servette 5.280 Valletta 5.250 Ventspils 5.250 Olimpija 5.250 TSC Bačka Topola 5.100 Universitatea Craiova 5.000 Nõmme Kalju 5.000 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 4.750 Hammarby IF 4.550 FH 4.500 Bodø/Glimt 4.350 Progrès Niederkorn 4.250 Riteriai 4.250 CSKA Sofia 4.000 Sutjeska Nikšić 4.000 Honvéd 4.000 Maccabi Haifa 3.925 Beitar Jerusalem 3.925 Ordabasy 3.850 Neftçi 3.750 Shamrock Rovers 3.750 Keşla 3.750 Sumgayit 3.750 Lokomotiv Plovdiv 3.475 Slavia Sofia 3.475 Botoșani 3.340 Piast Gliwice 3.325 Cracovia 3.325 FCI Levadia 3.250 Hibernians 3.250 DAC Dunajská Streda 3.175 Ružomberok 3.175 Žilina 3.175 Željezničar 3.000 Laçi 2.750 Mura 2.600 Puskás Akadémia 2.575 Saburtalo Tbilisi 2.000 Shkupi 2.000 Petrocub Hîncești 2.000 Differdange 03 1.600 Union Titus Pétange 1.600 Kauno Žalgiris 1.575 RFS 1.525 Shirak 1.525 Valmiera 1.525 Noah 1.525 Renova 1.475 Teuta 1.475 Borac Banja Luka 1.375 Sfântul Gheorghe 1.350 Dinamo-Auto 1.350 Derry City 1.340 Bohemians 1.340 Inter Turku 1.300 Ilves 1.300 Honka 1.300 Breiðablik 1.250 Bala Town 1.250 Dinamo Batumi 1.150 Sirens 1.150 Locomotive Tbilisi 1.150 Víkingur Reykjavík 1.075 Paide Linnameeskond 0.875

Preliminary round Team Coeff.[3] Lincoln Red Imps 5.250 FC Santa Coloma 4.500 B36 Tórshavn 3.750 La Fiorita 3.000 Tre Penne 2.250 NSÍ Runavík 2.250 HB Tórshavn 2.000 Engordany 2.000 St Joseph's 1.750 Prishtina 1.750 Zeta 1.250 Coleraine 1.250 Barry Town United 1.000 Glentoran 0.975 Iskra Danilovgrad 0.875 Gjilani 0.800

Notes

1. ^CL Losers of Champions League second qualifying round (League Path).

Format

In a change to the format as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, each tie is played as a single-legged match hosted by one of the teams decided by draw.^[1][5] If scores are level at the end of normal time, extra time is played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the scores remain tied.

In each draw of the Champions Path, teams (whose identity may not be known at the time of the draws) are divided into seeded and unseeded pots, which may contain different numbers of teams, based on the following principles:

• In the second qualifying round draw, 17 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round are seeded, and the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round are unseeded.
• In the third qualifying round draw, the eight losers of the Champions League second qualifying round are seeded and the ten winners of the second qualifying round are unseeded.
• In the play-off round draw, the five losers of the Champions League third qualifying round are seeded; the remaining two losers of the Champions League second qualifying round and the nine winners of the third qualifying round are unseeded.

In the beginning of the draws, a seeded team is drawn against an unseeded team until one of the pots is empty. Afterwards, the remaining teams from the non-empty pot are drawn against each other. For each tie, a draw is made between the two teams, and the first team drawn is the home team.

In each draw of the Main Path, teams are seeded based on their 2020 UEFA club coefficients. For any team whose club coefficients are not final at the time of a draw, their club coefficients at that time, taking into account of all 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches played up to that point, are used (Regulations Article 13.03). Teams are divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams, and a seeded team is drawn against an unseeded team. For each tie, a draw is made between the two teams, and the first team drawn is the home team. If the identity of the winners of the previous round is not known at the time of the draws, the seeding is carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advances to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient is to advance, it simply takes the seeding of its opponent. Teams from the same association or associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA may not be drawn into the same tie. Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee and based on geographical, logistical and political reasons, and they are purely for convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, all qualifying matches are played behind closed doors.^[6] The following special rules are applicable to the qualifying phase and play-offs:^[7]

• Prior to each draw, UEFA publish the list of known travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. All teams must inform UEFA if there are other existing restrictions other than those published. If a team fails to do so which as a consequence the match cannot take place, the team is considered responsible and to have forfeited the match.
• If travel restrictions imposed by the home team's country prevent the away team from entering, the home team must propose an alternative venue that allows the match to take place without any restrictions. Otherwise they are considered to have forfeited the match.
• If travel restrictions imposed by the away team's country prevent the away team from leaving or returning, the home team must propose an alternative venue that allows the match to take place without any restrictions. Otherwise UEFA decide on a venue.
• If after the draw, new restrictions imposed by either the home team's or away team's country prevent the match from taking place, the team of that country are considered to have forfeited the match.
• If either team refuses to play the match, they are considered to have forfeited the match. If both teams refuse to play or are responsible for a match not taking place, both teams are disqualified.
• If a team has players and/or officials tested positive for SARS-2 coronavirus preventing them from playing the match before the deadline set by UEFA, they are considered to have forfeited the match.
• In all cases, the two teams may agree to play the match at the away team's country or at a neutral country, subject to UEFA's approval. UEFA has the final authority to decide on a venue for any match, or to reschedule any match if necessary.
• If, for any reason, the qualifying phase and play-offs cannot be completed before the deadline set by UEFA, UEFA decide on the principles for determining the teams qualified for the group stage.

Four countries (Poland, Hungary, Greece and Cyprus) have provided neutral venue hubs which allow matches to be played at their stadiums without restrictions.^[8]

Schedule

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).^[9] The tournament would originally have started in June 2020, but had been delayed to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.^[10] The new schedule was announced by the UEFA Executive Committee on 17 June 2020.^[1]

The original schedule of the competition, as planned before the pandemic, was as follows (all draws held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

Preliminary round

The draw for the preliminary round was held on 9 August 2020, 13:00 CEST.^[11]

Summary

The matches were played on 18, 20 and 21 August 2020. The match between Lincoln Red Imps and Prishtina on 18 August was postponed due to the whole Prishtina team being put into quarantine after eight players had tested positive for SARS-2 coronavirus. The game was rescheduled to 22nd August, with Prishtina using UEFA regulations to sign on emergency loan players from rival Kosovar Superleague clubs Feronikel, Llapi, Trepca '89, Flamurtar, Ballkani, Drenica and Vushtrria in order to fulfil the fixture.^[12] However the rearranged fixture also had to be cancelled after 7 more players tested positive for coronavirus, and Lincoln Red Imps were awarded a technical 3–0 win by UEFA.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Tre Penne	1–3	Gjilani
Lincoln Red Imps	3–0 (awd.)[note 1]	Prishtina
FC Santa Coloma	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–4 p)	Iskra Danilovgrad
Engordany	1–3	Zeta
Glentoran	1–0	HB Tórshavn
St Joseph's	1–2	B36 Tórshavn
Coleraine	1–0	La Fiorita
NSÍ Runavík	5–1	Barry Town United

First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 10 August 2020, 13:00 CEST.^[18]

Summary

Most matches were played on 25, 26 and 27 August 2020, however two matches were postponed to 9 and 10 September 2020.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Maribor	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Coleraine
Olimpija	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Víkingur Reykjavík
B36 Tórshavn	4–3 (a.e.t.)	FCI Levadia
Riteriai	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Derry City
Žalgiris	2–0	Paide Linnameeskond
Honvéd	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Inter Turku
Zrinjski Mostar	3–0	Differdange 03
Valletta	0–1	Bala Town
Lincoln Red Imps	2–0	Union Titus Pétange
Rosenborg	4–2	Breiðablik
Aberdeen	6–0	NSÍ Runavík
Motherwell	5–1	Glentoran
Hammarby IF	3–0	Puskás Akadémia
Malmö FF	2–0	Cracovia
Kukësi	2–1	Slavia Sofia
Ventspils	2–1	Dinamo-Auto
Shakhtyor Soligorsk	0–0 (a.e.t.) (1–4 p)	Sfântul Gheorghe
Dinamo Minsk	0–2	Piast Gliwice
AGF	5–2	Honka
Shamrock Rovers	2–2 (a.e.t.) (12–11 p)	Ilves
FH	0–2	DAC Dunajská Streda
The New Saints	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Žilina
Vaduz	0–2	Hibernians
Servette	3–0	Ružomberok
Neftçi	2–1	Shkupi
Keşla	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	Laçi
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	3–0	Dinamo Batumi
Nõmme Kalju	0–4	Mura
Bodø/Glimt	6–1	Kauno Žalgiris
Fehérvár	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Bohemians
Apollon Limassol	5–1	Saburtalo Tbilisi
Maccabi Haifa	3–1	Željezničar
Alashkert	0–1	Renova
Partizan	1–0	RFS
Lech Poznań	3–0	Valmiera
Ordabasy	1–2	Botoșani
FCSB	3–0	Shirak
Progrès Niederkorn	3–0	Zeta
CSKA Sofia	2–1	Sirens
Petrocub Hîncești	0–2	TSC Bačka Topola
Sumgayit	0–2	Shkëndija
Kairat	4–1	Noah
Locomotive Tbilisi	2–1	Universitatea Craiova
Teuta	2–0	Beitar Jerusalem
Borac Banja Luka	1–0	Sutjeska Nikšić
Iskra Danilovgrad	0–1	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Gjilani	0–2 (a.e.t.)	APOEL

Second qualifying round

The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 31 August 2020, 13:00 CEST.^[4]

Summary

The matches were played on 16, 17 and 18 September 2020.

Champions Path

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Inter Club d'Escaldes	0–1	Dundalk
KuPS	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3 p)	Slovan Bratislava
Linfield	0–1	Floriana
Riga	1–0	Tre Fiori
Djurgårdens IF	2–1	Europa
Flora	2–1	KR
Sileks	0–2	Drita
Astana	0–1	Budućnost Podgorica
Ararat-Armenia	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Fola Esch
Connah's Quay Nomads	0–1	Dinamo Tbilisi

Main Path

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Hammarby IF	0–3	Lech Poznań
Kaisar	1–4	APOEL
Mura	3–0	AGF
Maccabi Haifa	2–1	Kairat
Locomotive Tbilisi	2–1	Dynamo Moscow
Neftçi	1–3	Galatasaray
B36 Tórshavn	2–2 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p)	The New Saints
Coleraine	2–2 (a.e.t.) (0–3 p)	Motherwell
IFK Göteborg	1–2	Copenhagen
TSC Bačka Topola	6–6 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)	FCSB
Teuta	0–4	Granada
OFI	0–1	Apollon Limassol
Progrès Niederkorn	0–5	Willem II
Viking	0–2	Aberdeen
Standard Liège	2–0[upper-alpha 1]	Bala Town
Sfântul Gheorghe	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Partizan
CSKA Sofia	2–0	BATE Borisov
Botoșani	0–1	Shkëndija
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	1–2	Tottenham Hotspur
Laçi	1–2	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Aris	1–2	Kolos Kovalivka
Honvéd	0–2	Malmö FF
Ventspils	1–5	Rosenborg
Riteriai	1–5	Slovan Liberec
Lincoln Red Imps	0–5	Rangers
Servette	0–1	Reims
Borac Banja Luka	0–2	Rio Ave
Renova	0–1	Hajduk Split
Olimpija	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Zrinjski Mostar
Kukësi	0–4	VfL Wolfsburg
DAC Dunajská Streda	5–3 (a.e.t.)	Jablonec
Piast Gliwice	3–2	Hartberg
Osijek	1–2	Basel
Shamrock Rovers	0–2	Milan
Hibernians	0–1	Fehérvár
Bodø/Glimt	3–1	Žalgiris

Notes

1. ↑ Bala Town were drawn as the home team in the original draw, but the tie was switched to a home match of Standard Liège due to the inability of Bala Town to secure a suitable venue.^[19]

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 1 September 2020, 13:00 CEST.^[20]

Summary

The matches were played on 23 and 24 September 2020.

Champions Path

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Tirana	Bye	N/A
Ludogorets Razgrad	Bye	N/A
Sarajevo	2–1	Budućnost Podgorica
Sheriff Tiraspol	1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p)	Dundalk
Ararat-Armenia	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Celje
Riga	0–1	Celtic
KuPS	2–0	Sūduva
Legia Warsaw	2–0	Drita
KÍ	6–1	Dinamo Tbilisi
Djurgårdens IF	0–1	CFR Cluj
Floriana	0–0 (a.e.t.) (2–4 p)	Flora

Main Path

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Mura	1–5	PSV Eindhoven
Malmö FF	5–0	Lokomotiva
Sporting CP	1–0	Aberdeen
Charleroi	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Partizan
Rosenborg	1–0	Alanyaspor
VfL Wolfsburg	2–0	Desna Chernihiv
Fehérvár	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–1 p)	Reims
Granada	2–0	Locomotive Tbilisi
Rijeka	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Kolos Kovalivka
St. Gallen	0–1	AEK Athens
LASK	7–0	DAC Dunajská Streda
Milan	3–2	Bodø/Glimt
Shkëndija	1–3	Tottenham Hotspur
Standard Liège	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Vojvodina
Rostov	1–2	Maccabi Haifa
Willem II	0–4	Rangers
Apollon Limassol	0–5	Lech Poznań
Beşiktaş	1–1 (a.e.t.) (2–4 p)	Rio Ave
FCSB	0–2	Slovan Liberec
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	3–0	Motherwell
Copenhagen	3–0	Piast Gliwice
Basel	3–2	Anorthosis
Galatasaray	2–0	Hajduk Split
Viktoria Plzeň	3–0	SønderjyskE
APOEL	2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Zrinjski Mostar
CSKA Sofia	3–1	B36 Tórshavn

Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 18 September 2020, 14:00 CEST.^[21]

Summary

The matches were played on 1 October 2020.

Champions Path

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Young Boys	3–0	Tirana
Dinamo Zagreb	3–1	Flora
CFR Cluj	3–1	KuPS
Ararat-Armenia	1–2	Red Star Belgrade
Dynamo Brest	0–2	Ludogorets Razgrad
Sarajevo	0–1	Celtic
Legia Warsaw	0–3	Qarabağ
Dundalk	3–1	KÍ

Main Path

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Hapoel Be'er Sheva	1–0	Viktoria Plzeň
Basel	1–3	CSKA Sofia
Rio Ave	2–2 (a.e.t.) (8–9 p)	Milan
Rosenborg	0–2	PSV Eindhoven
Sporting CP	1–4	LASK
Copenhagen	0–1	Rijeka
AEK Athens	2–1	VfL Wolfsburg
Charleroi	1–2	Lech Poznań
Malmö FF	1–3	Granada
Tottenham Hotspur	7–2	Maccabi Haifa
Slovan Liberec	1–0	APOEL
Standard Liège	3–1	Fehérvár
Rangers	2–1	Galatasaray

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Fixtures and Results, 2020–21, UEFA.com