2025–26 UEFA Europa League

2025–26 UEFA Europa League
	The Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul hosted the final
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying:; 10 July – 28 August 2025; Competition proper:; 24 September 2025 – 20 May 2026
Teams	Competition proper: 25+11; Total: 45+32 (from 41 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Aston Villa (1st title)
Runners-up	SC Freiburg

The 2025–26 UEFA Europa League was the 55th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 17th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played on 20 May 2026 at the Beşiktaş Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.^[1] Aston Villa won their first UEFA Europa League title beating SC Freiburg of Germany in the final 3–0.

Teams

Entry round		Teams
League phase		Aston Villa (6th)	Nottingham Forest (7th)	Bologna (CW)	Roma (5th)
		Real Betis (6th)	Celta Vigo (7th)	VfB Stuttgart (CW)	SC Freiburg (5th)
		Lille (5th)	Lyon (6th)	Go Ahead Eagles (CW)	Porto (3rd)
		Dinamo Zagreb (2nd)	Celtic (CL CH PO)	Basel (CL CH PO)	Sturm Graz (CL CH PO)
		Red Star Belgrade (CL CH PO)	Ferencváros (CL CH PO)	Fenerbahçe (CL LP PO)	Rangers (CL LP PO)
		Nice (CL LP Q3)	Feyenoord (CL LP Q3)	Viktoria Plzeň (CL LP Q3)	Red Bull Salzburg (CL LP Q3)

Play-off round		Genk (3rd)	Samsunspor (3rd)	Sigma Olomouc (CW)	Aberdeen (CW)
		Young Boys (3rd)	Dynamo Kyiv (CL CH Q3)	Lech Poznań (CL CH Q3)	Malmö FF (CL CH Q3)
		Ludogorets Razgrad (CL CH Q3)	Slovan Bratislava (CL CH Q3)	Shkëndija (CL CH Q3)

Third qualifying round	CH	Maccabi Tel Aviv (CL CH Q2)	Rijeka (CL CH Q2)	FCSB (CL CH Q2)	Drita (CL CH Q2)
		KuPS (CL CH Q2)	Shelbourne (CL CH Q2)	Noah (CL CH Q2)	RFS (CL CH Q2)
		Zrinjski Mostar (CL CH Q2)	Breiðablik (CL CH Q2)	Hamrun Spartans (CL CH Q2)	Lincoln Red Imps (CL CH Q2)
	MP	Wolfsberger AC (CW)	Fredrikstad (CW)	PAOK (3rd)	Servette (CL LP Q2)
	MP	Brann (CL LP Q2)	Panathinaikos (CL LP Q2)

Second qualifying round		Utrecht (4th)	Braga (4th)	Anderlecht (4th)	Beşiktaş (4th)
Second qualifying round		Baník Ostrava (3rd)	Hibernian (3rd)	Lugano (4th)	Midtjylland (2nd)

First qualifying round		Hapoel Be'er Sheva (CW)	Shakhtar Donetsk (CW)	Partizan (2nd)	Legia Warsaw (CW)
		AEK Larnaca (CW)	Paks (CW)	BK Häcken (CW)	CFR Cluj (CW)
		Levski Sofia (2nd)	Sabah (CW)	Spartak Trnava (CW)	Celje (CW)
		Sheriff Tiraspol (CW)	Prishtina (CW)	Aktobe (CW)	Ilves (CW)

Schedule

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	17 June 2025	10 July 2025	17 July 2025
	Second qualifying round	18 June 2025	24 July 2025	31 July 2025
	Third qualifying round	21 July 2025	7 August 2025	14 August 2025
Play-offs	Play-off round	4 August 2025	21 August 2025	28 August 2025
League phase	Matchday 1	29 August 2025	24–25 September 2025
	Matchday 2		2 October 2025
	Matchday 3		23 October 2025
	Matchday 4		6 November 2025
	Matchday 5		27 November 2025
	Matchday 6		11 December 2025
	Matchday 7		22 January 2026
	Matchday 8		29 January 2026
Knockout phase	Knockout round play-offs	30 January 2026	19 February 2026	26 February 2026
	Round of 16	27 February 2026	12 March 2026	19 March 2026
	Quarter-finals		9 April 2026	16 April 2026
	Semi-finals		30 April 2026	7 May 2026
	Final		20 May 2026 at Beşiktaş Stadium, Istanbul

Qualifying rounds

First qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Shakhtar Donetsk	6–0	Ilves	6–0	0–0
Sheriff Tiraspol	5–2	Prishtina	4–0	1–2
Spartak Trnava	2–3	BK Häcken	0–1	2–2
Sabah	5–6	Celje	2–3	3–3 (aet)
Legia Warsaw	2–0	Aktobe	1–0	1–0
Levski Sofia	1–1 (3–1 p)	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	0–0	1–1 (aet)
AEK Larnaca	2–2 (6–5 p)	Partizan	1–0	1–2 (aet)
Paks	0–3	CFR Cluj	0–0	0–3

Second qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Lugano	0–1	CFR Cluj	0–0	0–1 (aet)
Celje	2–3	AEK Larnaca	1–1	1–2
Levski Sofia	0–1	Braga	0–0	0–1 (aet)
Baník Ostrava	3–4	Legia Warsaw	2–2	1–2
Anderlecht	2–2 (2–4 p)	BK Häcken	1–0	1–2 (aet)
Sheriff Tiraspol	2–7	Utrecht	1–3	1–4
Midtjylland	3–2	Hibernian	1–1	2–1 (aet)
Beşiktaş	2–6	Shakhtar Donetsk	2–4	0–2

Third qualifying round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Champions Path
Lincoln Red Imps	1–1 (6–5 P)	Noah	1–1	0–0 (aet)
Rijeka	4–3	Shelbourne	1–2	3–1
RFS	1–3	KuPS	1–2	0–1
Hamrun Spartans	2–5	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–2	1–3
Zrinjski Mostar	3–2	Breiðablik	1–1	2–1
FCSB	6–3	Drita	3–2	3–1
League Path
AEK Larnaca	5–3	Legia Warsaw	4–1	1–2
Fredrikstad	1–5	Midtjylland	1–3	0–2
CFR Cluj	1–4	Braga	1–2	0–2
PAOK	1–0	Wolfsberger AC	0–0	1–0 (aet)
Servette	2–5	Utrecht	1–3	1–2
BK Häcken	1–2	Brann	0–2	1–0
Panathinaikos	0–0 (4–3 p)	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–0	0–0 (aet)

Play-off round

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Maccabi Tel Aviv	3–2	Dynamo Kyiv	3–1	0–1
Shkëndija	3–5	Ludogorets Razgrad	2–1	1–4 (a.e.t)
Slovan Bratislava	2–4	Young Boys	0–1	2–3
Malmö FF	5–0	Sigma Olomouc	3–0	2–0
Panathinaikos	2–1	Samsunspor	2–1	0–0
Aberdeen	2–5	FCSB	2–2	0–3
Lech Poznań	3–6	Genk	1–5	2–1
Midtjylland	6–0	KuPS	4–0	2–0
Lincoln Red Imps	1–9	Braga	0–4	1–5
Zrinjski Mostar	0–2	Utrecht	0–2	0–0
Brann	6–1	AEK Larnaca	2–1	4–0
Rijeka	1–5	PAOK	1–0	0–5

League phase

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Lyon	8	7	0	1	18	5	+13	21	Advance to round of 16 (seeded)
2	Aston Villa	8	7	0	1	14	6	+8	21
3	Midtjylland	8	6	1	1	18	8	+10	19
4	Real Betis	8	5	2	1	13	7	+6	17
5	Porto	8	5	2	1	13	7	+6	17
6	Braga	8	5	2	1	11	5	+6	17
7	SC Freiburg	8	5	2	1	10	4	+6	17
8	Roma	8	5	1	2	13	6	+7	16
9	Genk	8	5	1	2	11	7	+4	16	Advance to knockout phase play-offs (seeded)
10	Bologna	8	4	3	1	14	7	+7	15
11	VfB Stuttgart	8	5	0	3	15	9	+6	15
12	Ferencváros	8	4	3	1	12	11	+1	15
13	Nottingham Forest	8	4	2	2	15	7	+8	14
14	Viktoria Plzeň	8	3	5	0	8	3	+5	14
15	Red Star Belgrade	8	4	2	2	7	6	+1	14
16	Celta Vigo	8	4	1	3	15	11	+4	13
17	PAOK	8	3	3	2	17	14	+3	12	Advance to knockout phase play-offs (unseeded)
18	Lille	8	4	0	4	12	9	+3	12
19	Fenerbahçe	8	3	3	2	10	7	+3	12
20	Panathinaikos	8	3	3	2	11	9	+2	12
21	Celtic	8	3	2	3	13	15	−2	11
22	Ludogorets Razgrad	8	3	1	4	12	15	−3	10
23	Dinamo Zagreb	8	3	1	4	12	16	−4	10
24	Brann	8	2	3	3	9	11	−2	9
25	Young Boys	8	3	0	5	10	16	−6	9
26	Sturm Graz	8	2	1	5	5	11	−6	7
27	FCSB	8	2	1	5	9	16	−7	7
28	Go Ahead Eagles	8	2	1	5	6	14	−8	7
29	Feyenoord	8	2	0	6	11	15	−4	6
30	Basel	8	2	0	6	9	13	−4	6
31	Red Bull Salzburg	8	2	0	6	10	15	−5	6
32	Rangers	8	1	1	6	5	14	−9	4
33	Nice	8	1	0	7	7	15	−8	3
34	Utrecht	8	0	1	7	5	15	−10	1
35	Malmö FF	8	0	1	7	4	15	−11	1
36	Maccabi Tel Aviv	8	0	1	7	2	22	−20	1

Source: UEFA^[2]
Rules for classification: League phase tiebreakers

Knockout phase

Bracket


Knockout phase play-offs					Round of 16					Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Final



					12	Ferencváros	2	0	2

22	Ludogorets Razgrad	2	0	2	6	Braga	0	4	4
										6	Braga	1	4	5
12	Ferencváros	1	2	3
										4	Real Betis	1	2	3
					20	Panathinaikos	1	0	1

20	Panathinaikos (p)	2	1	3 (4)	4	Real Betis	0	4	4
															6	Braga	2	1	3
14	Viktoria Plzeň	2	1	3 (3)
															7	SC Freiburg	1	3	4
					9	Genk	1	1	2

23	Dinamo Zagreb	1	3	4	7	SC Freiburg	0	5	5
										7	SC Freiburg	3	3	6
9	Genk (aet)	3	3	6
										16	Celta Vigo	0	1	1
					16	Celta Vigo	1	2	3
																				20 May – Istanbul
17	PAOK	1	0	1	1	Lyon	1	0	1
																				7	SC Freiburg	0
16	Celta Vigo	2	1	3
																				2	Aston Villa	3
					11	VfB Stuttgart	1	0	1

21	Celtic	1	1	2	5	Porto	2	2	4
										5	Porto	1	0	1
11	VfB Stuttgart	4	0	4
										13	Nottingham Forest	1	1	2
					13	Nottingham Forest (p)	0	2	2 (3)

19	Fenerbahçe	0	2	2	3	Midtjylland	1	1	2 (0)
															13	Nottingham Forest	1	0	1
13	Nottingham Forest	3	1	4
															2	Aston Villa	0	4	4
					10	Bologna (aet)	1	4	5

24	Brann	0	0	0	8	Roma	1	3	4
										10	Bologna	1	0	1
10	Bologna	1	1	2
										2	Aston Villa	3	4	7
					18	Lille	0	0	0

18	Lille (aet)	0	2	2	2	Aston Villa	1	2	3

15	Red Star Belgrade	1	0	1

Knockout phase play-offs

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ludogorets Razgrad	2–3	Ferencváros	2–1	0–2
Panathinaikos	3–3 (4–3 p)	Viktoria Plzeň	2–2	1–1 (aet)
Dinamo Zagreb	4–6	Genk	1–3	3–3 (aet)
PAOK	1–3	Celta Vigo	1–2	0–1
Celtic	2–4	VfB Stuttgart	1–4	1–0
Fenerbahçe	2–4	Nottingham Forest	0–3	2–1
Brann	0–2	Bologna	0–1	0–1
Lille	2–1	Red Star Belgrade	0–1	2–0 (aet)

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Ferencváros	2–4	Braga	2–0	0–4
Panathinaikos	1–4	Real Betis	1–0	0–4
Genk	2–5	SC Freiburg	1–0	1–5
Celta Vigo	3–1	Lyon	1–1	2–0
VfB Stuttgart	1–4	Porto	1–2	0–2
Nottingham Forest	2–2 (3–0 p)	Midtjylland	0–1	2–1 (aet)
Bologna	5–4	Roma	1–1	4–3 (aet)
Lille	0–3	Aston Villa	0–1	0–2

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Braga	5–3	Real Betis	1–1	4–2
SC Freiburg	6–1	Celta Vigo	3–0	3–1
Porto	1–2	Nottingham Forest	1–1	0–1
Bologna	1–7	Aston Villa	1–3	0–4

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Braga	3–4	SC Freiburg	2–1	1–3
Nottingham Forest	1–4	Aston Villa	1–0	0–4

Final

Team 1	Score	Team 2
SC Freiburg	0–3	Aston Villa

References

↑ "Budapest to host UEFA Champions League Final 2026". UEFA. 22 May 2024.
↑ "League phase table". UEFA. Retrieved 2 October 2025.

[1] "Budapest to host UEFA Champions League Final 2026". UEFA. 22 May 2024.

[2] "League phase table". UEFA. Retrieved 2 October 2025.

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