UEFA Europa League 2015/2016

The UEFA Executive Committee in May and September 2013 approved the following changes to the Europa League starting from the 2015/16 season: ^[1]

• Starting from the season 2015/2016, the winner of the Europa League of the previous season qualifies for the Champions League. If the current winner of the Champions League breaks into the group stage, having achieved the necessary result in the national championship, then the champion of the Europa League also falls into the main draw.
• The maximum representation of associations in the Europa League from the new season will be three teams (with one exception, when both winners of the Eurocups of the previous season get into the Champions League, but do not qualify for Eurocups through national tournaments from the same association with a rank of 1-3, which leads to the transfer of the 4th team of the championship of this association to the group stage of the Europa League, reducing its representation to 2 teams; previously, four representatives had the places from 7th to 9th.
• The number of teams that will enter the group stage directly will increase to 16 teams representing 12 associations with the highest rating and numbering 12 winners of national cups, fifth place winners in the championships of the three leading countries and the club that will finish fourth in the championship of the country with the fourth rating.
• If the owners of national cups have already won a ticket to the Champions League, then their place will be taken by the next in turn teams of national championships. Finalists of the national cups no longer fall into the Europa League. ^[2]

The UEFA Europa League 2015/2016 draws 191 teams from 54 associations. The number of seats is distributed according to the UEFA coefficient table after the European Cup season 2013/2014. ^{[3] [4]}

So in the season 2014/2015 places are distributed as follows:

• Associations with a rank of 1-51, except Liechtenstein: 3 teams each;
• Associations with a rank of 52–53: 2 teams each;
• Associations of Liechtenstein and Gibraltar: 1 team each.

In addition to them, participating in the drawing:

• 15 teams losing in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League ;
• 10 teams losing in the UEFA Champions League playoffs;
• 8 teams in third place in the group round of the UEFA Champions League ;
• 3 teams that took the first three places in the UEFA fair play ranking. This provision will be repealed from the 2016/2017 season. ^[five]

Association Rating

Distribution of teams by stages

The preliminary distribution of teams in stages is as follows: ^[6]

First qualifying round

• 31 cup holder from associations from 24th to 54th place
• 35 silver medalists from associations from 18th to 53rd place (excluding Liechtenstein)
• 35 bronze medalists from associations from 16th to 51st place (excluding Liechtenstein)
• 3 Winning Fair Play Clubs

Second qualifying round

• 6 cup winners from associations from 18th to 23rd place
• 2 silver medalists from associations from 16th to 17th place
• 6 clubs that took fourth places in associations from 10th to 15th place
• 52 winners of the first qualifying round

Third qualifying round

• 5 association cup winners from 13th to 17th
• 9 bronze medalists from associations from 7th to 15th place
• 5 clubs that took fourth places in associations from 5th to 9th place
• 3 clubs taking fifth places in associations from 4th to 6th place
• 3 clubs ranked sixth in associations from 1st to 3rd place
  • England and France, instead of the teams that took sixth and fifth places, respectively, declare the League Cup Winner
• 33 winners of the second qualifying round

Playoff round

• 29 winners of the third qualifying round
• 15 clubs retired after the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League

Group stage

• 12 cup holders from associations ranked 1st to 12th
• 1 club in fourth place in association in 4th place
• 3 clubs that took fifth places in associations from 1 to 3 place
• 22 winners of the qualifying round of the playoffs
• 10 clubs eliminated after the fourth qualifying round (playoffs) of the UEFA Champions League

Playoffs

• 24 teams in the first two places in the group stage
• 8 teams in third place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League

Notes

The winner of the previous draw , Sevilla Football Club, entered the group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2015/16 , and also qualified for the group stage of the Europa League, taking 5th place in the Spanish Championship, and thereby freed up one place in the group stage of the Europa League . Because of this, the following changes occurred in the preliminary selection scheme for tournament participants: ^{[7] [8]}

• holder of the association cup with a place 13 (Switzerland) started from the group stage instead of the third qualifying round
• The holder of the Association Cup with a place of 18 (Cyprus) started from the third qualifying round instead of the second
• holders of association cups with places 24 and 25 (Sweden and Bulgaria) started from the second qualifying round instead of the first

In cases where the holder of the national cup qualified for the Champions League through the national championship, in the round where he was allocated, he will be replaced by the team that first qualified for the Europa League through the national championship. In the round originally intended for her, she is replaced by the team that took the place in the national championship after her, and so on, ending with the best championship team that has not yet qualified for Eurocups.

Members

Signatures in brackets show how each team was selected for its opening round: ^[9]

• DP: Current Winner
• OK: Cup holder
• KL: League Cup Winner
• N-th: Place in the championship (for the qualifying tournament for European competitions at the end of the season the place in this tournament is indicated)
• OT: From the qualifying tournament for European competitions.
• FP: Fair Play
• Champions League: Moved from the Champions League
  • GR: Team third in the group stage
  • P-O: Team losing in the playoff round
  • O3: Team losing in the third qualifying round

All draw procedures will be held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. ^{[10] [11]}

Qualification and playoff matches may be scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday instead of standard Thursday in the event of a schedule conflict.

First Qualification Round

Second Qualification Round

Third Qualification Round

Playoff Round

The draw for the round was on August 7th.