2017–18 UEFA Europa League

2017–18 UEFA Europa League
	The Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu hosted the final
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying:; 29 June – 24 August 2017; Competition proper:; 14 September 2017 – 16 May 2018
Teams	Competition proper: 48+8; Total: 157+33
Final positions
Champions	Atlético Madrid (3rd title)
Runner-up	Marseille
Tournament statistics
Matches played	205
Goals scored	556 (2.71 per match)
Attendance	4,545,716 (22,174 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aritz Aduriz; Ciro Immobile; (8 goals each)
	← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.

The last game was played at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, France.^[1] Atlético Madrid won against Marseille to win their third Europa League title.

As winners, Atlético Madrid played against the winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, in the 2018 UEFA Super Cup. They also automatically qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage,^[2] but since they had already qualified through their league performance, the berth reserved was given to the third-placed team of the 2017–18 Ligue 1.

Manchester United qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League as winners of the Europa League.^[3] They were unable to defend their title as they qualified for the Champions League knockout phase.

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:^[4]^[5]

CW: Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
LC: League Cup winners
RW: Regular season winners
PW: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
UCL: Transferred from the Champions League
- GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage
- PO: Losers from the play-off round
- Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round

Round of 32
CSKA Moscow (UCL GS)	Atlético Madrid (UCL GS)	Spartak Moscow (UCL GS)	RB Leipzig (UCL GS)
Celtic (UCL GS)	Sporting CP (UCL GS)	Napoli (UCL GS)	Borussia Dortmund (UCL GS)
Group stage
Villarreal (5th)	Vitória de Guimarães (4th)	Lugano (3rd)	İstanbul Başakşehir (UCL PO)
Real Sociedad (6th)	Lyon (4th)	Fastav Zlín (CW)	Young Boys (UCL PO)
1. FC Köln (5th)	Lokomotiv Moscow (CW)	Copenhagen (UCL PO)	Nice (UCL PO)
Hertha BSC (6th)	Zorya Luhansk (3rd)	Slavia Prague (UCL PO)	1899 Hoffenheim (UCL PO)
Arsenal (CW)	Zulte Waregem (CW)	Rijeka (UCL PO)	FCSB (UCL PO)
Atalanta (4th)	Vitesse (CW)	Astana (UCL PO)
Lazio (5th)	Konyaspor (CW)	Hapoel Be'er Sheva (UCL PO)
Play-off round
BATE Borisov (UCL Q3)	Rosenborg (UCL Q3)	Sheriff Tiraspol (UCL Q3)	Dynamo Kyiv (UCL Q3)
Legia Warsaw (UCL Q3)	Ludogorets Razgrad (UCL Q3)	Partizan (UCL Q3)	AEK Athens (UCL Q3)
FH (UCL Q3)	Viitorul Constanța (UCL Q3)	Viktoria Plzeň (UCL Q3)	Club Brugge (UCL Q3)
Vardar (UCL Q3)	Red Bull Salzburg (UCL Q3)	Ajax (UCL Q3)
Third qualifying round
Athletic Bilbao (7th)	Bordeaux (6th)	PSV Eindhoven (3rd)	Universitatea Craiova (5th)^{[Note ROU]}
SC Freiburg (7th)	Zenit Saint Petersburg (3rd)	Fenerbahçe (3rd)	Austria Wien (2nd)
Everton (7th)	Krasnodar (4th)	Sion (4th)	Dinamo Zagreb (2nd)
Milan (6th)	Olimpik Donetsk (4th)	Sparta Prague (3rd)	Arka Gdynia (CW)
Braga (5th)	Oleksandriya (5th)	PAOK (CW)
Marítimo (6th)	Gent (3rd)	Panathinaikos (3rd)
Marseille (5th)	Oostende (PW)	Dinamo București (3rd)
Second qualifying round
Utrecht (PW)	Panionios (5th)	Apollon Limassol (CW)	Bnei Yehuda (CW)
Galatasaray (4th)	Astra Giurgiu (6th)^{[Note ROU]}	Dinamo Brest (CW)	Brøndby (2nd)
Luzern (5th)	Sturm Graz (3rd)	Östersund (CW)	Aberdeen (2nd)
Mladá Boleslav (4th)	Hajduk Split (3rd)	Brann (2nd)	Gabala (2nd)
First qualifying round
Rheindorf Altach (4th)	Ordabasy (4th)	VPS (4th)	Crusaders (2nd)
Osijek (4th)	Botev Plovdiv (CW)	Široki Brijeg (CW)	Coleraine (3rd)
Jagiellonia Białystok (2nd)	Levski Sofia (3rd)	Željezničar Sarajevo (2nd)	Ballymena United (PW)
Lech Poznań (3rd)	Dunav Ruse (4th)^{[Note BUL]}	Sarajevo (3rd)	Levadia Tallinn (2nd)
AEK Larnaca (2nd)	Domžale (CW)	Tirana (CW)	Nõmme Kalju (3rd)
AEL Limassol (4th)	Gorica (2nd)	Partizani Tirana (2nd)	Flora Tallinn (4th)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (2nd)	Olimpija Ljubljana (3rd)	Skënderbeu Korçë (3rd)	Shirak (CW)
Dinamo Minsk (3rd)	Slovan Bratislava (CW)	Pelister (CW)	Gandzasar Kapan (2nd)
AIK (2nd)	Ružomberok (3rd)	Shkëndija (2nd)	Pyunik (4th)
IFK Norrköping (3rd)	Trenčín (4th)	Rabotnički (3rd)	KÍ (CW)
Odd (3rd)	Vaduz (CW)	Cork City (CW)	NSÍ Runavík (3rd)
Haugesund (4th)	Ferencváros (CW)	Derry City (3rd)^{[Note IRL]}	B36 Tórshavn (4th)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (2nd)	Videoton (2nd)	Shamrock Rovers (4th)	Floriana (CW)
Beitar Jerusalem (3rd)	Vasas (3rd)	Ventspils (CW)	Balzan (2nd)
Lyngby (3rd)	Dacia Chișinău (2nd)	Jelgava (2nd)	Valletta (4th)^{[Note MLT]}
Midtjylland (PW)	Milsami Orhei (3rd)	Liepāja (4th)	Bala Town (CW)
Rangers (3rd)	Zaria Bălți (4th)	Differdange 03 (2nd)	Connah's Quay Nomads (2nd)
St Johnstone (4th)	Valur (CW)	Fola Esch (3rd)	Bangor City (PW)
Inter Baku (3rd)	Stjarnan (2nd)	Progrès Niederkorn (4th)	Lincoln Red Imps (2nd)
Zira (4th)	KR (3rd)	Sutjeska Nikšić (CW)	St Joseph's (3rd)
Red Star Belgrade (2nd)	Torpedo Kutaisi (CW)	Zeta (2nd)	UE Santa Coloma (CW)
Vojvodina (3rd)	Chikhura Sachkhere (2nd)	Mladost Podgorica (3rd)	Sant Julià (2nd)
Mladost Lučani (4th)	Dinamo Batumi (3rd)	Trakai (2nd)	Tre Penne (CW)
Kairat (2nd)	SJK (CW)	Sūduva Marijampolė (3rd)	Folgore (3rd)
Irtysh Pavlodar (3rd)	HJK (2nd)	Atlantas (4th)	Prishtina (2nd)^{[Note KOS]}

Notably two teams take part in the competition that are not playing in their national top division, Tirana (2nd tier) and Vaduz (representing Liechtenstein, playing in Swiss 2nd tier).

Notes

^ Bulgaria (BUL): On 29 May 2017 a UEFA letter to the Bulgarian Football Union declared that CSKA Sofia, the runners-up of the 2016–17 First Professional Football League, were not allowed to compete in the Europa League as they were considered to have been re-formed as a new club and thus did not pass the "three-year rule".^[6] As this decision was appealed by CSKA Sofia, the Bulgarian Football Union granted a license to them subject to legal proceedings.^[7]^[8]^[9] A few hours prior to the Europa League first qualifying round draw, UEFA replaced them with Dunav Ruse, the fourth-placed team of the league.^[10]
^ Kosovo (KOS): Besa Pejë would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the winners of the 2016–17 Kosovar Cup, but failed to obtain a UEFA license.^[11] As a result, the berth was given to the runners-up of the 2016–17 Football Superleague of Kosovo, Prishtina.
^ Malta (MLT): Birkirkara would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the third-placed team of the 2016–17 Maltese Premier League, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.^[12] As a result, the berth was given to the fourth-placed team of the league, Valletta.
^ Republic of Ireland (IRL): Derry City are a club based in Northern Ireland, but will participate in the Europa League through one of the berths for the Republic of Ireland (any coefficient points they earn count toward Republic of Ireland and not Northern Ireland).
^ Romania (ROU): Voluntari would have qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round as the winners of 2016–17 Cupa României, and CFR Cluj would have qualified for the second qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2016–17 Liga I, but both failed to obtain a UEFA licence.^[13] As a result, the third qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team of the league, Universitatea Craiova, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the sixth-placed team of the league, Astra Giurgiu.

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).^[14]^[15]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	19 June 2017	29 June 2017	6 July 2017
	Second qualifying round	19 June 2017	13 July 2017	20 July 2017
	Third qualifying round	14 July 2017	27 July 2017	3 August 2017
Play-off	Play-off round	4 August 2017	17 August 2017	24 August 2017
Group stage	Matchday 1	25 August 2017 (Monaco)	14 September 2017
	Matchday 2		28 September 2017
	Matchday 3		19 October 2017
	Matchday 4		2 November 2017
	Matchday 5		23 November 2017
	Matchday 6		7 December 2017
Knockout phase	Round of 32	11 December 2017	15 February 2018	22 February 2018
	Round of 16	23 February 2018	8 March 2018	15 March 2018
	Quarter-finals	16 March 2018	5 April 2018	12 April 2018
	Semi-finals	13 April 2018	26 April 2018	3 May 2018
	Final	13 April 2018	16 May 2018 at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu

Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

Group stage

Main page: 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 25 August 2017, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.^[16] The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2017 UEFA club coefficients.

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 32, where they were joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays were 14 September, 28 September, 19 October, 2 November, 23 November, and 7 December 2017.

Tiebreakers
Tiebreakers}}