Publication date: 30 Jul 2025
About the UECL
The UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) is an annual international sports competition between football clubs belonging to the UEFA European Football Association (UEFA). This event is the third in level and importance after the Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Clubs qualify for the Conference League on the basis of their results in national leagues and cup competitions. A total of 170 teams from the 55 UEFA member associations participate in the competition. Some of these clubs have qualified for the Conference League from the Champions League and the Europa League. The winner receives an opportunity to qualify for the group stage of the next UEFA Europa League season.
The most titled club Conference League is FC Roma (Italy).
Conference League matches are played weekly on Thursdays.
2025-26 Conference League
The new UEFA Europa League season will start on 8 July 2025 with the qualifying round and will end with the final match on 27 May 2026. The tournament final will be held in Leipzig, Germany, at the RB Arena. This is the fifth edition of the tournament, and it will once again bring together clubs from all over Europe, including countries that rarely make it to the final stages of the Champions League or Europa League.
Participants and favourites
The tournament will feature 36 teams. The composition will be determined based on the results of the qualifying round, which will last from July to August. Among the already known participants are English Nottingham Forest, Italian Fiorentina, German Mainz, Spanish Rayo Vallecano and French Strasbourg. Teams from Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Serbia and other countries will also participate in the tournament.
The main favourites of the season are Fiorentina, who have reached the final twice but have never won the trophy, and Nottingham Forest, a club with a rich European history. If teams like Aston Villa, Club Brugge or Olympiakos make it to the group stage, they could also pose serious competition.
The group stage will begin in October and last until December. Then there will be the playoffs, and the final match in the spring of 2026 will determine the new owner of the trophy. The winner of the Conference League will receive a ticket to the Europa League for the 2026/27 season.
History of the UEFA Europa Conference League
It is known UEFA has long planned to add a third-tier football competition. These competitions are a chance for many clubs not just to be relegated from the top tier competition, but to continue their football history at another level.
In 2018, UEFA announced that the new tournament would be called Europa League 2 and would take place in the 2021-24 seasons. It wasn’t until September 2019 that the official name, the UEFA Europa Conference League, became known. The format of the competition does not differ much from that of the other Leagues.
Results of the previous competitions
| The year | Venue of the final match | Winning team |
| 2024-25 | stadium “Wroclaw Arena” in Wroclaw (Poland) | FC Chelsea |
| 2023-24 | Hagia Sophia Stadium in Athens (Greece) | FC Olympiakos |
| 2022-23 | Fortuna Arena in Prague (Czech Republic) | FC West Ham United |
2026-27 UECL
At the moment, the dates for the next UEFA Conference League championship are not yet known.
Keep an eye on the dates of football matches and other events in our Sporting Events Calendar.
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