Europa League: Qualification and Format

[Nocky]

Qualification

1. The English leagues will have no more than 3 entrants. The remainder will be made up of top European clubs as decided by admin

2. The English spots will be decided as follows:
i. The top placed Premiership side that don't qualify for the Champions League (likely 4th or 5th)
ii. The Europa League winners
iii. The FA Cup winners

If any of the cup winners have already qualified for Europe by another means, their spot will be awarded as follows:
i. The Conference League winners
ii. The League Cup winners
iii. The next highest placed Premier League club that haven't already qualified for Europe


Format

Group Stage
- Teams will play in 1 group of 8 with 4 English teams and 4 other European teams in each
- Teams will play each other team once with each team playing 3 home and 3 away games. The final round of matches will all be played at neutral venues
- The top 2 from the group will progress straight to the semi finals
- The teams that finish 3rd to 6th in the group will progress to the playoff round

Teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria is applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:

1. Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above will be reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Away goals scored in all group matches;
8. Wins in all group matches;
9. Away wins in all group matches;
10. Disciplinary points (direct red card = 3 points; double yellow card = 3 points; single yellow card = 1 point);

Playoff Round
- The playoff round will be a two leg tie where the team finishing 3rd in the group stage will play the team finishing 6th (PL1) and the team that came 4th will play the team that came 5th (PL2). The higher placed team in the group stage will be home in the second leg
- If scores are equal at the end of 90 minutes, extra time will be played
- If scores are still equal after extra time the tie will be decided on penalties
- The winners progress to the semi finals whilst the losers go to the Conference League semi finals

Semi Finals
- The semi finals will be the group stage winner vs the winner of PL2 and the group stage runner up vs the winner of PL1.
- The playoff winners will play at home in leg 1.
- If aggregate scores are equal at the end of the second leg, extra time will be played
- If scores are still equal after extra time the tie will be decided on penalties

Final
- The final will be played at a neutral venue
- If the score is level after 90 mins 30 minutes of extra time will be played followed by penalties if necessary