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Europa League.svg

The UEFA Europa League (also known as the Europa League, UEL, or EL) is an annual men's association football club competition organized by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions.

Since the 2009/10 season following a change in format, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League, replacing the UEFA Cup. For UEFA footballing records purposes, the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League are considered the same competition, with the change of name being simply a rebranding.

In 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004/05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase. The 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and changed qualifying criteria. The winner of the UEFA Europa League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup.

From the 2015-2016 season onwards the winners of the previous season's UEFA Europa League will qualify for the UEFA Champions League, the winner entering at least at the play-off round (assuming they do not already qualify through domestic performance), and will enter the group stage if the berth reserved for the Champions League title holders is not used.

The title has been won by 27 different clubs, 12 of which have won the title more than once. The most successful and defending champions is Sevilla with six titles.



Season Teams Champions Runners-up Final
Total Group
Stage
Knockout
Stage
2019/20 49 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Sevilla   Italy Inter Milan   Germany RheinEnergieStadion
Cologne
2018/19 48 48
(12 groups)
32   England Chelsea   England Arsenal   Azerbaijan Baku Olympic Stadium
Baku
2017/18 47 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Atlético Madrid   France Marseille   France Stade de Lyon
Lyon
2016/17 46 48
(12 groups)
32   England Manchester United   Netherlands Ajax   Sweden Friends Arena
Stockholm
2015/16 45 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Sevilla   England Liverpool   Switzerland St. Jakob-Park
Basel
2014/15 45 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Sevilla   Ukraine Dnipro   Poland Stadion Narodowy
Warsaw
2013/14 44 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Sevilla   Portugal Benfica   Italy Juventus Stadium
Turin
2012/13 43 48
(12 groups)
32   England Chelsea   Portugal Benfica   Netherlands Amsterdam Arena
Amsterdam
2011/12 42 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Atlético Madrid   Spain Athletic Bilbao   Romania Arena Națională
Bucharest
2010/11 41 48
(12 groups)
32   Portugal Porto   Portugal Braga   Republic of Ireland Lansdowne Road
Dublin
2009/10 40 48
(12 groups)
32   Spain Atlético Madrid   England Fulham   Germany Volksparkstadion
Hamburg
2008/09 39 40
(8 groups)
32   Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk   Germany Werder Bremen   Turkey Şükrü Saracoğlu
Istanbul
2007/08 38 40
(8 groups)
32   Russia Zenit Saint Petersburg   Scotland Rangers   England City of Manchester Stadium
Manchester
2006/07 37 40
(8 groups)
32   Spain Sevilla   Spain Espanyol   Scotland Hampden Park
Glasgow
2005/06 36 40
(8 groups)
32   Spain Sevilla   England Middlesbrough   Netherlands Philips Stadion
Eindhoven
2004/05 35 40
(8 groups)
32   Russia CSKA Moscow   Portugal Sporting CP   Portugal Estadio José Alvalade
Lisbon
2003/04 34 145 32   Spain Valencia   France Marseille   Sweden Ullevi Stadium
Gothenburg n>
2002/03 33 145 32   Portugal Porto   Scotland Celtic   Spain Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla
Seville
2001/02 32 186 32   Netherlands Feyenoord   Germany Borussia Dortmund   Netherlands De Kuip
Rotterdam
2000/01 31 186 32   England Liverpool   Spain Alavés   Germany Westfalen Stadion
Dortmund
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