The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 22 October 2020 and ended on 10 December 2020. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the
knockout phase of the
2020–21 UEFA Europa League.[1][2]
The draw for the group stage was held on 2 October 2020, 13:00
CEST, at the House of European Football in
Nyon,
Switzerland.[3]
In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs could be paired so that they played with different kick-off times (18.55 CET and 21:00 CET) for the benefit of TV audiences. If a paired club was drawn, for example, in groups A, B, C, D, E or F the other paired club – once drawn – would automatically be assigned to the first available group of G, H, I, J, K or L. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed:[4]
On each matchday, one set of six groups played their matches at 18:55 CET/CEST, while the other set of six groups played their matches at 21:00 CET/CEST, with the two sets of groups alternating between each matchday. The fixtures were decided after the draw, using a computer draw not shown to public, with the following match sequence (Regulations Article 15.02):[5]
Note: Positions for scheduling did not use the seeding pots, e.g. Team 1 was not necessarily the team from Pot 1 in the draw.
Group stage schedule
Matchday
Dates
Matchday 1
22 October 2020
Matchday 2
29 October 2020
Matchday 3
5 November 2020
Matchday 4
26 November 2020
Matchday 5
3 December 2020
Matchday 6
10 December 2020
There were scheduling restrictions: for example, teams from the same city (e.g.
Celtic &
Rangers,
Arsenal &
Tottenham Hotspur,
Sparta Prague &
Slavia Prague) in general were not scheduled to play at home on the same matchday (to avoid them playing at home on the same day, due to logistics and crowd control), and teams from "winter countries" (e.g. Russia) were not scheduled to play at home on the last matchday (due to cold weather).
Teams
Below were the participating teams (with their 2020
UEFA club coefficients),[6] grouped by their seeding pot. They included:
CL-CP Losers of Champions League play-off round (Champions Path).
CL-LP Losers of Champions League play-off round (League Path).
CL-LQ Losers of Champions League third qualifying round (League Path).
Format
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
Champions League group stage.
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to
points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 16.01):[5]
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
The group stage fixtures were confirmed on 2 October 2020.[7] The matchdays were 22 October, 29 October, 5 November, 26 November, 3 December, and 10 December 2020. The scheduled kickoff times were 18:55 and 21:00 CET/CEST.
Times are
CET/
CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
^The Villarreal v Qarabağ match was awarded as a 3–0 win to Villarreal after being cancelled as several players of the Qarabağ squad tested positive for the
SARS-CoV-2.
^
abcDundalk played their home matches at Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, and Aviva Stadium, Dublin, instead of their regular stadium
Oriel Park,
Dundalk.
^
abcHapoel Be'er Sheva played their home matches at HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva, instead of their regular stadium
Turner Stadium,
Be'er Sheva, due to its structural problems.[33]
^The Villarreal v Maccabi Tel Aviv match was originally scheduled at 21:00 CET, but was delayed due to heavy rain.
^The Villarreal v Qarabağ match was cancelled and awarded as a 3–0 win to Villarreal after several players of the Qarabağ squad tested positive for the
SARS-CoV-2.[116]
^
abcLASK played their home matches at Linzer Stadion, Linz, instead of their regular stadium
Waldstadion,
Pasching.
^
abcWolfsberger AC played their home matches at Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, instead of their regular stadium
Lavanttal-Arena,
Wolfsberg.
References
^"UEFA Europa League - Matches". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
Note: Between the 2004–05 and 2008–09 seasons, the competition was still known as the UEFA Cup, but is included as it followed a group stage—knockout phase format.