2017–18 UEFA Europa League facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

{{Infobox international football competition | tourney_name = UEFA Europa League | year = 2017–18 | image = Parc OL.jpg | size = 275 | caption = The Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu hosted the final | dates = Qualifying:
29 June – 24 August 2017
Competition proper:
14 September 2017 – 16 May 2018 | num_teams = Competition proper: 48+8
Total: 157+33 | associations = 55 | champion_other = Atlético Madrid | count = 3 | second_other = Marseille | matches = 205 | goals = 556 | attendance =

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. 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, 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. 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:

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)
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)	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)	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)	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)
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)

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

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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).

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

The draw for the group stage was held on 25 August 2017, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. 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
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): Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; 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 are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are 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); UEFA club coefficient.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	VIL	AST	SLP	MTA
1	Villarreal	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11	Advance to knockout phase	—	3–1	2–2	0–1
2	Astana	6	3	1	2	10	7	+3	10	Advance to knockout phase	2–3	—	1–1	4–0
3	Slavia Prague	6	2	2	2	6	6	0	8		0–2	0–1	—	1–0
4	Maccabi Tel Aviv	6	1	1	4	1	8	−7	4		0–0	0–1	0–2	—

Source: UEFA

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	DKV	PAR	YB	SKE
1	Dynamo Kyiv	6	4	1	1	15	9	+6	13	Advance to knockout phase	—	4–1	2–2	3–1
2	Partizan	6	2	2	2	8	9	−1	8	Advance to knockout phase	2–3	—	2–1	2–0
3	Young Boys	6	1	3	2	7	8	−1	6		0–1	1–1	—	2–1
4	Skënderbeu Korçë	6	1	2	3	6	10	−4	5		3–2	0–0	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BRA	LUD	IBS	HOF
1	Braga	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10	Advance to knockout phase	—	0–2	2–1	3–1
2	Ludogorets Razgrad	6	2	3	1	7	5	+2	9	Advance to knockout phase	1–1	—	1–2	2–1
3	İstanbul Başakşehir	6	2	2	2	7	8	−1	8		2–1	0–0	—	1–1
4	1899 Hoffenheim	6	1	2	3	8	10	−2	5		1–2	1–1	3–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	MIL	AEK	RJK	AW
1	Milan	6	3	2	1	13	6	+7	11	Advance to knockout phase	—	0–0	3–2	5–1
2	AEK Athens	6	1	5	0	6	5	+1	8	Advance to knockout phase	0–0	—	2–2	2–2
3	Rijeka	6	2	1	3	11	12	−1	7		2–0	1–2	—	1–4
4	Austria Wien	6	1	2	3	9	16	−7	5		1–5	0–0	1–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ATA	LYO	EVE	APL
1	Atalanta	6	4	2	0	14	4	+10	14	Advance to knockout phase	—	1–0	3–0	3–1
2	Lyon	6	3	2	1	11	4	+7	11	Advance to knockout phase	1–1	—	3–0	4–0
3	Everton	6	1	1	4	7	15	−8	4		1–5	1–2	—	2–2
4	Apollon Limassol	6	0	3	3	5	14	−9	3		1–1	1–1	0–3	—

Source: UEFA

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	LOM	KOB	SHE	ZLI
1	Lokomotiv Moscow	6	3	2	1	9	4	+5	11	Advance to knockout phase	—	2–1	1–2	3–0
2	Copenhagen	6	2	3	1	7	3	+4	9	Advance to knockout phase	0–0	—	2–0	3–0
3	Sheriff Tiraspol	6	2	3	1	4	4	0	9		1–1	0–0	—	1–0
4	Fastav Zlín	6	0	2	4	1	10	−9	2		0–2	1–1	0–0	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	PLZ	FCSB	LUG	HBS
1	Viktoria Plzeň	6	4	0	2	13	8	+5	12	Advance to knockout phase	—	2–0	4–1	3–1
2	FCSB	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10	Advance to knockout phase	3–0	—	1–2	1–1
3	Lugano	6	3	0	3	9	11	−2	9		3–2	1–2	—	1–0
4	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4		0–2	1–2	2–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ARS	ZVE	KLN	BATE
1	Arsenal	6	4	1	1	14	4	+10	13	Advance to knockout phase	—	0–0	3–1	6–0
2	Red Star Belgrade	6	2	3	1	3	2	+1	9	Advance to knockout phase	0–1	—	1–0	1–1
3	1. FC Köln	6	2	0	4	7	8	−1	6		1–0	0–1	—	5–2
4	BATE Borisov	6	1	2	3	6	16	−10	5		2–4	0–0	1–0	—

Source: UEFA

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	SAL	MAR	KON	VSC
1	Red Bull Salzburg	6	3	3	0	7	1	+6	12	Advance to knockout phase	—	1–0	0–0	3–0
2	Marseille	6	2	2	2	4	4	0	8	Advance to knockout phase	0–0	—	1–0	2–1
3	Konyaspor	6	1	3	2	4	6	−2	6		0–2	1–1	—	2–1
4	Vitória de Guimarães	6	1	2	3	5	9	−4	5		1–1	1–0	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group J

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ATH	OST	ZOR	HRT
1	Athletic Bilbao	6	3	2	1	8	5	+3	11	Advance to knockout phase	—	1–0	0–1	3–2
2	Östersund	6	3	2	1	8	4	+4	11	Advance to knockout phase	2–2	—	2–0	1–0
3	Zorya Luhansk	6	2	0	4	3	9	−6	6		0–2	0–2	—	2–1
4	Hertha BSC	6	1	2	3	6	7	−1	5		0–0	1–1	2–0	—

Source: UEFA
Notes:

Group K

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	LAZ	NCE	ZUL	VIT
1	Lazio	6	4	1	1	12	7	+5	13	Advance to knockout phase	—	1–0	2–0	1–1
2	Nice	6	3	0	3	12	7	+5	9	Advance to knockout phase	1–3	—	3–1	3–0
3	Zulte Waregem	6	2	1	3	8	13	−5	7		3–2	1–5	—	1–1
4	Vitesse	6	1	2	3	5	10	−5	5		2–3	1–0	0–2	—

Source: UEFA

Group L

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	ZEN	RS	ROS	VRD
1	Zenit Saint Petersburg	6	5	1	0	17	5	+12	16	Advance to knockout phase	—	3–1	3–1	2–1
2	Real Sociedad	6	4	0	2	16	6	+10	12	Advance to knockout phase	1–3	—	4–0	3–0
3	Rosenborg	6	1	2	3	6	11	−5	5		1–1	0–1	—	3–1
4	Vardar	6	0	1	5	3	20	−17	1		0–5	0–6	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Knockout phase

Round of 32

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 11 December 2017, 13:00 CET. The first legs were played on 13 and 15 February, and the second legs were played on 21 and 22 February 2018.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Borussia Dortmund	4–3	Atalanta	3–2	1–1
Nice	2–4	Lokomotiv Moscow	2–3	0–1
Copenhagen	1–5	Atlético Madrid	1–4	0–1
Spartak Moscow	3–4	Athletic Bilbao	1–3	2–1
AEK Athens	1–1 (a)	Dynamo Kyiv	1–1	0–0
Celtic	1–3	Zenit Saint Petersburg	1–0	0–3
Napoli	3–3 (a)	RB Leipzig	1–3	2–0
Red Star Belgrade	0–1	CSKA Moscow	0–0	0–1
Lyon	4–1	Villarreal	3–1	1–0
Real Sociedad	3–4	Red Bull Salzburg	2–2	1–2
Partizan	1–3	Viktoria Plzeň	1–1	0–2
FCSB	2–5	Lazio	1–0	1–5
Ludogorets Razgrad	0–4	Milan	0–3	0–1
Astana	4–6	Sporting CP	1–3	3–3
Östersund	2–4	Arsenal	0–3	2–1
Marseille	3–1	Braga	3–0	0–1

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 23 February 2018, 13:00 CET. The first legs were played on 8 March, and the second legs were played on 15 March 2018.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Lazio	4–2	Dynamo Kyiv	2–2	2–0
RB Leipzig	3–2	Zenit Saint Petersburg	2–1	1–1
Atlético Madrid	8–1	Lokomotiv Moscow	3–0	5–1
CSKA Moscow	3–3 (a)	Lyon	0–1	3–2
Marseille	5–2	Athletic Bilbao	3–1	2–1
Sporting CP	3–2	Viktoria Plzeň	2–0	1–2 (aet)
Borussia Dortmund	1–2	Red Bull Salzburg	1–2	0–0
Milan	1–5	Arsenal	0–2	1–3

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 16 March 2018, 13:00 CET. The first legs were played on 5 April, and the second legs were played on 12 April 2018.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
RB Leipzig	3–5	Marseille	1–0	2–5
Arsenal	6–3	CSKA Moscow	4–1	2–2
Atlético Madrid	2–1	Sporting CP	2–0	0–1
Lazio	5–6	Red Bull Salzburg	4–2	1–4

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 13 April 2018, 12:00 CEST. The first legs were played on 26 April, and the second legs were played on 3 May 2018.

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg
Marseille	3–2	Red Bull Salzburg	2–0	1–2 (aet)
Arsenal	1–2	Atlético Madrid	1–1	0–1

Final

The final was played at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu on 16 May 2018. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.

16 May 2018 (2018-05-16) 20:45 CEST	Marseille	0–3	Atlético Madrid	Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu Attendance: 55,768 Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
		Report	Griezmann 21', 49' Gabi 89'

Statistics

Statistics do not include the qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals	Minutes played
1	Ciro Immobile	Lazio	8	582
1	Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao	8	801
3	Júnior Moraes	Dynamo Kyiv	7	742
4	Mario Balotelli	Nice	6	528
	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid		631
	Aleksandr Kokorin	Zenit Saint Petersburg		698
	André Silva	Milan		722
	Emiliano Rigoni	Zenit Saint Petersburg		775
	Manuel Fernandes	Lokomotiv Moscow		900
10	Harlem Gnohéré	FCSB	5	344
	Willian José	Real Sociedad		384
	Patrick Twumasi	Astana		717
	Valon Berisha	Red Bull Salzburg		1138
	Moanes Dabour	Red Bull Salzburg		1286

Source:

Top assists

Rank	Player	Team	Assists	Minutes played
1	Dimitri Payet	Marseille	7	811
2	Sergio Canales	Real Sociedad	6	557
3	Luis Alberto	Lazio	5	644
3	Stefan Lainer	Red Bull Salzburg	5	1290
5	Theo Walcott	Arsenal	4	424
	Xabi Prieto	Real Sociedad		483
	Raphael Holzhauser	Austria Wien		536
	Bruno Fernandes	Sporting CP		567
	Mesut Özil	Arsenal		609
	Hakan Çalhanoğlu	Milan		613
	Aleksei Miranchuk	Lokomotiv Moscow		784

Source:

Squad of the season

Pos.	Player	Team
GK	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid
GK	Rui Patrício	Sporting CP
DF	Leonardo Bonucci	Milan
	Diego Godín	Atlético Madrid
	Stefan Lainer	Red Bull Salzburg
	Luiz Gustavo	Marseille
	Bouna Sarr	Marseille
MF	Bruno Fernandes	Sporting CP
	Naby Keïta	RB Leipzig
	Koke	Atlético Madrid
	Saúl Ñíguez	Atlético Madrid
	Gabi	Atlético Madrid
	Diadie Samassékou	Red Bull Salzburg
FW	Gelson Martins	Sporting CP
	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid
	Ciro Immobile	Lazio
	Dimitri Payet	Marseille
	Timo Werner	RB Leipzig