UEFA Europa League facts for kids
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| Organising body | UEFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1971 (rebranded in 2009) |
| Region | Europe |
| Number of teams |
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| Qualifier for |
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| Related competitions |
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| Current champions |  Tottenham Hotspur (3rd title) |
| Most successful club(s) |  Sevilla (7 titles) |
The UEFA Europa League (UEL), often called the Europa League, is a big football competition for clubs in Europe. It has been organized every year since 1971 by UEFA, which stands for the Union of European Football Associations. This tournament is the second most important club competition in Europe, right after the UEFA Champions League.
The competition started in 1971 as the UEFA Cup. It replaced an older tournament called the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In 2009, the UEFA Cup changed its name to the Europa League and got a new look and format. This included joining with another competition, the UEFA Intertoto Cup. For the 2024–25 season, the group stage was replaced with a larger "league phase" involving 36 teams.
The team that wins the UEFA Europa League gets to play in the UEFA Super Cup the next season. They also get a spot in the main part of the UEFA Champions League. Since 2023, they also play in the UEFA–CONMEBOL Club Challenge, which is a friendly match against the winners of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana from South America.
Clubs from Spain have won the most titles, with 14 wins. England and Italy are next, with 10 wins each. A total of 30 different clubs have won the trophy, and 14 of them have won it more than once. The club with the most wins is Sevilla, with seven titles. Only two clubs, Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur, have won the competition in three different decades.
Tottenham Hotspur are the current champions. They won the 2025 final by beating Manchester United 1–0. The record for most goals scored in a single season belongs to Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, who scored 17 goals.
Contents
History of the Europa League
The UEFA Cup started in the 1971–72 season. The very first final was between two English teams, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur won the first title. This competition quickly became more popular than the older Fairs Cup.
Another English club, Liverpool, won the title in 1973. German club Borussia Mönchengladbach won it twice in the 1970s. In the 1980s, teams like IFK Göteborg from Sweden and Real Madrid from Spain each won the cup twice.
Italian clubs became very strong in the late 1980s and 1990s. Diego Maradona's Napoli won in 1989. Juventus won three times, and Inter Milan won three times as well. Parma also won twice during this period.
In the 2000s, Galatasaray from Turkey won the cup in 2000. This was the first time a Turkish team won it. Liverpool won their third title in 2001. Porto from Portugal won in 2003 and again in 2011. Spanish club Valencia won in 2004. Russian clubs CSKA Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg won in 2005 and 2008. Sevilla started their amazing run by winning in 2006 and 2007.
Since the 2009–10 season, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League. Atlético Madrid from Spain won the new Europa League twice, in 2010 and 2012. In 2013, Chelsea became the first team to win the Europa League after winning the Champions League the year before.
Sevilla continued their success, winning in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This made them the most successful team with five titles at that time. They added two more titles in 2020 and 2023, bringing their total to seven. The 2019 final was special because it was between two teams from the same city, Chelsea and Arsenal from London.
The Europa League Trophy
The trophy given to the winner of the UEFA Europa League is called the Coupe UEFA. Before the 2009–10 season, both the competition and the trophy were known as the 'UEFA Cup'.
In the past, a club could keep the original trophy for a year. After returning it, they would get a smaller copy. If a club won the trophy three times in a row or five times overall, they could keep the original trophy forever.
Now, the original trophy stays with UEFA all the time. The winning team gets a full-size copy of the trophy. If a club wins three times in a row or five times overall, they get a special badge to wear. As of 2016–17, only Sevilla has earned this badge.
The trophy was designed by Silvio Gazzaniga, who also designed the FIFA World Cup Trophy. It was made for the 1972 UEFA Cup Final. The trophy weighs about 15 kilograms (33 pounds) and is made of silver. It stands 67 centimeters (26 inches) tall on a yellow marble base.
The Europa League Anthem
Before every Europa League game, a special song called the Anthem is played. You hear it in the stadium and at the start of TV broadcasts. It is also played when the winning team lifts the trophy after the final match.
The first anthem for the competition was created in 2009. A new anthem was made in 2015 for the start of the 2015–16 season. Another new anthem was created in 2018 for the 2018–19 season. This anthem is also used for UEFA Conference League matches.
How Teams Qualify and Play
How Teams Get In
Teams qualify for the Europa League based on how well their country's football league performs in Europe. This is measured by something called UEFA coefficients. Most countries get three spots in European competitions (Europa League and Conference League combined).
Usually, teams that finish high in their national league, but don't qualify for the UEFA Champions League, get a spot. Also, the winner of the main cup competition in each country usually qualifies.
Sometimes, a team might qualify for European competitions in more than one way. If a club can play in the Champions League, that spot is always chosen first. The Europa League spot then goes to another club.
Since the 2024–25 season, the winner of the Europa League automatically qualifies for the Champions League. This means they cannot defend their Europa League title.
League and Knockout Stages
The Europa League now has a "league phase" and a "knockout phase." In the league phase, each team plays eight matches, four at home and four away.
The top eight teams from the league phase get a direct pass to the Round of 16. Teams ranked 9th to 24th play in knockout play-offs. The winners of these play-offs also go to the Round of 16. Teams ranked 25th to 36th, and the losers of the play-offs, are out of the competition.
The final match is played at a special neutral stadium. The team that wins the competition gets to play in the UEFA Champions League the next season. Europa League matches are usually played on Thursdays.
Prize Money for Clubs
Clubs in the Europa League earn money based on how far they go in the competition and how much their TV market is worth.
For the 2021–22 season, just being in the group stage earned a club €3,630,000. Winning a match in the group stage paid €630,000, and a draw paid €210,000.
- If a team finished first in their group, they earned an extra €1,100,000.
- A second-place finish earned €550,000.
- Reaching the knockout round play-offs was worth €500,000.
- Getting to the Round of 16 earned €1,200,000.
- Quarter-finalists received €1,800,000.
- Semi-finalists earned €2,800,000.
- The team that lost in the final received €4,600,000.
- The champions received €8,600,000.
Sponsors of the Tournament
The UEFA Europa League has several big companies that sponsor it. These sponsors are also partners for the UEFA Conference League. For the 2024–27 period, the main sponsors include:
- Just Eat Takeaway
- Hankook (and its brand Laufenn)
- Engelbert Strauss
- Swissquote
- Betano
- Lidl
- FlixBus
Decathlon's Kipsta brand is the official supplier of match balls for three years, starting from the 2024–25 season.
Clubs are allowed to have their own sponsors on their jerseys. They can have two sponsors on the jersey (plus the manufacturer's logo).
Records and Statistics
The UEFA Cup finals used to be played over two matches until 1997. The first final in 1972 was won by Tottenham Hotspur.
Since 1998, the final has been a single match played at a stadium chosen beforehand. Sometimes, a team has played the final in their home stadium. For example, Feyenoord won in Rotterdam in 2002, and Sporting CP lost in Lisbon in 2005.
The last UEFA Cup final before the name change was in 2009. Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine beat Werder Bremen from Germany. The first final of the rebranded Europa League was in 2010, when Atlético Madrid from Spain beat Fulham from England.
Teams' Success in Finals
| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Years won | Years runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sevilla |
7 | 0 | 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2023 | — |
 Inter Milan |
3 | 2 | 1991, 1994, 1998 | 1997, 2020 |
| Liverpool |
3 | 1 | 1973, 1976, 2001 | 2016 |
| Juventus |
3 | 1 | 1977, 1990, 1993 | 1995 |
| Atlético Madrid |
3 | 0 | 2010, 2012, 2018 | — |
 Borussia Mönchengladbach |
2 | 2 | 1975, 1979 | 1973, 1980 |
| Tottenham Hotspur |
2 | 1 | 1972, 1984 | 1974 |
 Feyenoord |
2 | 0 | 1974, 2002 | — |
| Eintracht Frankfurt |
2 | 0 | 1980, 2022 | — |
 IFK Göteborg |
2 | 0 | 1982, 1987 | — |
| Real Madrid |
2 | 0 | 1985, 1986 | — |
| Parma |
2 | 0 | 1995, 1999 | — |
 Porto |
2 | 0 | 2003, 2011 | — |
| Chelsea |
2 | 0 | 2013, 2019 | — |
 Anderlecht |
1 | 1 | 1983 | 1984 |
| Bayer Leverkusen |
1 | 1 | 1988 | 2024 |
| Ajax |
1 | 1 | 1992 | 2017 |
| Manchester United |
1 | 1 | 2017 | 2021 |
| PSV Eindhoven |
1 | 0 | 1978 | — |
| Ipswich Town |
1 | 0 | 1981 | — |
| Napoli |
1 | 0 | 1989 | — |
| Bayern Munich |
1 | 0 | 1996 | — |
| Schalke 04 |
1 | 0 | 1997 | — |
 Galatasaray |
1 | 0 | 2000 | — |
| Valencia |
1 | 0 | 2004 | — |
 CSKA Moscow |
1 | 0 | 2005 | — |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg |
1 | 0 | 2008 | — |
 Shakhtar Donetsk |
1 | 0 | 2009 | — |
| Villarreal |
1 | 0 | 2021 | — |
| Atalanta |
1 | 0 | 2024 | — |
| Benfica |
0 | 3 | — | 1983, 2013, 2014 |
 Marseille |
0 | 3 | — | 1999, 2004, 2018 |
| Athletic Bilbao |
0 | 2 | — | 1977, 2012 |
| Espanyol |
0 | 2 | — | 1988, 2007 |
| Roma |
0 | 2 | — | 1991, 2023 |
| Borussia Dortmund |
0 | 2 | — | 1993, 2002 |
| Arsenal |
0 | 2 | — | 2000, 2019 |
 Rangers |
0 | 2 | — | 2008, 2022 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers |
0 | 1 | — | 1972 |
| Twente |
0 | 1 | — | 1975 |
| Club Brugge |
0 | 1 | — | 1976 |
| Bastia |
0 | 1 | — | 1978 |
 Red Star Belgrade |
0 | 1 | — | 1979 |
| AZ |
0 | 1 | — | 1981 |
| Hamburger SV |
0 | 1 | — | 1982 |
 Fehérvár |
0 | 1 | — | 1985 |
| 1. FC Köln |
0 | 1 | — | 1986 |
| Dundee United |
0 | 1 | — | 1987 |
| VfB Stuttgart |
0 | 1 | — | 1989 |
| Fiorentina |
0 | 1 | — | 1990 |
| Torino |
0 | 1 | — | 1992 |
 Austria Salzburg |
0 | 1 | — | 1994 |
| Bordeaux |
0 | 1 | — | 1996 |
| Lazio |
0 | 1 | — | 1998 |
| Alavés |
0 | 1 | — | 2001 |
| Celtic |
0 | 1 | — | 2003 |
| Sporting CP |
0 | 1 | — | 2005 |
| Middlesbrough |
0 | 1 | — | 2006 |
| Werder Bremen |
0 | 1 | — | 2009 |
| Fulham |
0 | 1 | — | 2010 |
| Braga |
0 | 1 | — | 2011 |
| Dnipro |
0 | 1 | — | 2015 |
Nations' Success in Finals
| Nation | Winners | Runners-up | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain |
14 | 5 | 19 |
| England |
10 | 9 | 19 |
| Italy |
10 | 8 | 18 |
| Germany |
7 | 9 | 16 |
| Netherlands |
4 | 3 | 7 |
| Portugal |
2 | 5 | 7 |
| Russia |
2 | 0 | 2 |
| Sweden |
2 | 0 | 2 |
| Belgium |
1 | 2 | 3 |
| Ukraine |
1 | 1 | 2 |
| Turkey |
1 | 0 | 1 |
| France |
0 | 5 | 5 |
| Scotland |
0 | 4 | 4 |
| Austria |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| Hungary |
0 | 1 | 1 |
| Yugoslavia |
0 | 1 | 1 |
- Notes
- A
Awards for Players
Player of the Season
Since the 2016–17 season, UEFA has given out the UEFA Europa League Player of the Season award.
A group of people decides who wins this award. This group includes the coaches of the clubs that played in the group stage. It also includes 55 journalists, one from each UEFA member country.
| Season | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa League Player of the Season | ||
| 2016–17 |  Paul Pogba |
Manchester United |
| 2017–18 | Antoine Griezmann |
Atlético Madrid |
| 2018–19 | Eden Hazard |
Chelsea |
| 2019–20 | Romelu Lukaku |
Inter Milan |
| 2020–21 | Gerard Moreno |
Villarreal |
| 2021–22 |  Filip Kostić |
Eintracht Frankfurt |
| 2022–23 | Jesús Navas |
Sevilla |
| 2023–24 |  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang |
Marseille |
| 2024–25 |  Cristian Romero |
Tottenham Hotspur |
Young Player of the Season
Starting from the 2021–22 season, UEFA also gives out the UEFA Europa League Young Player of the Season award. This award is chosen by UEFA's own football experts.
| Season | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa League Young Player of the Season | ||
| 2021–22 | Ansgar Knauff |
Eintracht Frankfurt |
| 2022–23 | Florian Wirtz |
Bayer Leverkusen |
| 2023–24 | Florian Wirtz |
Bayer Leverkusen |
| 2024–25 | Rayan Cherki |
Lyon |
More Football Competitions
- List of association football competitions
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup - This was the second-tier competition before the Europa League.
- AFC Champions League Two - A similar competition in Asia.
- CONMEBOL Sudamericana - A similar competition in South America.
- CAF Confederation Cup - A similar competition in Africa.
See also
In Spanish: Liga Europa de la UEFA para niños
