The UEFA Europa League, also known as the UEFA Cup, is an amateur competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations, with teams from all over Europe. The competition is held during the second week of May and has the name of the competition because it is held every year during this period. Unlike the Uefa Champions League, the qualification process for the UEFA Cup is quite strict. Only the four European nations that are able to hold the tournament – Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and Italy can qualify. The last qualifying stage is a straight draw, with no chance for teams to draw with each other.
Unlike the Uefa Champions League or the Intertoto Cup which are both based in Europe, the UEFA Cup is based in Europe but is organised and hosted by a country outside Europe. Therefore, the qualification criteria for the cup is much stricter than the other two. In addition, there is only one protected spot for a team and they are awarded one by winning their group. The other countries involved in the competition have three opportunities to earn a place.
The ranking system used for the qualification rounds is quite different to the others. Each country is assigned a number of points and these are based on the performance of each team during the previous qualifying rounds. The rankings are decided by a panel of experts who take into consideration the performance of each team in previous games as well as the strength of the players and teams playing in the same league. The top teams are given the highest number of points while the bottom ones are given fewer points. The rankings are not based on the actual results of the matches; instead, they are determined by the form of each game played by each team. Teams that have recently qualified for the european club competition are given more priority in the rankings than teams who haven’t even made it this far.
There are four divisions in the competition. Each division features six teams, which were randomly selected. As is the case with the qualifying rounds, the top two teams from each division will qualify for the group stages, which consist of eight teams. From this group, the eight teams who qualified form a shortlist which will face other competing teams in the next season’s competition.
The knockout stage of this competition is another way of comparing teams who compete in the EUROPA LEAGUE. Unlike the qualifying rounds, which are based on form, the knockout stage makes use of a points system. The winning team receives five points, which leads to another round of competition between the remaining teams in the competition. The competition continues until the team with the most points wins the europa league tournament. In the event of a tie-breaker, the tournament is played to determine who receives the title.
As previously mentioned, there are four different levels of competition that can be played in the competition, which means that there are four different levels of qualification too. The quarter and semis require only a certain number of points to qualify, while the champs league group stages require a higher number of points. The champions league group stages require an extra time slot, which can mean extra time off during the season or a change of club in some cases.