UEFA Europa League 2026/27 Season

[Pearl_20]

After the defeat against Ferencvaros, Fatih Tekke, the Trabzonspor coach, resigned. He said he couldn't sleep soundly after such a defeat and offered his resignation. His words were excellent: "The defeats are mine, the victories are my players'." He wished them well. At least he's resigning honorably. What changes will happen at Trabzonspor after this? Perhaps the club will pressure him to continue.

It can be so frustrating for a coach when his team is not performing well because everyone will always talk down on him so i understand his pain. His resignation didn't really happen because of the huge loss to Ferencvaros, it's as a result of the hate statements that will come from fans and probably the club's management because they made few signings that they expected to see a good result almost immediately but it's not happening.

Maybe the club's management might call him back to continue but i hope they don't later sack him if the predicament continues. The club should consider the circumstances that made him lose this match against Ferencvaros which was obviously due to a double red card. It's not the fault of the coach but the players who failed to play carefully and avoid getting a red card.

[Slow death]

Thank goodness I didn't bet on the games in this round, as most of the games seemed already decided, so I preferred not to bet.

FK Kauno Žalgiris 1 - 0 Besiktas

Despite the defeat, Besiktas qualified for the next phase, but I'm surprised they didn't manage to score at least one goal. In the first leg at home, they managed to score 3 goals and didn't concede any. But in this second leg, they relaxed too much. They could have put themselves in a better position if Žalgiris had scored 3 goals. Fortunately, they only scored 1. But I wonder what Besiktas will do in the next phase.

Ferencvárosi 4 - 0 Trabzonspor

In knockout games, receiving a red card is the death of a team. There are few cases where a team recovers in a knockout round playing with fewer players on the field. Trabzonspor's bad luck started in the 13th minute with a red card, so it was expected that they would concede goals later. Their situation worsened even more when they received another red card in the 57th minute. Honestly, these guys doomed themselves early.

[redhack]

It's decided! 36 teams are here.

2026/27 Europa League: League phase draw pots

Pot 1
Leverkusen (GER)
Benfica (POR)
Juventus (ITA)
Milan (ITA)
Lyon (FRA)
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Olympiacos (GRE)
Real Sociedad (ESP)
Marseille (FRA)

Pot 2
Ferencváros (HUN)
Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
Union SG (BEL)
GNK Dinamo (CRO)
Salzburg (AUT)
Celtic (SCO)
Sparta Praha (CZE)
Rennes (FRA)
Anderlecht (BEL)

Pot 3
Sturm Graz (AUT)
Lech Poznań (POL)
Crystal Palace (ENG)
Bournemouth (ENG)
Sunderland (ENG)
Celje (SVN)
Jagiellonia (POL)
Omonia (CYP)
Celta (ESP)

Pot 4
Hoffenheim (GER)
Beşiktaş (TUR)
Torreense (POR)
H. Beer-Sheva (ISR)
N.E.C. (NED)
OFI Crete (GRE)
Lillestrøm (NOR)
Levski Sofia (BUL)
Ararat-Armenia (ARM)


When are this season's league phase matches?

Matchday 1: 16/17 September 2026
Matchday 2: 15 October 2026
Matchday 3: 22 October 2026
Matchday 4: 5 November 2026
Matchday 5: 26 November 2026
Matchday 6: 10 December 2026
Matchday 7: 21 January 2027
Matchday 8: 28 January 2027

https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/02a8-21736c090a44-d0fdd9f91599-1000--europa-league-league-phase-draw-pots-confirmed/

Fixture draw will be tomorrow. Are you excited?

I'm also updating the poll. You can vote again.
Edit: I can't reset poll as it had timeframe on previous one.

[Daniel91]

In this, the final round of the Europa League qualifiers, I must admit that I am shocked by Crvena Zvezda's elimination from the competition.
In the first home match, they won 3:0 and had a big advantage before the return match against Viktoria Plzen.
After the first half, the score was still good for Crvena Zvezda, 1:1, but it seems that the red card to Crvena Zvezda player Bukari in the 53rd minute directed the game.
After that, the Czech team quickly scored 2 goals, took the lead 3:1, then in the fifth minute of referee's added time they scored 1 more goal and won overtime, and in the end won a big victory of 5:1.
A big turnaround that is not often seen in matches of this level.
In other matches, there were no such turnarounds and surprising results, although I expected more from the Turkish representative Trabzonspor, but they lost even 4:0 against Ferencváros.

[kizilhare]

Thank goodness I didn't bet on the games in this round, as most of the games seemed already decided, so I preferred not to bet.

FK Kauno Žalgiris 1 - 0 Besiktas

Despite the defeat, Besiktas qualified for the next phase, but I'm surprised they didn't manage to score at least one goal. In the first leg at home, they managed to score 3 goals and didn't concede any. But in this second leg, they relaxed too much. They could have put themselves in a better position if Žalgiris had scored 3 goals. Fortunately, they only scored 1. But I wonder what Besiktas will do in the next phase.

Ferencvárosi 4 - 0 Trabzonspor

In knockout games, receiving a red card is the death of a team. There are few cases where a team recovers in a knockout round playing with fewer players on the field. Trabzonspor's bad luck started in the 13th minute with a red card, so it was expected that they would concede goals later. Their situation worsened even more when they received another red card in the 57th minute. Honestly, these guys doomed themselves early.

Beşiktaş fielded a lineup heavily composed of substitutes. We also saw that Vlahović is still not match-fit; if Italiano keeps playing him despite his lack of fitness, Vlahović will lose favor with the fans. He played poorly again yesterday.
Beşiktaş lost the match, but they had already secured the tie in the first leg.
In their last two competitive matches, Beşiktaş failed to score, conceded two goals, and lost both games.

As for Trabzonspor: there were two red cards yesterday, but Onana also did his best to get himself sent off. The referee could have sent Onana off too, had he chosen to do so.

After the match, manager Fatih Tekke resigned, but the board did not accept the resignation.
In my personal opinion, this resignation isn't just about the poor results in the last two games. I believe Fatih Tekke is dealing with other issues that led to his decision to resign.
His resignation wasn't accepted, but it will become clear today whether he can be persuaded to stay.

[Futurexxx]

2026/27 Europa League: League phase draw pots

Pot 1
Leverkusen (GER)
Benfica (POR)
Juventus (ITA)
Milan (ITA)
Lyon (FRA)
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Olympiacos (GRE)
Real Sociedad (ESP)
Marseille (FRA)

By looking at this pot one teams, I don't actually see an exceptional team among them, but the teams that I think that have what it takes to go all the way to the semi finals and the finals of this year uefa Europa league is Bayern Leverkusen, Milan and Real sociedad because you just can't rule out a Spanish team, if not real sociedad wouldn't have been in the mix.

Juventus may seems like a power house on paper, but in reality they are no longer the old ladies of Juventus we knew while growing up, if not, they are the biggest team here, but right now they are not as good as they use to be, so it's because of that I don't think that they can go all the way to win this uefa Europa league trophy.

[jakdanyel]

I'm happy for Beşiktaş as they have made it to league phase. However it was sad to see Trabzonspor getting destroyed by Ferencvaros after a red card.    Their manager Fatih Tekke even announced his resignation with immediate effect.

Today the draw is going to take place... It's really interesting to see 3 English teams in Pot 3 by the way. I mean I would expect at least Crystal Palace to be in a higher pot after winning the Conference League.

[mandown]

I'm happy for Beşiktaş as they have made it to league phase. However it was sad to see Trabzonspor getting destroyed by Ferencvaros after a red card.    Their manager Fatih Tekke even announced his resignation with immediate effect.

Today the draw is going to take place... It's really interesting to see 3 English teams in Pot 3 by the way. I mean I would expect at least Crystal Palace to be in a higher pot after winning the Conference League.

Beşiktaş advanced to the league phase thanks to the 3–0 victory they secured in the first leg.

Even without being reduced to ten men, Trabzonspor lacked the necessary spirit on the pitch to beat Ferencváros. Finishing the match with a 4–0 defeat and down to nine men was a disastrous result.
They nearly finished the game with eight men; Onana was practically begging the referee to send him off.

In my opinion, Crystal Palace has a low coefficient because I have only seen them play in European competitions once—last year. Coefficient rankings are based on points accumulated over the past five years.

[CLS63]

I have checked out the league phase draw and I can say that Beşiktaş are really unlucky. They have a quite difficult one against especially 3 German teams 2 of which are away matches.

Crystal Palace is another very tough opponent who are the last champions of the Conference League. Marseille has sold Greenwood to us but still they look strong considering how they started the Ligue 1. So Beşiktaş will need luck beside them too.

[ingiltere]

We drew a very tough draw. It's probably the toughest one. We have away games against Leverkusen, Celtic and Hoffenheim. Only the Omonia game is easy, though that one could still be tricky since it's in the Greek part of Cyprus. Our home games are against Marseille, Crystal Palace, Union SG and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Also, Israeli teams don't travel to Türkiye, so we might lose another home game. This was perhaps the toughest draw we could've gotten. It's really interesting how they do that.

Still, I think Beşiktaş will make it into the top 24 and advance after the worst case scenario. Making the top 8 will be very difficult, but reaching the top 24 is achievable despite this tough draw.

[emrecemsan]

We drew a very tough draw. It's probably the toughest one. We have away games against Leverkusen, Celtic and Hoffenheim. Only the Omonia game is easy, though that one could still be tricky since it's in the Greek part of Cyprus. Our home games are against Marseille, Crystal Palace, Union SG and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Also, Israeli teams don't travel to Türkiye, so we might lose another home game. This was perhaps the toughest draw we could've gotten. It's really interesting how they do that.

Still, I think Beşiktaş will make it into the top 24 and advance after the worst case scenario. Making the top 8 will be very difficult, but reaching the top 24 is achievable despite this tough draw.

Most of your opponents have a squad that's more valuable than yours if I'm not wrong. This must really be one the hardest draws in the Europa League this year.

Some of them are even away which increases the difficulty. I don't feel like Beşiktaş can beat Leverkusen and Hoffenheim away. Celtic are more favorable for that.

At least you've built a stronger squad with the recent additions. Top 24 isn't unrealistic.

[blomen]

We drew a very tough draw. It's probably the toughest one. We have away games against Leverkusen, Celtic and Hoffenheim. Only the Omonia game is easy, though that one could still be tricky since it's in the Greek part of Cyprus. Our home games are against Marseille, Crystal Palace, Union SG and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Also, Israeli teams don't travel to Türkiye, so we might lose another home game. This was perhaps the toughest draw we could've gotten. It's really interesting how they do that.

Still, I think Beşiktaş will make it into the top 24 and advance after the worst case scenario. Making the top 8 will be very difficult, but reaching the top 24 is achievable despite this tough draw.

beşiktaş really drew an unlucky matchup. the difficulty level of fenerbahçe’s champions league draw is almost the same with beşiktaş’s europa league draw. in my opinion, there are more teams from which fenerbahçe could take 3 points than there are for beşiktaş.

i think they’re currently trying to bring the levels of the champions league and the europa league closer together. that’s because tournaments other than the champions league are hardly taken seriously by anyone. if your own team isn’t playing, these matches don’t even get much coverage in the media. that’s why they might be aiming to boost the europa league’s prestige a bit.

[meser#]

We drew a very tough draw. It's probably the toughest one. We have away games against Leverkusen, Celtic and Hoffenheim. Only the Omonia game is easy, though that one could still be tricky since it's in the Greek part of Cyprus. Our home games are against Marseille, Crystal Palace, Union SG and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Also, Israeli teams don't travel to Türkiye, so we might lose another home game. This was perhaps the toughest draw we could've gotten. It's really interesting how they do that.

Still, I think Beşiktaş will make it into the top 24 and advance after the worst case scenario. Making the top 8 will be very difficult, but reaching the top 24 is achievable despite this tough draw.

Unfortunately, my friend, the worst-case scenario from the draw has come to pass. It would have been better if Hapoel hadn't been in the mix; with them included, the situation effectively turns into five away games and three home games for us.
The most critical factor right now is the fixture list; we don't yet know exactly when we'll face which team. If the schedule works in our favor, I think we can pick up at least 10 points. As you said, we’ll make it into the top 24. Right now, we only have the names of the teams; we’ll see how their form shapes up over time.

[Somto9Light]

We drew a very tough draw. It's probably the toughest one. We have away games against Leverkusen, Celtic and Hoffenheim. Only the Omonia game is easy, though that one could still be tricky since it's in the Greek part of Cyprus. Our home games are against Marseille, Crystal Palace, Union SG and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Also, Israeli teams don't travel to Türkiye, so we might lose another home game. This was perhaps the toughest draw we could've gotten. It's really interesting how they do that.

Still, I think Beşiktaş will make it into the top 24 and advance after the worst case scenario. Making the top 8 will be very difficult, but reaching the top 24 is achievable despite this tough draw.

What makes a team stronger is their ability to face big teams even if they don't emerge victorious. Besiktas must look above the teams that are in the same draw with them as it will only kill their morale. When you are playing in European competitions, you must have the idea that you will face tougher opponents from other leagues because even if you are lucky to meet weak teams, it will get to a stage when you will still meet the bigger teams so there's no way of escape. You might even find out that Besiktas might win some of these teams that we feel they are stronger.

[Xyloo]

We drew a very tough draw. It's probably the toughest one. We have away games against Leverkusen, Celtic and Hoffenheim. Only the Omonia game is easy, though that one could still be tricky since it's in the Greek part of Cyprus. Our home games are against Marseille, Crystal Palace, Union SG and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Also, Israeli teams don't travel to Türkiye, so we might lose another home game. This was perhaps the toughest draw we could've gotten. It's really interesting how they do that.

Still, I think Beşiktaş will make it into the top 24 and advance after the worst case scenario. Making the top 8 will be very difficult, but reaching the top 24 is achievable despite this tough draw.

Unfortunately, my friend, the worst-case scenario from the draw has come to pass. It would have been better if Hapoel hadn't been in the mix; with them included, the situation effectively turns into five away games and three home games for us.
The most critical factor right now is the fixture list; we don't yet know exactly when we'll face which team. If the schedule works in our favor, I think we can pick up at least 10 points. As you said, we’ll make it into the top 24. Right now, we only have the names of the teams; we’ll see how their form shapes up over time.

We can say that Beşiktaş has a bad fixture list. They could have had better and easier fixtures. If I remember correctly, they drew Hoffenheim from the last pot, and I think they were the strongest team in that pot. This year, there are very strong teams in the Europa League. I expect the competition to be similar to that in the Champions League. Look at Milan, Juventus, Lyon, Leverkusen, Benfica, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Marseille, Anderlecht, USG, Sunderland, Rennes – these are the strongest teams in the league. Those are the 12 teams. There will be intense competition among the remaining teams to get into the top 24. Beşiktaş will try to be a part of this competition, but their fixture list is really hard

[Iamgoat]

I have checked out the league phase draw and I can say that Beşiktaş are really unlucky. They have a quite difficult one against especially 3 German teams 2 of which are away matches.

Crystal Palace is another very tough opponent who are the last champions of the Conference League. Marseille has sold Greenwood to us but still they look strong considering how they started the Ligue 1. So Beşiktaş will need luck beside them too.

Looking into Crystal Palace was also another good angle because they form another difficult opponent particularly because they come into the competition already as the reigning Conference League champions although seeing how they were beaten by Manchester City earlier was also a weak spirited moment to me however you won’t compare the intensity which comes from the latter. Let’s not also forget their heavyweight fixtures against the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Marseille who are all out there to take the lead too.

[tiCeR]

I have checked out the league phase draw and I can say that Beşiktaş are really unlucky. They have a quite difficult one against especially 3 German teams 2 of which are away matches.

Crystal Palace is another very tough opponent who are the last champions of the Conference League. Marseille has sold Greenwood to us but still they look strong considering how they started the Ligue 1. So Beşiktaş will need luck beside them too.

Looking into Crystal Palace was also another good angle because they form another difficult opponent particularly because they come into the competition already as the reigning Conference League champions although seeing how they were beaten by Manchester City earlier was also a weak spirited moment to me however you won’t compare the intensity which comes from the latter. Let’s not also forget their heavyweight fixtures against the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Marseille who are all out there to take the lead too.

The signs are bad in my opinion and I think everyone sees the same. They have not delivered anything so far. Could it be different in the Europa League?

We have seen surprising winners before, but this is not promising. It is not like there is a team that is able to take on the big opponents right now. They are not among the top favorites.

[nelson4lov]

Pot 1 has the highest number of strong contenders for this year's Europa league competition. I kinda like this new UCL/UEL format because now, we get top tier fixtures even from day 1 compared to the old format where the strongest teams are mostly paired with the weakest teams during the group stage.

Looking forward to the games but I'll only watch a few matches especially the ones with top contenders.

[Africolo]

for years, the europa league has been a home for teams that couldn’t qualify for the champions league. if you finished third in your group or had a rough start to the season, this was where you ended up. now that relegation from the champions league to the europa league has been eliminated and the number of teams in the champions league has increased, we’re seeing fewer global teams here. but it’s still a great competition to watch because it offers such a wide variety of matches.

out of the teams i see here right now, i think my favorite would be juventus. i’m voting for them.

I agree with you on this and many people are just underrating the teams playing the  Europa League because they feel it's a league for smaller teams who weren't able to qualify for the champions League but little did they realize that it's another kind of competition where the least expected team there can do better, take a good example at Sunderland that's playing the Europa League, they were newly promoted from the championship and they actually fought very hard at the premier League so we shouldn't underate any team because football is unpredictable.

Europa League is one league that I enjoy so much because I have really won a couple of bets with the teams playing in the league and I'm seeing Bayern Leverkusen to be the winner of the league despite having Juventus always competing in the team but whichever way let's see how the end will be.

[Daniel91]

I'm now looking at the results of the draw and the matches of the 1st round of the group stage and there are several very interesting matches.
First of all, it's a match between 2 football giants, Milan and Benfica, and I think it will be a completely open and uncertain match.
Anderlecht and Lyon is the second interesting match on the program and I would give a slight advantage to the home team.
Another interesting match will be between Sturm and Rennes (I also give a slight advantage to the home team) and I will also follow the match between my Dinamo and the Israeli H. Beer-Sheva.
If Dinamo wants to pass the group stage of the competition, this is one of the matches they have to win.