The 2016–17 UEFA Europa League was the 46th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the eighth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
A total of 188 teams from 54 of the 55 UEFA member associations were expected to participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League (the exception being Kosovo, whose participation was not accepted in their first attempt as UEFA members). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:[6]
Associations 1–51 (except Liechtenstein) each had three teams qualify.
Liechtenstein and Gibraltar each had one team qualify (Liechtenstein organises only a domestic cup and no domestic league; Gibraltar as per decision by the UEFA Executive Committee).[7]
The UEFA Executive Committee approved in December 2014 changes to the rewards given according to the Respect Fair Play ranking, and starting from the 2016–17 season, the three Fair Play berths were no longer allocated to the Europa League.[8]
Association ranking
For the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2015 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2010–11 to 2014–15.[9][10]
Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:
(CL) – Additional teams transferred from Champions League
(EL) – Vacated berth due to Europa League title holders playing in Champions League
Kosovo (KOS):Kosovo became a UEFA member on 3 May 2016.[11] UEFA decided that their domestic cup winners could participate in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League only if they could meet licensing criteria under article 15 of the UEFA Club Licensing & Financial Fair Play regulations, which would be confirmed following the assessment made by the UEFA administration within the deadline of 31 May 2016.[12] However, Kosovo's entry, Prishtina (as the winners of the 2015–16 Kosovar Cup), was denied by UEFA in June due to the club failing licensing requirements, and also because the club could not provide a suitable stadium and UEFA did not allow them to play their home matches in a foreign country.[13][14]
Distribution
In the default access list, Sevilla enter the third qualifying round (as the seventh-placed team of the 2015–16 La Liga).[6][15] However, since they qualified for the Champions League as the Europa League title holders, the spot which they qualified for in the Europa League third qualifying round is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:[16][17]
The domestic cup winners of association 18 (Cyprus) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
The domestic cup winners of associations 27 (Serbia) and 28 (Slovenia) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this round
Teams advancing from previous round
Teams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round (96 teams)
26 domestic cup winners from associations 29–54
35 domestic league runners-up from associations 18–53 (except Liechtenstein)
35 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–51 (except Liechtenstein)
Second qualifying round (66 teams)
10 domestic cup winners from associations 19–28
2 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–17
6 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 10–15
48 winners from first qualifying round
Third qualifying round (58 teams)
6 domestic cup winners from associations 13–18
9 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–15
5 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 5–9
3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 4–6 (League Cup winners for France)
2 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (League Cup winners for England) (except Europa League title holders)
33 winners from second qualifying round
Play-off round (44 teams)
29 winners from third qualifying round
15 losers from Champions League third qualifying round
Group stage (48 teams)
12 domestic cup winners from associations 1–12
1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 4
3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–3
22 winners from play-off round
10 losers from Champions League play-off round
Knockout phase (32 teams)
12 group winners from group stage
12 group runners-up from group stage
8 third-placed teams from Champions League group stage
Redistribution rules
A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules (regulations Articles 3.03 and 3.04):[6]
When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualify for the Champions League, their Europa League place is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place".
When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place" if possible.
For associations where a Europa League place is reserved for the League Cup winners, they always qualify for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners have already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place is taken by the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:[18][19][20]
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
Azerbaijan (AZE):Zira and Inter Baku would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the runners-up and fourth-placed team of the 2015–16 Azerbaijan Premier League respectively, but Zira failed to obtain a UEFA licence as the club has existed professionally for fewer than three seasons,[22][23] and Inter Baku were excluded from participating in the 2016–17 European competitions by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.[24] As a result, the berths were given to the fifth-placed team Kapaz and the sixth-placed team Neftçi Baku.
Bulgaria (BUL):CSKA Sofia would have qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round as the winners of the 2015–16 Bulgarian Cup, but were excluded from participating in the 2016–17 European competitions by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.[25] As a result, the runners-up of the 2015–16 A Group, Levski Sofia, entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round, and the first qualifying round berth was given to the fourth-placed team Slavia Sofia.
Greece (GRE):Panionios would have qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round as the fifth-placed team of the 2015–16 Superleague Greece, but were excluded from participating in the 2016–17 European competitions by UEFA for financial reasons.[26] As a result, the berth was given to the sixth-placed team PAS Giannina.
Latvia (LVA):Skonto would have qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round as the runners-up of the 2015 Latvian Higher League, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence.[27][28] As a result, the berth was given to the fifth-placed team Spartaks Jūrmala.
Romania (ROU):CFR Cluj would have qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round as the winners of the 2015–16 Cupa României, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence after filing for insolvency in 2015.[30][31]Dinamo București would have qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round as the fourth-placed team of the 2015–16 Liga I, but failed to obtain a UEFA licence after filing for insolvency in 2014.[32][33] Dinamo București appealed to the Romanian Football Federation but the appeal was denied,[34] and an appeal to Court of Arbitration for Sport[35] was also rejected.[36] As a result, the third qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team Viitorul Constanța, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the seventh-placed team CSM Politehnica Iași, since the sixth-placed team Târgu Mureș were excluded from participating in the 2016–17 European competitions by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.[24][31][37]
Turkey (TUR):Galatasaray would have qualified for the Europa League group stage as the winners of the 2015–16 Turkish Cup, but were excluded from participating in the 2016–17 European competitions by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.[38] As a result, the third-placed team of the 2015–16 Süper Lig, Konyaspor, entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round, the fourth-placed team İstanbul Başakşehir entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round, and the second qualifying round berth was given to the fifth-placed team Osmanlıspor. Galatasaray appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,[39] but it was rejected.[40]
Ukraine (UKR):Dnipro would have qualified for the Europa League group stage as the third-placed team of the 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League, but were excluded from participating in the 2016–17 European competitions by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.[24] As a result, the fourth-placed team Zorya Luhansk entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round, and the third qualifying round berth was given to the sixth-placed team FC Oleksandriya.
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).[41][6][42]
Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds could also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients,[43][44][45] and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.
First qualifying round
The draws for the first and second qualifying round were held on 20 June 2016.[46][47] The first legs were played on 28 and 30 June, and the second legs were played on 5, 6 and 7 July 2016.
The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 15 July 2016.[49][50] The first legs were played on 28 July, and the second legs were played on 3 and 4 August 2016.
The draw for the play-off round was held on 5 August 2016.[51][52] The first legs were played on 17 and 18 August, and the second legs were played on 25 August 2016.
Location of teams of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage. Red: Group A; Yellow: Group B; Green: Group C; Dark Green: Group D; Purple: Group E; Pink: Group F; Blue: Group G; Orange: Group H; Brown: Group I; Deep pink: Group J; Cyan: Group K; Spring green: Group L.
The draw for the group stage was held on 26 August 2016, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.[53] The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2016 UEFA club coefficients.[43][44][45]
In each group, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 32, where they are joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays are 15 September, 29 September, 20 October, 3 November, 24 November, and 8 December 2016.
Location of Benelux teams of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage. Red: Group A; Green: Group C; Dark Green: Group D; Pink: Group F; Blue: Group G; Orange: Group H.
Tiebreakers
The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine the rankings (regulations Article 16.01):[6]
higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
if, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 12 apply;
superior goal difference in all group matches;
higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
higher number of wins in all group matches;
higher number of away wins in all group matches;
lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
In the knockout phase, teams play against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. The mechanism of the draws for each round is as follows:
In the draw for the round of 32, the twelve group winners and the four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage with the better group records are seeded, and the twelve group runners-up and the other four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage are unseeded. The seeded teams are drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the round of 16 onwards, there are no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association can be drawn against each other.
The draw for the round of 32 was held on 12 December 2016.[55] The first legs were played on 16 February, and the second legs were played on 22 and 23 February 2017.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 24 February 2017.[56] The first legs were played on 9 March, and the second legs were played on 16 March 2017.
The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 17 March 2017.[57] The first legs were played on 13 April, and the second legs were played on 20 April 2017.
The final was played on 24 May 2017 at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden.[59] The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the semi-final draw.
A new UEFA Europa League Player of the Season award was introduced for the 2016–17 season.[64] Votes were cast by coaches of the 48 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players were announced on 4 August 2017.[65] The award winner was announced and presented to during the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stage draw in Monaco on 25 August 2017.[66]
^"AFFA-nın Lisenziya Komissiyasının qərarları" [AFFA License Commission decisions] (in Azerbaijani). Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
^"Echipe romanesti in Europa" [Romanian teams in Europe]. Ponturi-Bune.ro (in Romanian). 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
Red: Group A; 
Yellow: Group B; 
Green: Group C; 
Dark Green: Group D;
Purple: Group E; 
Pink: Group F; 
Blue: Group G; 
Orange: Group H;
Brown: Group I; 
Deep pink: Group J; 
Cyan: Group K; 
Spring green: Group L.
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