2018–19 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round

The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round began on 26 June and ended on 30 August 2018.^[1]

A total of 178 teams competed in the qualifying system of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, which included the qualifying phase and the play-off round,^[2] with 35 teams in Champions Path and 143 teams in Main Path. The 21 winners in the play-off round (8 from Champions Path, 13 from Main Path) advanced to the group stage, to join the 17 teams that entered in the group stage, the 6 losers of the Champions League play-off round (4 from Champions Path, 2 from League Path), and the 4 League Path losers of the Champions League third qualifying round.^[3]

The Champions Path included all league champions which were eliminated from the Champions Path qualifying phase of the Champions League, and consisted of the following rounds:

• Second qualifying round (18 teams): 18 teams which entered in this round (3 losers of the Champions League preliminary round and 15 of the 16 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round).
• Third qualifying round (20 teams): 11 teams which entered in this round (1 loser of the Champions League first qualifying round which receives a bye and 10 losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 9 winners of the second qualifying round.
• Play-off round (16 teams): 6 teams which entered in this round (losers of the Champions League third qualifying round), and 10 winners of the third qualifying round.

Below are the participating teams (with their 2018 UEFA club coefficients),^[4] grouped by their starting rounds.

Play-off round Team Coeff.[4] Celtic[Q3] 31.000 Astana[Q3] 21.750 Qarabağ[Q3] 20.500 Malmö FF[Q3] 14.000 Shkëndija[Q3] 3.500 Spartak Trnava[Q3] 3.500

Third qualifying round Team Coeff.[4] Ludogorets Razgrad[Q2] 37.000 Legia Warsaw[Q2] 24.500 Sheriff Tiraspol[Q2] 14.750 Midtjylland[Q2] 11.500 Hapoel Be'er Sheva[Q2] 10.000 Rosenborg[Q2] 9.000 HJK[Q2] 8.000 Kukësi[Q2] 4.250 CFR Cluj[Q2] 4.090 Sūduva Marijampolė[Q2] 2.000 Cork City[Q1 Bye] 1.750

Second qualifying round Team Coeff.[4] APOEL[Q1] 27.000 The New Saints[Q1] 5.000 Zrinjski Mostar[Q1] 3.750 F91 Dudelange[Q1] 3.500 Valletta[Q1] 3.250 Víkingur Gøta[Q1] 3.000 Crusaders[Q1] 3.000 Olimpija Ljubljana[Q1] 2.900 FC Santa Coloma[PR SF] 2.750 Lincoln Red Imps[PR F] 2.750 Alashkert[Q1] 2.500 Sutjeska Nikšić[Q1] 2.500 Spartaks Jūrmala[Q1] 1.750 La Fiorita[PR SF] 1.750 Valur[Q1] 1.650 Flora Tallinn[Q1] 1.250 Torpedo Kutaisi[Q1] 1.000 Drita[Q1] 0.000

Notes

The Main Path included all cup winners and league non-champions which did not qualify directly for the group stage, and consisted of the following rounds:

• Preliminary round (14 teams): 14 teams which entered in this round.
• First qualifying round (94 teams): 87 teams which entered in this round, and 7 winners of the preliminary round.
• Second qualifying round (74 teams): 27 teams which entered in this round, and 47 winners of the first qualifying round.
• Third qualifying round (52 teams): 15 teams which entered in this round (including 2 League Path losers of the Champions League second qualifying round), and 37 winners of the second qualifying round.
• Play-off round (26 teams): 26 winners of the third qualifying round.

Below are the participating teams (with their 2018 UEFA club coefficients),^[4] grouped by their starting rounds.

Third qualifying round Team Coeff.[4] Zenit Saint Petersburg 78.000 Basel[CL] 71.000 Olympiacos 54.000 Braga 30.500 Gent 27.000 Feyenoord 21.500 Rapid Wien 21.500 Rijeka 15.500 Zorya Luhansk 9.000 İstanbul Başakşehir 8.500 Sturm Graz[CL] 6.570 Luzern 6.040 Sigma Olomouc 6.035 Brøndby 5.190 Universitatea Craiova 4.090

Second qualifying round Team Coeff.[4] Sevilla 113.000 Beşiktaş 57.000 Sparta Prague 34.500 FCSB 27.500 Genk 27.000 AZ 25.000 RB Leipzig 17.000 Burnley 15.921 Atalanta 15.249 Bordeaux 11.283 Ufa 10.676 Rio Ave 9.449 Asteras Tripolis 9.000 Mariupol 8.226 Hajduk Split 7.000 Admira Wacker Mödling 6.570 LASK Linz 6.570 St. Gallen 6.040 Vitesse 6.000 Atromitos 5.720 Hapoel Haifa 4.350 AEK Larnaca 4.310 Jagiellonia Białystok 4.025 Aberdeen 4.000 Djurgårdens IF 3.995 Dynamo Brest 3.725 Lillestrøm 3.485

First qualifying round Team Coeff.[4] Copenhagen 34.000 Maribor 22.500 Maccabi Tel Aviv 22.500 Partizan 17.000 Molde 12.500 Apollon Limassol 10.000 Dinamo Minsk 8.000 Lech Poznań 7.000 FH 5.500 Dundalk 5.500 Žalgiris 5.500 Gabala 5.250 Osijek 5.200 Nordsjælland 5.190 Vardar 5.000 Trenčín 5.000 Slovan Bratislava 5.000 Beitar Jerusalem 4.350 Anorthosis Famagusta 4.310 Dinamo Tbilisi 4.250 Viitorul Constanța 4.090 Górnik Zabrze 4.025 AIK 4.000 Nõmme Kalju 4.000 BK Häcken 3.995 Levski Sofia 3.825 Keşla 3.825 Neftçi Baku 3.825 Slavia Sofia 3.825 CSKA Sofia 3.825 Ventspils 3.750 Radnički Niš 3.750 Spartak Subotica 3.750 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 3.725 Rangers 3.725 Hibernian 3.725 Kairat 3.625 Irtysh Pavlodar 3.625 Tobol 3.625 Fola Esch 3.500 Sarpsborg 08 3.485 Rabotnički 3.250 Sarajevo 3.250 Domžale 3.000 Titograd Podgorica 3.000 Željezničar 3.000 Rudar Velenje 2.900 Vaduz 2.750 FCI Levadia 2.750 Milsami Orhei 2.750 Stjarnan 2.750 Ferencváros 2.500 Cliftonville 2.500 DAC Dunajská Streda 2.425 Budućnost Podgorica 2.250 Široki Brijeg 2.250 Pyunik 2.250 Zaria Bălți 2.000 Partizani 2.000 Chikhura Sachkhere 2.000 Petrocub Hîncești 2.000 Rudar Pljevlja 1.750 Laçi 1.700 Luftëtari 1.700 ÍBV 1.650 Honvéd 1.625 Újpest 1.625 Liepāja 1.500 Shkupi 1.500 Lahti 1.380 KuPS 1.380 Ilves 1.380 Shamrock Rovers 1.340 Derry City 1.340 Samtredia 1.250 Riga FC 1.125 Narva Trans 1.100 Stumbras 1.075 Gandzasar Kapan 0.975 Banants 0.975 Balzan 0.900 Progrès Niederkorn 0.875 Racing FC 0.875 Coleraine 0.850 Glenavon 0.850 Connah's Quay Nomads 0.775 NSÍ Runavík 0.750

Preliminary round Team Coeff.[4] Birkirkara 2.750 Trakai 1.750 Europa 1.500 B36 Tórshavn 1.500 Folgore 1.250 Bala Town 1.000 Gżira United 0.900 Cefn Druids 0.775 Sant Julià 0.750 KÍ Klaksvík 0.750 St Joseph's 0.600 Engordany 0.266 Prishtina 0.250 Tre Fiori 0.099

Notes

Each tie was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out.^[3]

For the Champions Path, in the draws for each round, teams (whose identity was not known at the time of the draws) were divided into seeded and unseeded pots, which may contain different numbers of teams, based on the following principles:

• In the second qualifying round draw, 15 of the 16 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round (excluding 1 team which receives a bye to the third qualifying round as decided by an additional draw held after the Champions League first qualifying round draw) were seeded, and the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round were unseeded.
• In the third qualifying round draw, the ten losers of the Champions League second qualifying round were seeded, and the loser of the first qualifying round which receives a bye (whose identity was known at the time of the draw) and the nine winners of the second qualifying round were unseeded.
• In the play-off round draw, the six losers of the Champions League third qualifying round were seeded, and the ten winners of the third qualifying round were unseeded.

In the beginning of the draws, a seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw, until one of the pots was empty. Afterwards, the remaining teams from the non-empty pot were drawn against each other, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw.

For the Main Path, in the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams. A seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team, with the order of legs in each tie decided by draw. As the identity of the winners of the previous round was not known at the time of the draws, the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie would advance to this round, which meant that if the team with the lower coefficient advanced, it simply took the seeding of its opponent.

Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they are purely for convenience of the draw and do not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Teams from the same association or from associations with political conflicts as decided by UEFA may not be drawn into the same tie. After the draws, the order of legs of a tie may be reversed by UEFA due to scheduling or venue conflicts.^[3]

The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).^[1]

Matches may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

The draw for the preliminary round was held on 12 June 2018, 13:00 CEST.^[5]

A total of 14 teams were involved in the preliminary round draw. Seven teams were seeded and seven teams were unseeded. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same tie, and if such a pairing was drawn or was set to be drawn in the final tie, the second team drawn in the current tie would be moved to the next tie.

The first legs were played on 26 and 28 June, and the second legs on 5 July 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Europa	1–6	Prishtina	1–1	0–5
Sant Julià	1–4	Gżira United	0–2	1–2
Engordany	3–2	Folgore	2–1	1–1
B36 Tórshavn	2–2 (4–2 p)	St Joseph's	1–1	1–1 (a.e.t.)
Birkirkara	2–3	KÍ Klaksvík	1–1	1–2
Tre Fiori	3–1	Bala Town	3–0	0–1
Cefn Druids	1–2	Trakai	1–1	0–1

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 20 June 2018, 12:00 CEST.^[6]

A total of 94 teams were involved in the first qualifying round draw: 87 teams entering in this round, and the seven winners of the preliminary round. They were divided into nine groups: seven of ten teams, where five teams were seeded and five teams were unseeded, and two of twelve teams, where six teams were seeded and six teams were unseeded. Numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA so that the draw could be held in one run for all groups with ten teams and one run for all groups with twelve teams.

Notes

The first legs were played on 10, 11 and 12 July, and the second legs on 17, 18 and 19 July 2018.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Stjarnan	3–1	Nõmme Kalju	3–0	0–1
Ilves	1–3	Slavia Sofia	0–1	1–2
KÍ Klaksvík	2–3	Žalgiris	1–2	1–1
Fola Esch	0–0 (5–4 p)	Prishtina	0–0	0–0 (a.e.t.)
Glenavon	3–6	Molde	2–1	1–5
DAC Dunajská Streda	3–2	Dinamo Tbilisi	1–1	2–1
Stumbras	1–2	Apollon Limassol	1–0	0–2
Široki Brijeg	3–3 (a)	Domžale	2–2	1–1
Rangers	2–0	Shkupi	2–0	0–0
Gabala	1–2[A]	Progrès Niederkorn	0–2	1–0
Racing FC	0–2	Viitorul Constanța	0–2	0–0
Samtredia	0–3	Tobol	0–1	0–2
Partizani	0–3	Maribor	0–1	0–2
Neftçi Baku	3–5	Újpest	3–1	0–4
Budućnost Podgorica	1–3	Trenčín	0–2	1–1
Derry City	2–3	Dinamo Minsk	0–2	2–1
B36 Tórshavn	2–1	Titograd Podgorica	0–0	2–1
Górnik Zabrze	2–1[A]	Zaria Bălți	1–0	1–1
Spartak Subotica	3–1	Coleraine	1–1	2–0
Pyunik	3–0	Vardar	1–0	2–0
Shamrock Rovers	1–2	AIK	0–1	1–1 (a.e.t.)
Connah's Quay Nomads	1–5	Shakhtyor Soligorsk	1–3	0–2
Lahti	0–3	FH	0–3	0–0
Ventspils	8–3	Luftëtari	5–0	3–3
Cliftonville	1–3	Nordsjælland	0–1	1–2
Banants	1–5	Sarajevo	1–2	0–3
Engordany	1–10	Kairat	0–3	1–7
Petrocub Hîncești	2–3	Osijek	1–1	1–2
Anorthosis Famagusta	2–2 (a)	Laçi	2–1	0–1
Ferencváros	1–2	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–1	0–1
Balzan	5–3	Keşla	4–1	1–2
Rabotnički	2–5[A]	Honvéd	2–1	0–4
Rudar Pljevlja	0–6	Partizan	0–3	0–3
CSKA Sofia	1–1 (5–3 p)	Riga	1–0	0–1 (a.e.t.)
Milsami Orhei	2–9	Slovan Bratislava	2–4	0–5
Radnički Niš	5–0	Gżira United	4–0	1–0
Lech Poznań	3–2	Gandzasar Kapan	2–0	1–2
Chikhura Sachkhere	2–1	Beitar Jerusalem	0–0	2–1
Vaduz	3–3 (a)	Levski Sofia	1–0	2–3
Narva Trans	1–5[A]	Željezničar	0–2	1–3
Trakai	1–0	Irtysh Pavlodar	0–0	1–0
Hibernian	12–5	NSÍ Runavík	6–1	6–4
Rudar Velenje	10–0	Tre Fiori	7–0	3–0
FCI Levadia	1–3	Dundalk	0–1	1–2
ÍBV	0–6	Sarpsborg 08	0–4	0–2
KuPS	1–2[A]	Copenhagen	0–1	1–1
Liepāja	2–4	BK Häcken	0–3	2–1

Notes

The draw for the second qualifying round Champions Path was held on 19 June 2018, 16:00 CEST,^[7] and the draw for the second qualifying round Main Path was held on 20 June 2018, 14:50 CEST.^[6]

A total of 18 teams were involved in the second qualifying round Champions Path draw.

• Seeded: 15 of the 16 losers of the Champions League first qualifying round (excluding the losers of the Champions League first qualifying round given a bye to the third qualifying round as decided by an additional draw held after the Champions League first qualifying round draw)
• Unseeded: the three losers of the Champions League preliminary round

They were divided into three groups of six teams, where five teams were seeded and one team were unseeded. Teams from Serbia and Kosovo, and Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, could not be drawn into the same tie, and if such a potential pairing was drawn, the second team drawn in the current tie would be moved to the next tie.

Champions Path
Bye to third qualifying round (decided by draw)	Group 1		Group 2		Group 3
	Seeded	Unseeded	Seeded	Unseeded	Seeded	Unseeded
Cork City	Torpedo Kutaisi Víkingur Gøta The New Saints Valletta Zrinjski Mostar	Lincoln Red Imps	Alashkert Sutjeska Nikšić Drita Valur F91 Dudelange	FC Santa Coloma	Crusaders APOEL Olimpija Ljubljana Spartaks Jūrmala Flora Tallinn	La Fiorita

A total of 74 teams were involved in the second qualifying round Main Path draw: 27 teams entering in this round, and the 47 winners of the first qualifying round. They were divided into seven groups: five of ten teams, where five teams were seeded and five teams were unseeded, and two of twelve teams, where six teams were seeded and six teams were unseeded. Numbers were pre-assigned for each team by UEFA so that the draw could be held in one run for all groups with ten teams and one run for all groups with twelve teams.

Notes

The first legs were played on 26 July, and the second legs on 31 July, 1 and 2 August 2018.

Champions Path

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Cork City	Bye	N/A	N/A	N/A
The New Saints	3–2	Lincoln Red Imps	2–1	1–1
Torpedo Kutaisi	7–0	Víkingur Gøta	3–0	4–0
Zrinjski Mostar	3–2	Valletta	1–1	2–1
FC Santa Coloma	1–3	Valur	1–0	0–3
Sutjeska Nikšić	0–1	Alashkert	0–1	0–0
F91 Dudelange	3–2	Drita	2–1	1–1
Spartaks Jūrmala	9–0	La Fiorita	6–0	3–0
APOEL	5–2	Flora Tallinn	5–0	0–2
Olimpija Ljubljana	6–2	Crusaders	5–1	1–1

Main Path

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Molde	5–0	Laçi	3–0	2–0
Atalanta	10–2[A]	Sarajevo	2–2	8–0
Žalgiris	2–1	Vaduz	1–0	1–1
Kairat	3–2	AZ	2–0	1–2
Aberdeen	2–4	Burnley	1–1	1–3 (a.e.t.)
Partizan	2–1	Trakai	1–0	1–1
Balzan	3–4	Slovan Bratislava	2–1	1–3
Nordsjælland	2–0	AIK	1–0	1–0
Rudar Velenje	0–6	FCSB	0–2	0–4
Hapoel Haifa	2–1	FH	1–1	1–0
Dundalk	0–4	AEK Larnaca	0–0	0–4
Górnik Zabrze	1–5	Trenčín	0–1	1–4
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4–2	Radnički Niš	2–0	2–2
CSKA Sofia	6–1	Admira Wacker Mödling	3–0	3–1
Spartak Subotica	3–2	Sparta Prague	2–0	1–2
RB Leipzig	5–1	BK Häcken	4–0	1–1
Stjarnan	0–7	Copenhagen	0–2	0–5
Ufa	1–1 (a)	Domžale	0–0	1–1
Tobol	2–2 (a)	Pyunik	2–1	0–1
Jagiellonia Białystok	5–4	Rio Ave	1–0	4–4
LASK	6–1	Lillestrøm	4–0	2–1
Honvéd	1–2	Progrès Niederkorn	1–0	0–2
Osijek	1–2	Rangers	0–1	1–1
B36 Tórshavn	0–8	Beşiktaş	0–2	0–6
DAC Dunajská Streda	2–7	Dinamo Minsk	1–3	1–4
Ventspils	1–3	Bordeaux	0–1	1–2
Željezničar	2–5	Apollon Limassol	1–2	1–3
Viitorul Constanța	3–5	Vitesse	2–2	1–3
St. Gallen	2–2 (a)	Sarpsborg 08	2–1	0–1
Dynamo Brest	5–4	Atromitos	4–3	1–1
Sevilla	7–1	Újpest	4–0	3–1
Shakhtyor Soligorsk	2–4	Lech Poznań	1–1	1–3 (a.e.t.)
Hibernian	4–3	Asteras Tripolis	3–2	1–1
Chikhura Sachkhere	0–2	Maribor	0–0	0–2
Genk	9–1	Fola Esch	5–0	4–1
Djurgårdens IF	2–3	Mariupol	1–1	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Hajduk Split	4–2	Slavia Sofia	1–0	3–2

Notes

The draw for the third qualifying round Champions Path was held on 23 July 2018, 12:45 CEST, and the draw for the third qualifying round Main Path was held on 23 July 2018, 14:00 CEST.^[8]

A total of 20 teams were involved in the third qualifying round Champions Path draw.

• Seeded: the 10 losers of the Champions League second qualifying round Champions Path
• Unseeded: the loser of the Champions League first qualifying round which received a bye, and the 9 winners of the Europa League second qualifying round Champions Path

They were divided into two groups of ten teams, where five teams were seeded and five teams were unseeded.