2024–25 UEFA Conference League league phase

The 2024–25 UEFA Conference League league phase began on 2 October and ended on 19 December 2024. A total of 36 teams competed in the league phase to decide the 24 places in the knockout phase of the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.

Borac Banja Luka, Celje, Cercle Brugge, 1. FC Heidenheim, Jagiellonia Białystok, Larne, Noah, Pafos, Petrocub Hîncești, The New Saints and Víkingur Reykjavík made their debut appearances in a major UEFA competition group or league phase. Noah became the first club in Conference League history to successfully navigate all four rounds of qualification, while The New Saints and Larne were the first teams from Wales and Northern Ireland associations, respectively, to play in a major UEFA competition group or league stage.^{[note 1]} A total of 29 national associations were represented in the league phase.

This was the first season with the single-league format, which replaced the group format used until the previous season.^[1] With the format change, the number of matches prior to the knockout phase increased from 96 to 108. Vitória de Guimarães' Samu was the first-ever goalscorer of the competition's league phase.

Format

Each team played six matches, three at home and three away, against six different opponents, with all 36 teams ranked in a single league table. Teams were separated into six pots based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients, and each team played one team from each of the six pots. The top eight ranked teams received a bye to the round of 16. The teams ranked from 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the teams ranked from 9th to 16th seeded for the draw. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th were eliminated from the competition.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were equal on points upon completion of the league phase, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine their rankings:^[2]

Goal difference;
Goals scored;
Away goals scored;
Wins;
Away wins;
Higher number of points obtained collectively by league phase opponents;
Superior collective goal difference of league phase opponents;
Higher number of goals scored collectively by league phase opponents;
Lower disciplinary points total (direct red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
UEFA club coefficient.

During the league phase, criteria 1 to 5 were used to rank teams who had equal number of points. If any teams were equal on points and tied on the first five criteria, they were considered equal in position and sorted alphabetically. Criteria 6 to 10 were only used to break ties upon completion of all matches.^[3]

Teams and seeding

The 36 teams were divided into six pots of six teams each, with teams allocated to pots based on their 2024 UEFA club coefficients.^[4]^[5] The participants included:

24 winners of the play-off round (5 from the Champions Path, 19 from the Main Path)
12 losers of the Europa League play-off round

Key to colours
Teams ranked 1 to 8 advanced to the round of 16 as a seeded team
Teams ranked 9 to 16 advanced to the knockout phase play-offs as a seeded team
Teams ranked 17 to 24 advanced to the knockout phase play-offs as an unseeded team

Pot 1
Team	Notes	Coeff.
Chelsea	^[ECL-MP]	96.000
Copenhagen	^[ECL-MP]	51.500
Gent	^[ECL-MP]	45.000
Fiorentina	^[ECL-MP]	42.000
LASK	^[EL-PO]	37.000
Real Betis	^[ECL-MP]	33.000

Pot 2
Team	Notes	Coeff.
İstanbul Başakşehir	^[ECL-MP]	29.000
Molde	^[EL-PO]	28.500
Legia Warsaw	^[ECL-MP]	18.000
1. FC Heidenheim	^[ECL-MP]	17.324
Djurgårdens IF	^[ECL-MP]	16.500
APOEL	^[EL-PO]	14.500

Pot 3
Team	Notes	Coeff.
Rapid Wien	^[EL-PO]	14.000
Omonia	^[ECL-MP]	12.000
HJK	^[ECL-CP]	11.500
Vitória de Guimarães	^[ECL-MP]	11.263
Astana	^[ECL-MP]	11.000
Olimpija Ljubljana	^[ECL-MP]	10.500

Pot 4
Team	Notes	Coeff.
Cercle Brugge	^[ECL-MP]	9.760
Shamrock Rovers	^[EL-PO]	9.500
The New Saints	^[ECL-CP]	8.500
Lugano	^[EL-PO]	8.000
Heart of Midlothian	^[EL-PO]	7.210
Mladá Boleslav	^[ECL-MP]	7.210

Pot 5
Team	Notes	Coeff.
Petrocub Hîncești	^[EL-PO]	7.000
St. Gallen	^[ECL-MP]	6.595
Panathinaikos	^[ECL-MP]	6.305
TSC	^[EL-PO]	5.555
Borac Banja Luka	^[EL-PO]	5.500
Jagiellonia Białystok	^[EL-PO]	5.075

Pot 6
Team	Notes	Coeff.
Celje	^[ECL-CP]	4.500
Larne	^[ECL-CP]	4.500
Dinamo Minsk	^[EL-PO]	4.500
Pafos	^[ECL-MP]	4.420
Víkingur Reykjavík	^[ECL-CP]	4.000
Noah	^[ECL-MP]	2.125

Notes

^ECL-CP Winners of play-off round (Champions Path)
^ECL-MP Winners of play-off round (Main Path)
^EL-PO Losers of Europa League play-off round

Draw

The draw for the league phase pairings was held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 30 August 2024, 14:30 CEST.^[6]^[7] All 36 teams were manually drawn using physical balls. For every team manually drawn, automated software digitally drew their opponents at random, determining which of their matches were at home and which ones were away. Each team faced one opponent from each of the six pots, three of which they faced at home and three away. For the purposes of determining match venues, adjacent pots were paired (Pot 1 with 2, 3 with 4, and 5 with 6) so that, for each pot pairing, teams faced one opponent at home and one away. Teams could not face opponents from their own association, and could only be drawn against a maximum of two sides from the same association. The draw started with Pot 1, assigning opponents to all teams, one after the other, and continued with the other pots in ascending order until all teams were assigned their opponents.^[8]^[9]^[10]

The switch to a primarily computer-based draw was made due to issues with the complexity and duration required by a manual draw.^[11] The draw software, developed by AE Live, guaranteed total randomness within the framework of the draw conditions and prevented any deadlock situations. The software was reviewed by external auditor Ernst & Young, which also provided review and control of the manual and digital draw operations on-site.^[8]

The venue for each club's fixtures is shown in brackets below (H: home; A: away).

League phase opponents by club^[12]
Club	Pot 1 opponent		Pot 2 opponent		Pot 3 opponent		Pot 4 opponent		Pot 5 opponent		Pot 6 opponent		Avg coeff.
Chelsea	Gent	(H)	1. FC Heidenheim	(A)	Astana	(A)	Shamrock Rovers	(H)	Panathinaikos	(A)	Noah	(H)	15.2
Copenhagen	Real Betis	(A)	İstanbul Başakşehir	(H)	Rapid Wien	(A)	Heart of Midlothian	(H)	Jagiellonia Białystok	(H)	Dinamo Minsk	(A)	15.5
Gent	Chelsea	(A)	Molde	(H)	Omonia	(H)	Lugano	(A)	TSC	(H)	Larne	(A)	25.8
Fiorentina	LASK	(H)	APOEL	(A)	Vitória de Guimarães	(A)	The New Saints	(H)	St. Gallen	(A)	Pafos	(H)	13.7
LASK	Fiorentina	(A)	Djurgårdens IF	(H)	Olimpija Ljubljana	(A)	Cercle Brugge	(H)	Borac Banja Luka	(A)	Víkingur Reykjavík	(H)	14.7
Real Betis	Copenhagen	(H)	Legia Warsaw	(A)	HJK	(H)	Mladá Boleslav	(A)	Petrocub Hîncești	(A)	Celje	(H)	16.6

İstanbul Başakşehir	Copenhagen	(A)	1. FC Heidenheim	(H)	Rapid Wien	(H)	Cercle Brugge	(A)	Petrocub Hîncești	(H)	Celje	(A)	17.3
Molde	Gent	(A)	APOEL	(H)	HJK	(A)	Mladá Boleslav	(H)	Jagiellonia Białystok	(A)	Larne	(H)	14.6
Legia Warsaw	Real Betis	(H)	Djurgårdens IF	(A)	Omonia	(A)	Lugano	(H)	TSC	(A)	Dinamo Minsk	(H)	13.3
1. FC Heidenheim	Chelsea	(H)	İstanbul Başakşehir	(A)	Olimpija Ljubljana	(H)	Heart of Midlothian	(A)	St. Gallen	(H)	Pafos	(A)	25.6
Djurgårdens IF	LASK	(A)	Legia Warsaw	(H)	Vitória de Guimarães	(H)	The New Saints	(A)	Panathinaikos	(H)	Víkingur Reykjavík	(A)	14.2
APOEL	Fiorentina	(H)	Molde	(A)	Astana	(H)	Shamrock Rovers	(A)	Borac Banja Luka	(H)	Noah	(A)	16.4

Rapid Wien	Copenhagen	(H)	İstanbul Başakşehir	(A)	Omonia	(A)	Shamrock Rovers	(H)	Petrocub Hîncești	(A)	Noah	(H)	18.5
Omonia	Gent	(A)	Legia Warsaw	(H)	Rapid Wien	(H)	Heart of Midlothian	(A)	Borac Banja Luka	(A)	Víkingur Reykjavík	(H)	15.6
HJK	Real Betis	(A)	Molde	(H)	Olimpija Ljubljana	(H)	Lugano	(A)	Panathinaikos	(A)	Dinamo Minsk	(H)	15.1
Vitória de Guimarães	Fiorentina	(H)	Djurgårdens IF	(A)	Astana	(A)	Mladá Boleslav	(H)	St. Gallen	(A)	Celje	(H)	14.6
Astana	Chelsea	(H)	APOEL	(A)	Vitória de Guimarães	(H)	The New Saints	(A)	TSC	(H)	Pafos	(A)	23.4
Olimpija Ljubljana	LASK	(H)	1. FC Heidenheim	(A)	HJK	(A)	Cercle Brugge	(H)	Jagiellonia Białystok	(A)	Larne	(H)	14.2

Cercle Brugge	LASK	(A)	İstanbul Başakşehir	(H)	Olimpija Ljubljana	(A)	Heart of Midlothian	(H)	St. Gallen	(H)	Víkingur Reykjavík	(A)	15.7
Shamrock Rovers	Chelsea	(A)	APOEL	(H)	Rapid Wien	(A)	The New Saints	(H)	Borac Banja Luka	(H)	Larne	(A)	23.8
The New Saints	Fiorentina	(A)	Djurgårdens IF	(H)	Astana	(H)	Shamrock Rovers	(A)	Panathinaikos	(H)	Celje	(A)	15.0
Lugano	Gent	(H)	Legia Warsaw	(A)	HJK	(H)	Mladá Boleslav	(A)	TSC	(A)	Pafos	(H)	15.3
Heart of Midlothian	Copenhagen	(A)	1. FC Heidenheim	(H)	Omonia	(H)	Cercle Brugge	(A)	Petrocub Hîncești	(H)	Dinamo Minsk	(A)	17.0
Mladá Boleslav	Real Betis	(H)	Molde	(A)	Vitória de Guimarães	(A)	Lugano	(H)	Jagiellonia Białystok	(H)	Noah	(A)	14.7

Petrocub Hîncești	Real Betis	(H)	İstanbul Başakşehir	(A)	Rapid Wien	(H)	Heart of Midlothian	(A)	Jagiellonia Białystok	(A)	Pafos	(H)	15.5
St. Gallen	Fiorentina	(H)	1. FC Heidenheim	(A)	Vitória de Guimarães	(H)	Cercle Brugge	(A)	TSC	(H)	Larne	(A)	15.1
Panathinaikos	Chelsea	(H)	Djurgårdens IF	(A)	HJK	(H)	The New Saints	(A)	Borac Banja Luka	(A)	Dinamo Minsk	(H)	23.8
TSC	Gent	(A)	Legia Warsaw	(H)	Astana	(A)	Lugano	(H)	St. Gallen	(A)	Noah	(H)	15.1
Borac Banja Luka	LASK	(H)	APOEL	(A)	Omonia	(H)	Shamrock Rovers	(A)	Panathinaikos	(H)	Víkingur Reykjavík	(A)	13.9
Jagiellonia Białystok	Copenhagen	(A)	Molde	(H)	Olimpija Ljubljana	(H)	Mladá Boleslav	(A)	Petrocub Hîncești	(H)	Celje	(A)	18.2

Celje	Real Betis	(A)	İstanbul Başakşehir	(H)	Vitória de Guimarães	(A)	The New Saints	(H)	Jagiellonia Białystok	(H)	Pafos	(A)	15.2
Larne	Gent	(H)	Molde	(A)	Olimpija Ljubljana	(A)	Shamrock Rovers	(H)	St. Gallen	(H)	Dinamo Minsk	(A)	17.4
Dinamo Minsk	Copenhagen	(H)	Legia Warsaw	(A)	HJK	(A)	Heart of Midlothian	(H)	Panathinaikos	(A)	Larne	(H)	16.5
Pafos	Fiorentina	(A)	1. FC Heidenheim	(H)	Astana	(H)	Lugano	(A)	Petrocub Hîncești	(A)	Celje	(H)	15.0
Víkingur Reykjavík	LASK	(A)	Djurgårdens IF	(H)	Omonia	(A)	Cercle Brugge	(H)	Borac Banja Luka	(H)	Noah	(A)	13.8
Noah	Chelsea	(A)	APOEL	(H)	Rapid Wien	(A)	Mladá Boleslav	(H)	TSC	(A)	Víkingur Reykjavík	(H)	23.5

League phase table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Chelsea	6	6	0	0	26	5	+21	18	Advance to round of 16 (seeded)
2	Vitória de Guimarães	6	4	2	0	13	6	+7	14
3	Fiorentina	6	4	1	1	18	7	+11	13
4	Rapid Wien	6	4	1	1	11	5	+6	13
5	Djurgårdens IF	6	4	1	1	11	7	+4	13^[a]
6	Lugano	6	4	1	1	11	7	+4	13^[a]
7	Legia Warsaw	6	4	0	2	13	5	+8	12
8	Cercle Brugge	6	3	2	1	14	7	+7	11
9	Jagiellonia Białystok	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	11	Advance to knockout phase play-offs (seeded)
10	Shamrock Rovers	6	3	2	1	12	9	+3	11
11	APOEL	6	3	2	1	8	5	+3	11
12	Pafos	6	3	1	2	11	7	+4	10
13	Panathinaikos	6	3	1	2	10	7	+3	10
14	Olimpija Ljubljana	6	3	1	2	7	6	+1	10
15	Real Betis	6	3	1	2	6	5	+1	10
16	1. FC Heidenheim	6	3	1	2	7	7	0	10
17	Gent	6	3	0	3	8	8	0	9	Advance to knockout phase play-offs (unseeded)
18	Copenhagen	6	2	2	2	8	9	−1	8
19	Víkingur Reykjavík	6	2	2	2	7	8	−1	8
20	Borac Banja Luka	6	2	2	2	4	7	−3	8
21	Celje	6	2	1	3	13	13	0	7
22	Omonia	6	2	1	3	7	7	0	7
23	Molde	6	2	1	3	10	11	−1	7
24	TSC	6	2	1	3	10	13	−3	7
25	Heart of Midlothian	6	2	1	3	6	9	−3	7
26	İstanbul Başakşehir	6	1	3	2	9	12	−3	6
27	Mladá Boleslav	6	2	0	4	7	10	−3	6
28	Astana	6	1	2	3	4	8	−4	5
29	St. Gallen	6	1	2	3	10	18	−8	5
30	HJK	6	1	1	4	3	9	−6	4
31	Noah	6	1	1	4	6	16	−10	4
32	The New Saints	6	1	0	5	5	10	−5	3
33	Dinamo Minsk	6	1	0	5	4	13	−9	3
34	Larne	6	1	0	5	3	12	−9	3
35	LASK	6	0	3	3	4	14	−10	3
36	Petrocub Hîncești	6	0	2	4	4	13	−9	2

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: League phase tiebreakers
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Away goals scored: Djurgårdens IF 5, Lugano 4.

Results summary

Matchday 1
Home team	Score	Away team
İstanbul Başakşehir	1–2	Rapid Wien
Vitória de Guimarães	3–1	Celje
1. FC Heidenheim	2–1	Olimpija Ljubljana
Cercle Brugge	6–2	St. Gallen
Astana	1–0	TSC
Dinamo Minsk	1–2	Heart of Midlothian
Noah	2–0	Mladá Boleslav
Legia Warsaw	1–0	Real Betis
Molde	3–0	Larne
Omonia	4–0	Víkingur Reykjavík
Fiorentina	2–0	The New Saints
Chelsea	4–2	Gent
Copenhagen	1–2	Jagiellonia Białystok
Lugano	3–0	HJK
Petrocub Hîncești	1–4	Pafos
Borac Banja Luka	1–1	Panathinaikos
LASK	2–2	Djurgårdens IF
Shamrock Rovers	1–1	APOEL

Matchday 2
Home team	Score	Away team
Víkingur Reykjavík	3–1	Cercle Brugge
APOEL	0–1	Borac Banja Luka
Djurgårdens IF	1–2	Vitória de Guimarães
St. Gallen	2–4	Fiorentina
Heart of Midlothian	2–0	Omonia
Jagiellonia Białystok	2–0	Petrocub Hîncești
Gent	2–1	Molde
Larne	1–4	Shamrock Rovers
Celje	5–1	İstanbul Başakşehir
Panathinaikos	1–4	Chelsea
Rapid Wien	1–0	Noah
Mladá Boleslav	0–1	Lugano
TSC	0–3	Legia Warsaw
HJK	1–0	Dinamo Minsk
Olimpija Ljubljana	2–0	LASK
Pafos	0–1	1. FC Heidenheim
Real Betis	1–1	Copenhagen
The New Saints	2–0	Astana

Matchday 3
Home team	Score	Away team
Víkingur Reykjavík	2–0	Borac Banja Luka
Petrocub Hîncești	0–3	Rapid Wien
TSC	4–1	Lugano
HJK	0–2	Olimpija Ljubljana
Gent	1–0	Omonia
Legia Warsaw	4–0	Dinamo Minsk
Pafos	1–0	Astana
Shamrock Rovers	2–1	The New Saints
APOEL	2–1	Fiorentina
Chelsea	8–0	Noah
Djurgårdens IF	2–1	Panathinaikos
Copenhagen	2–2	İstanbul Başakşehir
Heart of Midlothian	0–2	1. FC Heidenheim
Jagiellonia Białystok	3–0	Molde
Larne	1–2	St. Gallen
LASK	0–0	Cercle Brugge
Real Betis	2–1	Celje
Vitória de Guimarães	2–1	Mladá Boleslav

Matchday 4
Home team	Score	Away team
İstanbul Başakşehir	1–1	Petrocub Hîncești
Astana	1–1	Vitória de Guimarães
1. FC Heidenheim	0–2	Chelsea
Cercle Brugge	2–0	Heart of Midlothian
Dinamo Minsk	1–2	Copenhagen
Noah	0–0	Víkingur Reykjavík
St. Gallen	2–2	TSC
Borac Banja Luka	2–1	LASK
Molde	0–1	APOEL
Celje	3–3	Jagiellonia Białystok
Panathinaikos	1–0	HJK
The New Saints	0–1	Djurgårdens IF
Fiorentina	3–2	Pafos
Lugano	2–0	Gent
Mladá Boleslav	2–1	Real Betis
Olimpija Ljubljana	1–0	Larne
Omonia	0–3	Legia Warsaw
Rapid Wien	1–1	Shamrock Rovers

Matchday 5
Home team	Score	Away team
Víkingur Reykjavík	1–2	Djurgårdens IF
Astana	1–3	Chelsea
Fiorentina	7–0	LASK
Copenhagen	2–0	Heart of Midlothian
Dinamo Minsk	2–0	Larne
Noah	1–3	APOEL
Petrocub Hîncești	0–1	Real Betis
HJK	2–2	Molde
İstanbul Başakşehir	3–1	1. FC Heidenheim
Legia Warsaw	1–2	Lugano
Olimpija Ljubljana	1–4	Cercle Brugge
St. Gallen	1–4	Vitória de Guimarães
Mladá Boleslav	1–0	Jagiellonia Białystok
Gent	3–0	TSC
Omonia	3–1	Rapid Wien
Pafos	2–0	Celje
Shamrock Rovers	3–0	Borac Banja Luka
The New Saints	0–2	Panathinaikos

Matchday 6
Home team	Score	Away team
1. FC Heidenheim	1–1	St. Gallen
APOEL	1–1	Astana
Cercle Brugge	1–1	İstanbul Başakşehir
Chelsea	5–1	Shamrock Rovers
Djurgårdens IF	3–1	Legia Warsaw
Lugano	2–2	Pafos
Borac Banja Luka	0–0	Omonia
TSC	4–3	Noah
Heart of Midlothian	2–2	Petrocub Hîncești
Jagiellonia Białystok	0–0	Olimpija Ljubljana
Larne	1–0	Gent
LASK	1–1	Víkingur Reykjavík
Molde	4–3	Mladá Boleslav
Celje	3–2	The New Saints
Panathinaikos	4–0	Dinamo Minsk
Real Betis	1–0	HJK
Rapid Wien	3–0	Copenhagen
Vitória de Guimarães	1–1	Fiorentina

Matches

The fixture list was announced on 31 August 2024, the day after the draw.^[13]^[14]^[15] This was to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in Champions League and Europa League playing in the same cities.^[8]

In principle, each team did not play more than two home matches or two away matches in a row, and played one home match and one away match across both the first and last two matchdays. The matches were played on 3 October, 24 October, 7 November, 28 November, 12 December and 19 December 2024 (exclusive week).^{[note 2]} Matches were generally played on Thursdays. In principle, the scheduled kick-off times were 16:30, 18:45 and 21:00 CET/CEST. All fixtures on the final matchday were played simultaneously at 21:00.^[17]^[18]

Times are CET or CEST,^{[note 3]} as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).