New UEFA Conference League format explained

Aidan Perkins

Spotlight

The UEFA Conference League will feature a 36-team single league format this season

Like the other European competitions, this season's UEFA Conference League has been revamped and will feature a new 36-team single league phase.

The new format means there will no longer be eight groups of four teams battling it out for a place in the knockout phase as instead the top eight in the league phase will automatically qualify for the round of 16.

Format

Each of the 36 teams will play six matches, three at home and three away, against six different opponents, with all teams ranked in a single league table.

Those who finish in the top eight positions will go straight into the round of 16, while the teams who come 9th to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the winners of each tie also progressing to the last 16.

The teams that finish 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the competition.

In the knockout stage, the competition will revert to a familiar knockout format with a round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, all of which will be played over two legs, except for the final.

Who has qualified for the UEFA Conference League?

Premier League giants Chelsea came through the play-off round by beating Servette 3-2 on aggregate to seal their place, while Spanish side Real Betis, Italians Fiorentina, Austrian outfit LASK, Greek side Panathinaikos and Belgian team Gent have also qualified.

Northern Irish team Larne are among the 36, Hearts will represent the Scottish Premiership, Welsh side The New Saints have made it, as have Shamrock Rovers from the Republic of Ireland.

Legia Warsaw, FC Copenhagen, APOEL, Rapid Vienna, Molde and Istanbul Basaksehir are also in the mix, along with FC Heidenheim, Djurgardens IF, Omonia, HJK, Vitoria de Guimaraes, Astana, Olimpija Ljubljana and Cercle Brugge.

The rest of the sides making up the 36 are Lugano, Mlada Boleslav, Petrocub Hincesti, St. Gallen, TSC, Borac Banja Luka, Jagiellonia Bialystok, Celje, Dinamo Minsk, Pafos, Vikingur Reykjavik and Noah.

Key dates for the UEFA Conference League

There will be six matchdays in the first stage of the new UEFA Conference League, with all matches played on Thursdays, starting on October 3 and ending on December 19.

Matchday 1 - October 3
Matchday 2 - October 24
Matchday 3 - November 7
Matchday 4 - November 28
Matchday 5 - December 12
Matchday 6 - December 19

The draw for the knockout round play-offs to determine who plays who from the teams finishing ninth to 24th is set to be made on December 20.

The knockout round play-offs will take place on February 13 and 20 February, then the round of 16 is scheduled for March 6 and March 13.

The quarter-finals will take place on April 10 and April 17, the semi-finals are set to be played on May 1 and May 8 and the UEFA Conference League final has been given a date of May 28.

This season's UEFA Conference League final will be played at Stadion Wroclaw in Poland.