2012-13 UEFA Europa League

The 2012-13 UEFA Europa League will be the 4th season of the Europa League after being renamed from the UEFA Cup. The Final will be played at the Amsterdam ArenA in Amsterdam.

Changes
There will be two major changes in the format of the competition


 * The Cup winners from the Top 6 ranked associations will gain direct entry into the Group Stage


 * Matchday 5 and 6 of the tournament will be played on the same weeks as the 2012-2013 UEFA Champions League instead of having distinct matchweeks.

Rankings
A total of 194 or 195 teams from 53 UEFA associations are expected to participate in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. Associations are allocated places according to their 2011 UEFA league coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2006–07 to 2010–11.

Below is the qualification scheme for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League:


 * Associations 1–6 each have three teams qualify


 * Associations 7–9 each have four teams qualify


 * Associations 10–51 each have three teams qualify, except Liechtenstein, which have one team qualify (as Liechtenstein only have a domestic cup and no domestic league)


 * Associations 52–53 each have two teams qualify


 * The winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, i.e., the title holder, are given an additional entry if they do not qualify for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League or Europa League through domestic performance


 * The top three associations of the 2011–12 UEFA Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth


 * Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League

Note: The qualification scheme above can be changed slightly depending on the identity of the winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League.

Distribution
If the Europa League title holder qualifies for the Champions League or the Europa League through domestic performance, the default allocation system above will have to be altered as some places become vacant. When moving entrants to later qualifying rounds, priority is given to domestic cup winners of the highest-ranked associations.

Clubs
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:


 * TH: Title holders


 * CW: Cup winners


 * CR: Cup runners-up


 * LC: League Cup winners


 * Nth: League position


 * P-: End-of-season European competition play-offs (winners or position)


 * FP: Fair play


 * UCL: Relegated from the Champions League


 * GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage


 * PO: Losers from the play-off round


 * Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round

Note: Teams listed in italics may still qualify for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League either through their domestic league or by winning the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League.