UEFA Europa League play-off round draw

The 2025/26 UEFA Europa League play-off round draw took place at 13:00 CET on Monday 4 August at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland. The two-legged ties will take place on 21 and 28 August.

2025/26 UEFA Europa League play-off round draw

Hamrun Spartans F.C./Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC vs FC Dynamo Kyiv/Pafos FC
KF Shkëndija/Qarabağ FK vs PFC Ludogorets 1945/Ferencvárosi TC
FC Kairat Almaty/ŠK Slovan Bratislava vs BSC Young Boys
Malmö FF/F.C. Copenhagen vs SK Sigma Olomouc
Panathinaikos FC/FC Shakhtar Donetsk vs Samsunspor FC
Aberdeen FC vs Fotbal Club FCSB/FC Drita
KKS Lech Poznań/FK Crvena Zvezda vs KRC Genk
Fredrikstad FK/FC Midtjylland vs FC RFS/KuPS Kuopio
Lincoln Red Imps FC/FC Noah vs CFR 1907 Cluj/SC Braga
HŠK Zrinjski Mostar/Breiðablik vs Servette FC/FC Utrecht
BK Häcken/SK Brann vs AEK Larnaca FC/Legia Warszawa
HNK Rijeka/Shelbourne FC vs PAOK FC/Wolfsberger AC

Seeded teams in bold.

Draw procedure

Number of teams involved: 24 (5 directly, 13 pairings coming from the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round (champions path and main path) and 6 pairings coming from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round champions path)
Number of seeded teams: 12
Number of matches: 2 x 12

Based on Article 14 of the UEFA Europa League Regulations (UEL Regulations), the following draw procedure was adopted by the UEFA Club Competitions Committee. Furthermore, the following paragraphs of the UEL Regulations were applicable to the draw.

Match system

15.01: The qualifying phase and play-offs follow the knockout system, whereby each team plays each opponent twice, in home and away matches. The team that scores the greater aggregate of goals in the two matches qualifies for the relevant round or stage (as applicable). In the event that the two teams score the same number of goals across the two matches, Article 21 applies.

Draw system and conditions

14.01: A draw between the same number of seeded and unseeded clubs determines the ties for the qualifying phase and play-offs. Clubs are seeded for these draws in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season (see Annex D) and with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. If, for any reason, any of the participants in the rounds concerned are not known at the time of the draw, the coefficients of the two clubs involved in the undecided tie are used for the purposes of the draw. For the club advancing to the next round of the competition as winner of the tie, the coefficient of the club with the higher coefficient of the two clubs involved is used for the purposes of the draw. For the other club, which is fed into the relevant round of the competition from another competition, the lower coefficient of the two clubs in the pairing of the other competition is used for the purposes of the draw.

14.02: The UEFA administration may form groups for the draw in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

14.03: A draw is conducted to determine the ties of each match and which team plays the first leg match at home.

In accordance with the relevant decisions of the UEFA Executive Committee, teams from the following associations could not be drawn against each other:

Armenia – Azerbaijan
Gibraltar – Spain
Kosovo – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kosovo – Serbia
Kosovo – Russia*
Ukraine – Russia*
Ukraine – Belarus

* All teams from Russia are suspended until further notice by the decision of the Executive Committee of 28 February 2022, and as confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022.

Draw system

The 24 teams (five that enter the competition at this stage, the 13 winners of the third qualifying round (champions and main path) ties, indicated for the purposes of this draw as Winners of Pairings 1 to 13, and the six pairings coming from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round champions path, indicated for the purposes of this draw as Pairings 1 to 6) were divided equally into three groups of eight teams, with an equal number of seeded and unseeded teams and/or pairings in each group.

As the teams qualifying from the previous qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League were not known at the time of the draw, the coefficient of the team with the higher coefficient of the two teams involved in each undecided tie was used for the seeding for the purposes of the draw. Therefore, if a team in a tie of the previous qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League had a coefficient that would entitle it to be seeded for the current draw, that pairing was seeded for this draw.

As the teams entering the competition from the previous qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League were not known at the time of the draw, the coefficient of the team with the lower coefficient of the two teams involved in each undecided UEFA Champions League previous qualifying round tie was used for the seeding for the purposes of the draw.

Groupings

Group 1
Seeded 
Winners of Pairing 1: Hamrun Spartans F.C. (MLT) vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
BSC Young Boys (SUI)
Pairing 1: PFC Ludogorets 1945 (BUL) vs Ferencvárosi TC (HUN)
Pairing 2: Malmö FF (SWE) vs F.C. Copenhagen (DEN)

Unseeded
Pairing 3: FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) vs Pafos FC (CYP)
SK Sigma Olomouc (CZE)
Pairing 4: KF Shkëndija (MKD) vs Qarabağ FK (AZE)
Pairing 5: FC Kairat Almaty (KAZ) vs ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK)

Group 2
Seeded 
Winners of Pairing 2: Panathinaikos FC (GRE) vs FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Winners of Pairing 3: Fredrikstad FK (NOR) vs FC Midtjylland (DEN)
Winners of Pairing 4: Fotbal Club FCSB (ROU) vs FC Drita (KOS)
Pairing 6: KKS Lech Poznań (POL) vs FK Crvena Zvezda (SRB)

Unseeded
KRC Genk (BEL)
Winners of Pairing 5: FC RFS (LVA) vs KuPS Kuopio (FIN)
Aberdeen FC (SCO)
Samsunspor FC (TUR)

Group 3
Seeded 
Winners of Pairing 6: CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU) vs SC Braga (POR)
Winners of Pairing 7: PAOK FC (GRE) vs Wolfsberger AC (AUT)
Winners of Pairing 8: AEK Larnaca FC (CYP) vs Legia Warszawa (POL)
Winners of Pairing 9: Servette FC (SUI) vs FC Utrecht (NED)

Unseeded
Winners of Pairing 10: HNK Rijeka (CRO) vs Shelbourne FC (IRL)
Winners of Pairing 11: HŠK Zrinjski Mostar (BIH) vs Breiðablik (ISL)
Winners of Pairing 12: Lincoln Red Imps FC (GIB) vs FC Noah (ARM)
Winners of Pairing 13: BK Häcken (SWE) vs SK Brann (NOR)

Draw procedure

Three bowls were prepared for the draw, with the balls containing the names of the seeded and unseeded teams and/or pairings from Group 1 placed in the corresponding marked bowls.

One ball was then taken from each of these bowls and placed in the third empty central bowl, where they were shuffled. One ball was taken from the central bowl and opened to display the team. This team was considered the home team for the first leg of the first tie, which they will play against the second team drawn from this bowl.

The process was then repeated with the remaining balls to complete all the ties from Group 1. The same procedure was then carried out to determine the ties for the remaining groups.

Draw explanation

A video explaining the draw procedure was shown prior to the draw.

Calendar elaboration

The following paragraphs of the UEL Regulations are applicable to the match calendar.

24.01: The stadiums, dates (in accordance with the calendar in Annex C) and kick-off times for all matches in the qualifying phase and the play-offs are fixed by the home clubs in consultation with their respective associations and must be confirmed to the UEFA administration by the deadline set by the UEFA administration. The UEFA administration may alter or confirm dates and kick-off times in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee.

24.02: If two or more clubs from the same city, within a radius of 50km of each other and/or playing in the same stadium, take part in any of the UEFA club competitions, and if the association and the clubs concerned explicitly declare when entering the clubs that their matches cannot be played on the same day or on consecutive days, the UEFA administration may alter or confirm dates and kick-off times in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee.

24.03: The UEFA administration decides on match dates and fixture reversals on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the applicable principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. In any case, the UEFA administration reserves the right to impose a match date if the circumstances so require.

Any changes of date and fixture reversals will be communicated in writing to the clubs and their respective associations on the day of the draw.