Tottenham qualify for the Europa Conference League: When will they play? Which teams are in it?

UEFA have officially unveiled the trophy and branding for the Europa Conference Leauge, which begins next season. 

And after their dramatic comeback victory against Leicester on the final day of the Premier League season, it’s Tottenham who will be representing England in the inaugural campaign. 

It looked to all as if Arsenal were to pip their great rivals to seventh place, cruising at home to Brighton while Tottenham were 2-1 down at Leicester, but a brilliant Gareth Bale double ensured they finished above the Gunners for the fifth straight season.

And importantly, it means they will be the first English team to play in UEFA’s new competition, which will sit below the existing Europa League and Champions League formats.

But what exactly is it? Below, Sportsmail explains everything you need to know about the new tournament.

The newly-formed Europa Conference League is set to commence in the 2021/22 campaign

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin shows off the brand new European trophy

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin shows off the brand new European trophy

Tottenham ended the season in seventh place to qualify for the Europa Conference League

Tottenham ended the season in seventh place to qualify for the Europa Conference League

Just what is the Europa Conference League? 

So, in addition to the Champions League and Europa League, we now have a third European club competition – the Europa Conference League. 

Essentially, the idea is that with another competition, more clubs will have the opportunity to play European football. 

To use UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin’s words, ‘the new UEFA club competition makes UEFA’s club competitions more inclusive than ever before.

‘There will be more matches for more clubs, with more associations represented in the group stages.’ 

Well, in England anyway, that’s not wholly true. There is still a maximum of seven teams participating in European football, including the new format.  

The real benefit will be felt by those in leagues where they struggle to qualify for the existing two competitions.  

But how does it work? And when is Spurs’ first game?

Just like the Champions League and Europa League, there will be multiple qualifying rounds to play before the tournament gets underway. 

In fact, there will be three – before a final two-legged play-off round.  

Tottenham will go straight into the play-off round, which will be played on August 19 and 26, just five days after the 2021/22 Premier League season begins on August 14.  

Europa Conference League Qualification  
Round  First Leg  Second Leg
Round 1 July 8 July 15 
Round 2  July 22  July 29 
Round 3  August 5  August 12 
Play-off round  August 19  August 26 

But who will make up the groups? Well, there will be eight groups of four, with teams earning a place via three distinct paths:

1) 17 teams will qualify via the main path, which is through the qualifying rounds shown in the table above. 

2) Five teams will qualify via the champions path, which is made up of those who have lost Champions League qualifiers and are then demoted to the Europa Conference League. 

3) 10 team eliminated from the Europa League play-offs will also join.  

The winners of each group will automatically go through to the round of 16.  

In the meantime, there will be a knockout play-off round, contested by the eight group runners-up, as well as the eight teams who finish third in their Europa League groups.   

From then, the tournament will follow a standard two-legged knockout format, until the one-off final on May 25.  

Importantly, it’s now being ensured that 34 UEFA national associations get a minimum of one representative in the group stage of at least one competition. 

And specifically for the Europa Conference League, England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany all get one team. Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Russia all get two.  

So, just why did Tottenham qualify?  

Tottenham sealed their spot in the competition with a 4-2 win at Leicester on Sunday

Tottenham sealed their spot in the competition with a 4-2 win at Leicester on Sunday 

Well, they finished seventh, obviously. But it’s not actually quite as straightforward as that.  

Generally, it will be the winner of the Carabao Cup who earns a place in the competition. But this year – for the fourth consecutive season – it was Manchester City who lifted the cup, and they’ve already qualified for the Champions League. 

That means their spot was passed to the next highest-placed Premier League side who had not qualified for a European competition. 

This is also the case with the Europa League, however, where generally the winner of the FA Cup will be granted a spot – alongside the side that finishes fifth.  

This year, it was Leicester – who finished fifth – meaning their Europa League spot was passed onto the next highest-placed Premier League side, which was West Ham in sixth.  

That meant the Europa Conference League place went to seventh – Tottenham.   

When will the matches be played? 

The Europa Conference League fixtures will follow the pattern of the Europa League, with matches on Thursdays, kicking off at either 5.45pm and 8pm. 

The group stages will be played between September 15 and December 9, with the knockout stages starting on February 17. 

The final, which will be played in Tirana, Albania, will be played on May 25. 

So, should Tottenham make it to the final, they will play an additional 15 games next season – or 17, if they finish second in their group.  

Europa Conference League Group Stage
Match day Match date
Match 1  September 16 
Match 2 September 30 
Match 3  October 21 
Match 4  November 4 
Match 5  November 25 
Match 6  December 9 
Europa Conference League Knockout Stage 
Round  First Leg   Second Leg
Knockout play-offs February 17 February 24 
Round of 16  March 10  March 17 
Quarter-finals  April 7  April 14 
Semi-finals  April 28  May 5 
Final  May 25  N/A 

Who qualified from Scotland? 

As mentioned above, Scotland will have two teams in the Europa Conference League.

It’s the third and fourth-placed teams who qualify, which was Hibernian and Aberdeen this season, and they will join the Europa Conference League in the second qualifying round.  

What is the grand prize? 

So, what’s the point? Similarly to the Europa League, where the winner earns a spot in the Champions League, the winner of the Europa Conference League will also move up a tier. 

To put it simply, should Tottenham win the Europa Conference League, they will earn a spot in the group stages of the following season’s Europa League. 

That is provided they have not already qualified for the Champions League, of course.  

The first final of the Europa Conference League will be played at the National Arena in Albania

The first final of the Europa Conference League will be played at the National Arena in Albania

What about the Europa League? 

While the introduction of the new format will have no impact on the Champions League, there will be some changes to the Europa League. 

The Europa League – notoriously an arduous competition –  will now be shorter, with fewer teams competing in it. 

The group stages in the Europa League will now have 32 teams, rather than 48, in eight groups of four. 

The winners will all automatically progress into the last-16, with the round of 32 now gone. Additionally, there will be a knockout round before the last-16, comprised of those who finished second in the group and third in the Champions League groups.