The Europa Conference League: all the details you need and more

The Europa Conference League: all the details you need and more

Yes, we finished in seventh place and beat Arsenal to the punch, but seventh also means that we are in the Europa Conference league, while Arsenal misses out for the first time in decades for a European placing. So, not everything is bad news. Yes, we failed to qualify for the Champions League and Europa League for the first time in a decade, nevertheless, it is not all gloom and dullness as we managed to crawl into the newly formed competition.

Below I shall give you a full breakdown of how the competition works, who we face and ending in the dates and times.

Overall there will be 32 teams involved in the competition, and like the Champions League, the sides will be split into eight groups of four, with the top two in each group advancing to the knockout phase of the competition, all good so far.

Then the eight group winners will advance into Round of 16, the eight runners-up will go into a preliminary knockout round where they will face the third-placed teams from the Europa League group stage.

But not everything is that simple. Spurs, plus the other 31 teams, will directly qualify for the group stages, with qualifiers and a play-off round determining who qualifies. Along with Union Berlin, Roma and Stade Rennes, we will enter at the competition at the play-off stage in August, while Pacos de Ferreira, Rubin Kazan, Anderlecht, Kolos Kovalivka, Vitesse, Trabzonspor, LASK, Luzern, PAOK will enter in the third qualifying round.

This means we will have to win one two-legged tie so that we can seal our place in the group stages of the competition. The draw will take place at the start of next month.

These Games will take place on Thursdays, as we did in the Europa League, with matches kicking off at either 5.45 pm or 8 pm.

The Full schedule:

Second qualifying round: 22 & 29 July

Third qualifying round: 5 & 12 August

Play-offs: 19 & 26 August

Group stage: 16 & 30 September, 21 October, 4 & 25 November, 9 December

Knockout round play-offs: 17 & 24 February

Round of 16: 10 & 17 March

Quarter-finals: 7 & 14 April

Semi-finals: 28 April & 5 May

Final: 25 May

Thoughts

The one bit of good news is that we don’t have to play three stages of qualifiers to get into the group stages.

If away travelling is allowed, then it will mean that we will have to travel to the far reaches of Europe. The good news is that we will experience new countries (everything has a purpose).

I also would think that Nuno will use a lot of his under-23 players for the earlier rounds. After all, we are going to have a heavy season.

All the best, Glenn