The Europa League Format and How the League Is Run

Beneath the Champions League, the Europa League gathers a further group of clubs from across the continent. It takes the shape of the top competition as its model, with a league phase and a knockout, and it differs from the Champions League chiefly in scale rather than in design.

Where the Europa League sits

The Europa League is the second competition in the pyramid. It sits beneath the Champions League and above the Conference League, and it gathers the clubs that rank next after the entrants of the top tournament, giving a wide range of sides a place in Europe.

Its place is structural rather than accidental. Because the pyramid sorts clubs by their results and their country's ranking, a club that does not reach the Champions League often finds a home in the Europa League, and the competition is the broad middle of the European game.

The league phase

The Europa League uses a league phase, as the Champions League does. A field of clubs is drawn into a single table and plays a set number of matches against a range of opponents, and the positions decide who advances and who drops out.

The format is the same in outline. Clubs play several matches against different opponents, the results are gathered into one table, and the ranking that follows decides which clubs go straight through and which must play a further round.

The knockout rounds

After the league phase, the Europa League moves to a knockout. Clubs that finish lower play an extra round, the survivors join the higher-placed clubs, and the rounds continue over two legs until a final at a neutral venue is reached.

The knockout carries its own drama. Because the competition is continental and the field is broad, the ties bring together clubs from leagues that rarely meet, and the final gives the winner a trophy and a place in the following season's Champions League.

How it differs from the Champions League

The chief difference is scale. The Europa League draws from a wider band of clubs and its distribution of money is smaller, so the competition is lighter in wealth than the top tier, even though its structure and its rules follow the same pattern.

There is also a difference of rank. The clubs that play in the Europa League are, on the whole, ranked below those in the Champions League, and the competition's standard reflects that order, which is why it is described as the second tier of the pyramid.

Reading the Europa League

The Europa League should be read as the broad middle of the European game. It gives a large number of clubs a serious continental competition, and its place in the pyramid connects the strongest sides to the wider field through the movement of clubs between the tiers.

For a reader, the competition is the proof that the pyramid is open. A club that misses the top tier still has a path, and a strong run in the Europa League can lead to the trophy, to a place in the Champions League, and to a season that is remembered.

• The Europa League is the second tier of the pyramid.
• It uses a league phase and a knockout, as the top competition does.
• Clubs that finish lower play an extra round.
• It draws from a wider band of clubs than the Champions League.
• Its distribution of money is smaller than in the top tier.
• A win brings the trophy and a place in the Champions League.

The Europa League is the broad middle of the European game. Built on the same model as the Champions League but at a lower scale, it gives a wide band of clubs a continental competition, and its winner is carried into the top tier of the pyramid.