What Do We Know So Far About The 2023 – 2024 UEFA Conference League?

The 2023/24 Europa Conference League is already underway and it’s promising to be another exciting edition of the recently formed UEFA competition.

West Ham United were the second winners of the Europa Conference League, and the first from England, after edging out Serie A outfit Fiorentina 2-1 in Prague in last season’s final. The competition raised some eyebrows when it was introduced but it’s been a huge success and having big clubs such as West Ham and Fiorentina in last years final shows it’s already being taken seriously by Europe’s major clubs.

Legendary goalkeeper David James commented on the Conference League in an interview recently. He mentioned that this tournament has gained traction more and more in the past years. He notes that important English teams, like West Ham, are trying to succeed in both the Conference League and Premier League. This requires a tremendous effort on part of the athletes, coaches and the entire team and staff.

The third edition of the competition is already underway as the first qualifying round kicked-off on July 13th following the draw last month. Let’s take a closer look at the qualifying rounds, the draw dates, teams involved and the favourites to win this year’s competition.

Qualifying rounds

The first qualifying round took place on the 13th July, with the return legs scheduled for the 20th. There will be second and third qualifying rounds before the play-offs to determine which 62 teams will qualify for the Europa Conference League group stages. The dates for each qualifying round are:

• First qualifying round: 13 and 20 July 2023
• Second qualifying round: 27 July and 3 August 2023
• Third qualifying round: 10 and 17 August 2023
• Play-offs: 24 and 31 August 2023

During the play-off round, we’ll see teams from the strongest five domestic league’s enter the competition. This year, they’ll be:

• England: Aston Villa
• Spain: Osasuna
• France: Lille
• Italy: Juventus
• Germany: Eintracht Frankfurt

A total of 177 teams from 54 countries will compete in the Europa Conference League. 15 UEFA member associations secure direct passage to the group stages, with qualification based on the strengthen and success of each domestic league.

Group stages

After the play-off have been completed, the fun really begins as we move on to the group stages of the competition. At total of 32 teams will compete in the group stages, consisting of 8 group of 4 teams. No team from the same country can face each other in the group stages.

The draw for the group stages will take place on September 1st 2023. 10 teams who were eliminated from the Europa League play-off round will drop into the group stages of the Conference League.

The dates for each matchday of the group stages are:

• Matchday 1: 21 September 2023
• Matchday 2: 5 October 2023
• Matchday 3: 26 October 2023
• Matchday 4: 9 November 2023
• Matchday 5: 30 November 2023
• Matchday 6: 14 December 2023

Knockout stages

The top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout round. Teams who finished 3rd in their Europa League groups will also drop into the first knockout round of the Conference League.

Teams will be drawn to face each other over two legs, with the aggregate winners progressing to the next round until two teams reach the final. The dates for each round are:

• Knockout round play-offs: 15 and 22 February 2024
• Round of 16: 7 and 14 March 2024
• Quarter-finals: 11 and 18 April 2024
• Semi-finals: 2 and 9 May 2024
• Final: 29 May 2024

The final will take place in Athens on 29th May 2024. The winners of the Europa Conference League secure qualification to the group stages of the Europa League.

Favourites

It’s difficult to know who’ll be the favourites to win the 2023/24 Conference League at this early stage as we don’t know who’ll be competing in the group stages yet. However, heavyweights such as Serie A giants Juventus and Premier League outfit Aston Villa will be fancied to do very well given their quality and status in the game.

It’s promising to be another exciting edition of the Europa Conference League as this young competition continues to establish itself on the European stage.