Everything you need to know about the Conference League
Everything you need to know about the Conference League
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Villarreal will be the first Spanish club to play in UEFA’s third competition

Villarreal sealed their participation in the next edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League after beating Barcelona at the Camp Nou (0-2). The Submarine will be the first Spanish club to play in the European competition. The Conference League debuted this season as an official competition. The finalists for this season are Roma and Feyenoord, who will play tonight’s final at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania.

Competition format

The group stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League is made up of 32 teams, divided into eight groups of four teams. To get there, teams need to get through four double-legged preliminary rounds. The first round will start on 7th July and the final will be on 18th and 25th August. Villarreal will only play in the final play-off round.

After the group stage, the knock-out stage is like the UEFA Europa League. There will be a play-off between the third-placed team from each group in the Europa League and the second-placed team from the Conference League groups. The winners of that tie will go through to the Round of 16, alongside the first-placed team from each group of the competition.

The tournament will finish on 7th June 2023, when the Eden Arena in Prague will host the final of the 2022/23 Conference League. The winner of the competition will qualify directly for the UEFA Europa League group stages, should they not have qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their domestic league.

The matches in the competition (except the final) will be played on Thursdays, at 4:30pm, 6:45pm or 9pm Central European time.

Yellows’ participation

As Villarreal CF will join the competition in the Play-off Round, should they get through that, they will play in the group stage, which will take place between September and November 2022.

Possible opponents

Other teams from leading European leagues who have qualified for the Conference League are West Ham (Englnad), Fiorentina (Italy), Köln (Germany) and OGC Nice (France).

Conference League schedule

Qualification stage
First qualifying round: 7th and 14th July 2022
Second qualifying round: 21st and 28th July 2022
Third qualifying round: 4th and 11th August 2022
Play-off round: 18th and 25th August 2022

Group stage
Matchday 1: 8th September 2022
Matchday 2: 15th September 2022
Matchday 3: 6th October 2022
Matchday 4: 13th October 2022
Matchday 5: 27th October 2022
Matchday 6: 3rd November 2022

Knockout stage
Play-off knockout round: 16th and 23rd February 2023
Round of 16: 9th and 16th March 2023
Quarter-finals: 13th and 20th April 2023
Semi-finals: 11th and 18th May 2023
Final: 7th June 2023

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