After all participants in the playoff qualifying rounds of the current season’s European cups have been determined, the approximate outlines of the main stage of the Europa League have become clear.
The participants in the main stage of the Europa League will be:
— clubs that earned direct spots in this stage based on last season’s results;
— clubs that advanced to this stage from the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League via the path for "non-champions";
— winners of the playoff qualifying round of the Europa League;
— losers of the playoff qualifying round of the Champions League.
If we assume that Kyiv’s "Dynamo" manages to defeat Israeli "Maccabi" from Tel Aviv in the playoff round of the Europa League, and that the winners in the other matchups of the playoff rounds in the Europa League and Champions League will be teams with the highest UEFA club coefficient (conditional favorites), then the composition of the baskets for the draw of the main stage of the Europa League will look as follows.
Preliminary composition of baskets for the draw of the Europa League 2025/26
Basket 1
"Roma" (Italy) — 104.500 (UEFA club coefficient)
"Porto" (Portugal) — 79.750
"Rangers" (Scotland) — 71.250
"Feyenoord" (Netherlands) — 71.000
"Lille" (France) — 66.000
"Dynamo" (Zagreb, Croatia) — 56.000
"Betis" (Spain) — 52.250
"Salzburg" (Austria) — 48.000
"Aston Villa" (England) — 47.250
Basket 2
"Fenerbahçe" (Turkey) — 47.250
"Braga" (Portugal) — 46.000
"Lyon" (France) — 43.750
PAOK (Greece) — 42.250
"Victoria" (Czech Republic) — 39.250
"Young Boys" (Switzerland) — 34.500
"Basel" (Switzerland) — 33.000
"Midtjylland" (Denmark) — 32.750
"Karabakh" (Azerbaijan) — 32.000
Basket 3
"Freiburg" (Germany) — 28.000
"Ludogorets" (Bulgaria) — 24.000
"Dynamo" (Kyiv, Ukraine) — 23.500
"Nottingham Forest" (England) — 23.039
"Sturm" (Austria) — 23.000
"Steaua" (Romania) — 22.500
"Nice" (France) — 20.000
"Bologna" (Italy) — 19.446
"Lech" (Poland) — 19.000
Basket 4
"Celta" (Spain) — 18.890
"Stuttgart" (Germany) — 17.266
"Panathinaikos" (Greece) — 16.000
"Malmö" (Sweden) — 14.500
"Utrecht" (Netherlands) — 13.430
"Go Ahead Eagles" (Netherlands) — 13.430
"Paphos" (Cyprus) — 11.125
"Brann" (Norway) — 7.937
"Kairat" (Kazakhstan) — 5.500.
Recall that the main stage of the Europa League is a single league consisting of 36 teams. Based on the results of the draw, each participant will face 8 different teams (two from each basket), playing four matches at home and four away. The allocation of home and away matches will also be determined by the draw.
The first eight teams in the final standings of the main stage of the Europa League will advance to the round of 16. Teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will play playoff matches for a spot in the round of 16. Teams that finish the main stage in positions 25th to 36th will end their participation in this season’s European cups.
