UEFA's club competitions started last week with Champions League, and now it's turn for the second tier competition, Europa League. Normally, Europa League is played on Thursdays, the same week as the other two UEFA competitions: Champions League gets the spotlight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Europa League and Conference League play at the same time on Thursdays.
For the opening matchday of the season, it won't be like that. Europa League will get the sole spotlight this week, on Wednesday and Thursday, September 24 and 25. Next week, it will go back to the usual schedule (all three competitions at the usual days).
This will be the first of eight matchdays, between September 2025 and January 2026, as part of the League Phase that will determine which of the 36 teams qualify for the round of 16 and the play-offs in between (for teams that finish 9-24 in the table). Remember that, with this format that debuted last year, the are no return games: teams face eight different rivals altogether.
UEFA Europa League 2025/26 - league phase schedule
Times displayed are CEST (one hour earlier in the UK).
Wednesday, 24 September
Midtjylland vs Sturm Graz (18:45)
PAOK vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv (18:45)
Crvena Zvezda vs Celtic (21:00)
GNK Dinamo vs Fenerbahçe (21:00)
Malmö vs Ludogorets (21:00)
Nice vs Roma (21:00)
Real Betis vs Nottingham Forest (21:00)
Braga vs Feyenoord (21:00)
Freiburg vs Basel (21:00)
Thursday, 25 September
Go Ahead Eagles vs FCSB (18:45)
Lille vs Brann (18:45)
Aston Villa vs Bologna (21:00)
Young Boys vs Panathinaikos (21:00)
Salzburg vs Porto (21:00)
Utrecht vs Lyon (21:00)
Ferencváros vs Viktoria Plzeň (21:00)
Rangers vs Genk (21:00)
Stuttgart vs Celta Vigo (21:00)
Here's the full Europa League 2025/26 schedule.