Just as Champions League has completed the penultimate matchday of the league phase, UEFA's second tier club competition Europa League is also close to ending the league phase this month: the penultimate matchday is on Thursday, January 22, following by the final matchday on January 29.
As it stands right now, Lyon, Midtjylland, Aston Villa, Real Betis, SC Freiburg, and Ferencvaros have confirmed their qualification for the next round. Remember that the best 8 teams will go to round of 16, but teams ranked 9-24 will go to a knock-out play-off in February.
Nice is the only team to have been eliminated already...
Europa League schedule for today, Thursday, January 22:
Feyenoord vs Sturm Graz: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Fenerbahçe vs Aston Villa: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
PAOK vs Real Betis: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Viktoria Plzeň vs Porto: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Young Boys vs Lyon: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Freiburg vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Bologna vs Celtic: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Malmö vs Crvena Zvezda: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Brann vs Midtjylland: 18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT
Roma vs Stuttgart: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Utrecht vs Genk: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Salzburg vs Basel: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Ferencváros vs Panathinaikos: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
GNK Dinamo vs FCSB: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Nice vs Go Ahead Eagles: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Rangers vs Ludogorets: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Celta vs Lille: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Braga vs Nottingham Forest: 21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT
Upcoming Europa League dates:
The last day of the league phase will be January 29, with all matches starting at the same time. Then, there will be a draw for the knockout phase play-offs on January 30, which will determine the pairings for the play-offs of those teams in the middle of the table, to be played between 19 and 26 February 2026.
Then, another draw for the round of 16 on February 27, and the remaining dates:
Round of 16: 12 & 19 March 2026
Quarter-finals: 9 & 16 April 2026
Semi-finals: 30 April & 7 May 2026
Final: 20 May 2026 (Istanbul)
Are you following any team in Europa League this year?