On Wednesday, September 16, the league phase of the Europa League begins. Although Ukrainian clubs were unable to reach the league phase, teams featuring Ukrainian footballers have qualified for the European competition, UNN writes.
How the Europa League format has changed this season
As in previous seasons, 36 teams will play in the 2026/27 Europa League league phase. Each team will face eight opponents in single-leg matches: four at home and four away. The top eight teams will advance directly to the round of 16, while the teams finishing in 9th-24th place will play an additional playoff round, in which the remaining eight spots in the round of 16 will be decided.
Schedule of matches on September 16-17
On Wednesday, September 16, the following fixtures will be played: at 19:45, two matches will take place — "Ararat" vs. "Sparta" and "Omonia" vs. "Celta".
The remaining matches will take place at 22:00:
- “Anderlecht” — “Lyon”;
- “Bayer” — “Celje”;
- “Milan” — “Benfica”;
- “Olympiacos” — “Jagiellonia;
- “Sunderland” — “AZ”;
- “Hapoel Be'er Sheva” — “Dinamo Zagreb”;
- “Sturm” — “Rennes”.
On Thursday, September 17, at 19:45, the following matches will be played: "Levski" vs. "Salzburg" and "OFI" vs. "Hoffenheim".
The following fixtures will be played at 22:00:
- “Besiktas” — “Marseille”;
- “Viktoria Plzeň” — “Royale Union”;
- “Crystal Palace” — “Lech”;
- “Lillestrøm” — “Torreense”;
- “Real Sociedad” — “Bournemouth”;
- “Celtic” — “Ferencváros”;
- “Juventus” — “NEC Nijmegen”.
In Ukraine, the broadcaster of Europa League matches is the OTT platform Megogo.
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How Ukrainian clubs are performing in the tournament
This season, no Ukrainian club managed to reach the Europa League league phase; however, teams featuring Ukrainians are taking part in the tournament. As already mentioned, Anatoliy Trubin and Heorhii Sudakov's Portuguese "Benfica" will face Italian "Milan".
Danylo Sikan's Belgian "Anderlecht" will face French "Lyon", while Tymur Tuterov's English "Sunderland" will face Dutch "AZ".
In addition, Roman Yaremchuk's Greek "Olympiacos" will face Polish "Jagiellonia".
It is worth noting that before the start of the season, "Olympiacos" did not include Yaremchuk in its Europa League squad, but the Greek club's management returned the Ukrainian to the squad because of Ayoub El Kaabi's injury.