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Europe premier club football tournament
The 2024–25 UEFA Conference League knockout phase began on 13 February with the knockout phase play-offs and will end on 28 May 2025 with the final at the Wrocław Stadium in Wrocław, Poland, to decide the champions of the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League.[1] A total of 24 teams compete in the knockout phase, with 16 entering in the play-offs and 8 receiving a bye to the round of 16.[2]
Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Qualified teams
The knockout phase involves the top 24 teams that qualify from the league phase. The top 8 teams received a bye to the round of 16, while teams finishing in positions 9 to 24 entered the knockout phase play-offs.
Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, is played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs advances to the next round. If the aggregate score is level, then 30 minutes of extra time is played (the away goals rule is not applied). If the score is still level at the end of extra time, the winners are decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which is played as a single match, if the score is level at the end of normal time, extra time is played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score is still level.[2]
Draw procedure
In the knockout phase, there is no country protection, with teams from the same association able to face each other in any round. Teams can also face opponents they played during the league phase.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:[2]
In the draw for the knockout phase play-offs, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 9–16 were seeded, and the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 17–24 were unseeded. The draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams hosted the second leg.
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight teams finishing the league phase in positions 1–8 were seeded, and the eight winners of the knockout phase play-offs were unseeded. Again, the draw was split into four sections based on the predetermined bracket, with the seeded teams in each section drawn against one of their two possible unseeded opponents. The seeded teams hosted the second leg.
In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the exact match pairings were predetermined based on the tournament bracket. A draw was conducted only to determine which team played the first leg at home. The winner of semi-final 1 will be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it is played at a neutral venue).
In the knockout phase, teams from the same or nearby cities are not scheduled to play at home on the same day or on consecutive days, due to logistics and crowd control.[2]:Art. 24.02 To avoid such scheduling conflict, several adjustments have been made: For the knockout phase play-offs and the round of 16, if the two teams were drawn to play at home for the same leg, the home match of the team that had the lower league phase ranking was moved from Thursday from a regularly scheduled time to an earlier time slot, to a different day, and/or at an alternative venue without clashing any other competition. For the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the order of legs of the tie involving the team with the lowest priority is reversed from the original draw.[3][4]
Predetermined pairings
The bracket structure for the knockout phase was partially fixed in advance using seeding, with a symmetrical pattern on both sides.[2] Teams' positions in the bracket were determined by their final standings in the league phase, ensuring that higher-ranked teams face lower-ranked opponents in earlier rounds. As a result, certain sets of teams, such as the top two from the league phase, cannot meet until the final.
The structure of each side of the bracket can be summarised as follows, with the exact pairings of the play-offs and round of 16 determined by a draw:[note 2]
Knockout phase play-offs
Pairing I: 9/10 vs 23/24
Pairing II: 11/12 vs 21/22
Pairing III: 13/14 vs 19/20
Pairing IV: 15/16 vs 17/18
Round of 16
Pairing A: 1/2 vs Winner IV
Pairing B: 3/4 vs Winner III
Pairing C: 5/6 vs Winner II
Pairing D: 7/8 vs Winner I
Quarter-finals
Pairing 1: Winner A vs Winner D
Pairing 2: Winner B vs Winner C
Semi-finals: Winner 1 vs Winner 2
Schedule
The schedule is as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).[1]
The draw for the knockout phase play-offs was held on 20 December 2024, 13:00 CET.[5][6]
Seeding
The draw was split into four seeded and four unseeded pots, based on the predetermined pairings for the knockout phase. Teams were allocated based on their final position in the league phase. Teams in positions 9 to 16 were seeded (playing the second legs at home), while teams in positions 17 to 24 were unseeded. The draw began with the unseeded teams, allocating them all to a tie. Once completed, all the seeded teams were drawn into a tie as their opponents.[7]
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 21 February 2025, 14:00 CET.[25]
Seeding
As the bracket was fixed, the draw contained only four seeded pots, based on the predetermined pairings for the knockout phase, with the top-eight teams allocated based on their final position in the league phase. Teams in positions 1 to 8 were seeded (playing the second legs at home), while the bracket positions of the winners of the knockout phase play-offs (unseeded) were predetermined. The top-eight teams were drawn into the bracket against one of their two possible opponents.[26]
↑ The order of the legs of Chelsea's potential semi-final tie may be reversed should Tottenham Hotspur (in the Europa League) also advance to the semi-finals.
The final will be played on 28 May 2025 at the Wrocław Stadium in Wrocław. The winner of semi-final 1 will be designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
↑ CET (UTC+1) for dates up to 29 March 2025 (knockout phase play-offs and round of 16), and CEST (UTC+2) for dates thereafter (quarter-finals, semi-finals and final).
↑ The draws determined the exact play-off and round of 16 pairings for each side of the bracket, which mirrored each other. For example, if the team in 9th was drawn against 23rd in the play-offs, the team in 10th would be drawn against 24th on the other side of the bracket.
↑ Víkingur Reykjavík played their home match at Bolt Arena, Helsinki, Finland, instead of their regular stadium, Víkingsvöllur, Reykjavík, which did not meet UEFA requirements.[14]
1 2 Pafos played their home matches at the Alphamega Stadium, Limassol, instead of their regular stadium, Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, Paphos, which did not meet UEFA requirements.
↑ Lugano played their home matches at Stockhorn Arena, Thun, instead of their regular stadium, Cornaredo Stadium, Lugano, due to renovation work.[32]
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Chelsea 
Vitória de Guimarães 
Fiorentina 
Rapid Wien 
Djurgårdens IF 
Lugano 
Legia Warsaw 
Cercle Brugge 
Shamrock Rovers 
APOEL 
Panathinaikos 
Olimpija Ljubljana 
Real Betis 
1. FC Heidenheim 
Copenhagen 
Víkingur Reykjavík 
Borac Banja Luka 
Molde 
TSC 
