The 2021–22 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 15 September 2021 and ended on 9 December 2021.[1] A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide 16 of the 24 places in the knockout phase of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League.[2]
Brøndby and West Ham United made their debut appearances in the Europa League group stage (although Brøndby had previously appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage).
Draw
The draw for the group stage was held on 27 August 2021, 12:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST) (13:00 TRT), in Istanbul, Turkey.[3][4] For the draw, the 32 teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on their 2021 UEFA club coefficients.[5] Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed pairings of teams from the same association, including those playing in the Europa Conference League group stage (one pairing for associations with two or three teams, two pairings for associations with four or five teams), based on television audiences, where one team was drawn into Groups A–D and another team was drawn into Groups E–H, so that the two teams would have different kick-off times. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed (the second team in a pairing marked by UECL are playing in the Europa Conference League group stage):[6]
On each matchday, one set of four groups played their matches on 18:45 CET/CEST, while the other set of four groups played their matches on 21:00 CET/CEST, with the two sets of groups alternating between each matchday. The fixtures were decided after the draw, using a computer draw not shown to public. Each team would not play more than two home matches or two away matches in a row, and would play one home match and one away match on the first and last matchdays (Regulations Article 15.02).[7] This arrangement was different from previous seasons, where the same two teams would play at home on the first and last matchdays.[7]
Teams
Below were the participating teams (with their 2021 UEFA club coefficients),[5] grouped by their seeding pot.[6] They included:
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see Article 16 Equality of points – group stage, Regulations of the UEFA Europa League):[2]
Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (direct red card = 3 points; double yellow card = 3 points; single yellow card = 1 point);
Due to the abolition of the away goals rule, head-to-head away goals were no longer applied as a tiebreaker starting from this season. However, total away goals were still applied as a tiebreaker.[8]
Groups
The fixtures were announced on 28 August 2021, the day after the draw.[9] The matches were played on 15–16 September, 30 September, 19–21 October, 4 November, 24–25 November, and 9 December 2021 (all three home matches of Spartak Moscow were played on Wednesdays, and one home match of Celtic was played on Tuesday, to avoid scheduling conflicts with home matches of Lokomotiv Moscow and Rangers respectively). The scheduled kick-off times were 18:45 and 21:00 CET/CEST (the rescheduled matches on Tuesdays and Wednesdays were played on 16:30 CET/CEST to avoid conflicts with Champions League matches).
Times were CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
^ abcAll three home matches of Spartak Moscow were played on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays to avoid scheduling conflicts with the home matches of Lokomotiv Moscow on the same day, as Lokomotiv Moscow (cup winners) have higher scheduling priority over Spartak Moscow (league runners-up) in the Europa League.
^The order of the Celtic v Ferencváros matches were reversed to avoid a scheduling conflict with the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow. The Celtic home match was played on Tuesday instead of Thursday to avoid a scheduling conflict with the home match of Rangers on the same day, as Rangers (league champions) have higher scheduling priority over Celtic (league runners-up) in the Europa League.
Note: Between the 1999–2000 and 2008–09 seasons, the competition was still known as the UEFA Cup. All seasons are included following the competition's absorption of the Cup Winners' Cup.
