UEFA Conference League

UEFA Conference League
Organising body	UEFA
Founded	2021; (rebranded in 2024)
Region	Europe
Number of teams	36 (league stage); 184 (total)
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa League
Related competitions	UEFA Champions League (1st tier); UEFA Europa League (2nd tier)
Current champions	Olympiacos (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Roma; West Ham United; Olympiacos; (1 title each)
Website	uefa.com/uefaconferenceleague
	2024–25 UEFA Conference League

The UEFA Conference League (previously known as the UEFA Europa Conference League), abbreviated as UECL or sometimes UEFA ECL, is an annual football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the third tier of continental club football in Europe, behind the second-tier Europa League, and the first-tier Champions League.

Introduced in 2021 as the UEFA Europa Conference League, the competition was initially intended as the bottom level of the Europa League. The competition is primarily contested by teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations.^[1] No teams qualify directly to the group stage, with 12 teams eliminated in the Europa League play-offs and the rest coming from the Conference League qualifiers. The winners of the competition qualify for the following season's Europa League, unless they qualify for the Champions League.^[2]

From the 2024–25 season, the competition has been rebranded as UEFA Conference League. Roma were the inaugural winners of the competition, having beaten Feyenoord 1–0 in the 2022 final.

^ "'Europa League 2': Uefa confirms new tournament from 2021". BBC Sport. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
^ "UEFA Executive Committee approves new club competition". UEFA.com (Press release). Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2018.

[BBCannouncement-1] "'Europa League 2': Uefa confirms new tournament from 2021". BBC Sport. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.

[uefa021218-2] "UEFA Executive Committee approves new club competition". UEFA.com (Press release). Union of European Football Associations. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2018.

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