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The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League knockout phase began on 20 February with the round of 32 and ended on 21 August 2020 with the final at RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, to decide the champions of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. A total of 32 teams competed in the knockout phase.
Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Qualified teams
The knockout phase involved 32 teams: the 24 teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the twelve groups in the group stage, and the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the round of 32, the twelve group winners and the four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage with the better group records were seeded, and the twelve group runners-up and the other four third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association cannot be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the round of 16 onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the final stages of the competition would feature a format change. The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final would be played in a single-leg format from 10 to 21 August 2020 in the German cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen. The matches were tentatively played behind closed doors, though spectators could be allowed subject to a review of the situation and the decisions of the national and local government.
Following the competition restarts in August 2020, a maximum of five substitutions were allowed, with a sixth allowed in extra time. However, each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time, and at half-time in extra time. This followed a proposal from FIFA and approval by IFAB to lessen the impact of fixture congestion.
In the knockout phase, teams from the same or nearby cities (Porto and Braga) were not scheduled to play at home on the same day, due to logistics and crowd control. Consequently, UEFA adjusted to avoid such scheduling conflicts. For the round of 32, since both teams were seeded and play at home for the second leg, the home match of the team which was not domestic cup champions in the qualifying season, or the team with the lower domestic ranking (if neither team were the domestic cup champions, e.g. Braga for this season), was moved from Thursday to Wednesday. For the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals, if the two teams were drawn to play at home for the same leg, the order of legs of the tie involving the team with the lowest priority was reversed from the original draw.
Schedule
The schedule was as follows (all draws are held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).
Following the round of 16 first legs, the competition was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The final, originally scheduled to take place on 27 May 2020, was officially postponed on 23 March 2020. A working group was set up by UEFA to decide the calendar of the remainder of the season.
The draw for the round of 16 was held on 28 February 2020, 13:00 CET.
Summary
Six of the eight first leg matches were played on 12 March, while the remaining first legs and all second leg fixtures were postponed by UEFA due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. On 17 June 2020, UEFA announced that the second legs would be played on 5–6 August 2020. In July 2020, they confirmed that the second legs would be played at the home team's stadium as normal. For the two ties that had not played their first legs, the matches were instead played in a single-leg format, at neutral venues in Germany.
The final was played at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.
CET (UTC+1) for dates up to 28 March 2020 (round of 32 and round of 16), and CEST (UTC+2) for dates thereafter (quarter-finals, semi-finals and final).
^ LASK played their home matches at Linzer Stadion, Linz, instead of their regular home stadium Waldstadion, Pasching.
The Inter Milan v Ludogorets Razgrad match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.
The Red Bull Salzburg v Eintracht Frankfurt match, originally scheduled to be played on 27 February 2020, 21:00 CET, was postponed to 28 February 2020, 18:00 CET, due to a storm warning.
^ Shakhtar Donetsk played their round of 32 home match at Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv, and round of 16 home match at NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kyiv, instead of their regular home stadium Donbass Arena, Donetsk, due to the war conditions in Eastern Ukraine.
The Braga v Rangers match was rescheduled to 26 February 2020 in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Porto v Bayer Leverkusen match.
^ All of the round of 16 second leg matches, originally scheduled to be played on 19 March 2020, were indefinitely postponed following the suspension of UEFA competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
^ The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Olympiacos v Wolverhampton Wanderers match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece.
The VfL Wolfsburg v Shakhtar Donetsk match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.
The Shakhtar Donetsk v VfL Wolfsburg match, originally scheduled to be played at Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv, prior to the suspension of the tournament, was later moved to NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kyiv.
The first leg of the Inter Milan v Getafe tie, originally scheduled to be played on 12 March 2020, 21:00 CET at San Siro, Milan, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and subsequent travel restrictions. The second leg, originally scheduled for 19 March 2020, 18:55 CET at Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, Getafe, was subsequently postponed. UEFA later decided to stage the tie as a single-leg match, to be played at a neutral venue in Germany.
The first leg of the Sevilla v Roma tie, originally scheduled to be played on 12 March 2020, 18:55 CET at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville, was postponed date due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and subsequent travel restrictions. The second leg, originally scheduled for 19 March 2020, 21:00 CET at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, was subsequently postponed. UEFA later decided to stage the tie as a single-leg match, to be played at a neutral venue in Germany.
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.
Sevilla
APOEL
Malmö FF
Copenhagen
Basel
LASK
Sporting CP
Celtic
CFR Cluj
Arsenal
Eintracht Frankfurt
Ludogorets Razgrad
Gent
İstanbul Başakşehir
Roma
AZ
Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympiacos
15', 67', 81'