UEFA Conference League

The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the third-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the second-tier UEFA Europa League, and the first-tier UEFA Champions League.

Introduced in 2021 as the UEFA Europa Conference League, the competition was initially intended as the bottom level of the UEFA Europa League. Teams from lower-ranked UEFA member associations primarily contest the competition. From the 2024–25 season, the competition was rebranded to the UEFA Conference League, and the group stage was replaced with an expanded league phase of 36 teams. No teams qualify directly for the league phase: instead the teams eliminated in the Europa League play-off round qualify, with the rest coming from the Conference League qualifying and play-off rounds.

The winner of the competition qualifies for the following season's UEFA Europa League league phase, unless they also qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via their domestic league position.

English clubs have the highest number of victories (2 wins), followed by Italy and Greece (1 win each). Roma were the inaugural winners of the competition, having beaten Feyenoord 1–0 in the 2022 final. The current holders of the title are Chelsea, who defeated Real Betis 4–1 in the 2025 final.

History

UEFA had reportedly considered adding a third-tier competition since at least 2015, believing that a bottom-level tournament could act as a means of giving clubs from lower-ranked UEFA member countries a chance of progressing beyond their customary elimination from the Champions League and Europa League. In mid-2018, talk of an announcement intensified, with news sources claiming an agreement had already been reached for the competition to be launched and that the 48-team Europa League group stage would be split in two, with the lower half forming the nucleus of what would be the new event.

On 2 December 2018, UEFA announced that the competition – provisionally known as "Europa League 2" or just "UEL2" – was to be launched as part of the 2021–24 three-year competition cycle, with UEFA adding that the new tournament would bring "more matches for more clubs and more associations".

The original official name of the competition, "UEFA Europa Conference League", was announced on 24 September 2019.

On 24 May 2021, UEFA revealed the competition's trophy and brand identity. The Europa Conference League Trophy stands tall and weighs .

The first goal in the then-named Europa Conference League qualifiers was scored on 6 July 2021 by Mosta player Evo Chris in a 2021–22 qualifying round match against Spartak Trnava. The first goal in the then-named Europa Conference League group stage was scored on 14 September 2021 by Maccabi Tel Aviv player Stipe Perica in a 2021–22 group stage match against Alashkert. On 30 September 2021, the competition's first hat-trick was scored by Harry Kane for Tottenham Hotspur in a group stage match against NS Mura. Kane came on as a 59th minute substitute at 2–1 before scoring three goals within 20 minutes of each other to finish off the game (5–1).

On 5 May 2022, Feyenoord and Roma became the first teams ever to reach the Europa Conference League final, ending with Roma being crowned the inaugural champions.

On 3 November 2022, West Ham United became the first side to win all six of their Europa Conference League group stage matches, picking up wins against FCSB, Silkeborg

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