One of the strongest international football competitions – the UEFA Europa Conference League, is in full swing. For the 2024-25 season, there are plenty of interesting developing storylines, potential upsets and strong favourites to keep track of. Our UEFA Europa Conference League preview will look at the tournament format changes, most important schedule dates, top teams and other important information for both new and die-hard team fans!
2024-2025 UEFA Europa Conference League Season Overview
The UEFA Europa Conference League is the 3rd-tier of European UEFA league pyramid structure. It was recently launched to provide smaller teams from smaller associations and smaller markets with the ability to compete on the European stage.
This season, a total of 29 football associations are represented in the competition. Besides the usually familiar English or Portuguese clubs, the UEFA Europa Conference League has teams from Cyprus, Iceland, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, and Northern Ireland, amongst others.
CTA – Find the odds for the UEFA Europa Conference League or other UEFA competitions and get familiar with the betting markets for every key 2024/25 season matchup!
Tournament Format Changes
The 2024-25 UEFA Europa Conference League has an all-new format following the changes to the UEFA Champions and Europa League.
No more groups of four teams with which we have become familiar! Now, 36 teams are ranked in the same table. Each squad plays 6 matches against a random draw of opponents in order to secure a spot in the TOP 8 for direct advancement to the Round of 16. Teams positioned 9th – 24th enter playoffs to fight for the remaining spots.
The new format means that all Conference League matches should be more important, creating more urgency for competitors making each match count.
As we see throughout all UEFA competitions with this new format, no team is safe, and there have been quite a handful of upsets with teams who were regarded as favourites, barely hanging on to playoff spots and underdogs clinging on to TOP 8 spots.
Key Dates and Schedules
Let’s look at the schedule for the most important UEFA Conference League matches and detail the 2024-25 UEFA Europa Conference League schedule preview
Qualifying Phase
| Round | Draw Date | First Leg | Second Leg |
| First Qualifying Round | June 18 2024 | July 11 2024 | July 18 2024 |
| Second Qualifying Round | June 19 2024 | July 25 2024 | August 1 2024 |
| Third Qualifying Round | July 22 2024 | August 8 2024 | August 15 2024 |
| Playoff Round | August 5 2024 | August 22 2024 | August 29 2024 |
League Phase
The draw for the League Phase happened on August 30, 2024.
| Matchday | Date |
| Matchday 1 | October 3 2024 |
| Matchday 2 | October 24 2024 |
| Matchday 3 | November 7 2024 |
| Matchday 4 | November 28 2024 |
| Matchday 5 | December 12 2024 |
| Matchday 6 | December 19 2024 |
Knockout Phase
The Knockout Round of Playoffs starts on February 13, 2025, with the 2nd leg taking place a week later – on February 20.
Playoff phase
Once the Knockout Phase is completed, the Playoffs start with the Round of 16.
| Round | First Leg | Second Leg |
| Round of 16 | March 6 2025 | March 13 2025 |
| Quarter-finals | April 10 2025 | April 17 2025 |
| Semi-finals | May 1 2025 | May 8 2025 |
UEFA Europa Conference League Final
The season is set to culminate with the final, held in Poland at Stadion Wrocław on May 28. If you’re interested in high-level European club football, following young talents and up-and-coming organisations in the UEFA Europa Conference League can be very exciting!
Participating teams
This season has a mix of both storied European titans and newcomers to the biggest stage. The best-known squads in this season are Chelsea (England), last year’s runners-up Fiorentina (Italy), Legia (Poland), Panathinaikos (Greece), Real Betis (Spain), Gent (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Vitoria de Guimaraes (Portugal). All of them have had variable degrees of success this season.
Last year’s champions, Olympiacos (Greece), moved up to the UEFA Europa League and had great results, advancing to the Knockout phase playoffs and securing their spot with one matchday to go.
During the early stages of the 2024-25 campaign, Chelsea seemed like one of the UEFA Europa Conference League favourites, starting out in a dominant, perfect fashion. Fiorentina, Vitoria de Guimaraes, Rapid Wien (Austria), Djurgardens IF (Sweden) and Lugano (Switzerland) are also in the mix.
The UEFA Europa Conference League odds change with every matchday, so follow the 7bet UK blog and betting catalogue to remain in the loop!
Key Players to Watch in the UEFA Europa Conference League 2024/25
You have nearly 1,000 players from all 36 teams, so pinpointing the top talents or most exciting players isn’t easy.
Every Europa Conference League preview focused on multiple Chelsea players, but Spanish national Marc Guiu stands out as the League’s top scorer in minimal minutes. The Blues also have a reinvigorated Joao Felix, who found the net 4 times in 6 matches, showing solid form.
Some other standouts include Kevin Denkey from Cercle Brugge (4 goals and 4 assists in 231 minutes). The 24-year-old Togolese forward has been with Cercle Brugge since 2020. He is impactful both at the European and Domestic level. In the 2024–2025 Belgian Pro League season, so far, he has made 8 starts and 1 substitute appearance, scoring 5 goals and providing 1 assist. A knack for scoring goals makes him must-see TV!
Krzysztof Piątek is another name known for football fans in Europe. The mature, 29-year-old Polish striker has represented Istanbul Başakşehir FK since 2023. As of writing, in the 2024–2025 Turkish Süper Lig season, he has made 13 starts, netting 12 goals and contributing 1 assist. His goal-scoring prowess translates to the Conference League as well.
Finally, the Australian midfielder Cameron Delvin from Heart of Midlothian FC is a solid and consistent midfielder known for accurate passing and a relentless work rate.
2024-2025 UEFA Europa Conference League Predictions
You can never know who will come out on top when it’s UEFA Europa Conference League time. The new format has made matchdays a lot less predictable. With the knockout phase upon us, some general UEFA Europa Conference League predictions can be made.
- After a few down years, Chelsea FC, a historically dominant force in European football, stands head-and-shoulders above the rest regarding player value and name recognition. A strong start is something to take note of, but can ‘the Blues’ make a statement and go all the way?
- Portuguese Vitoria FC is another strong contender. They’re a disciplined and sound team that not a lot of Europa Conference League previews had as favourites but were proved wrong after 6 matchdays.
- Fiorentina are last year’s runners-up, seeking redemption. They have good depth at many positions and could make an attempt to snatch the trophy this year.
However, the unpredictability is at an all-time high. Smaller clubs can rise to the occasion thanks to coming to the match with an underdog mentality, having nothing to lose. Smaller teams have proven to be capable of surprising even heavy favourites during the high-stakes playoff matches. Teams like Rapid Wien and Gent could prove to be dark horses in the tournament, more than capable of capitalising on their rivals’ mistakes.
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