2015–16 UEFA Europa League

2015–16 UEFA Europa League

File:St-Jakob-Park.jpg The St. Jakob-Park in Basel hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying: 30 June – 27 August 2015 Competition proper: 17 September 2015 – 18 May 2016
Teams	Competition proper: 48+8 Total: 158+33 (from 54 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Sevilla (5th title)
Runners-up	Liverpool
Tournament statistics
Matches played	205
Goals scored	536 (2.61 per match)
Attendance	4,487,160 (21,889 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao) 10 goals
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2016 UEFA Europa League Final was played between Liverpool and Sevilla at the St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland, and won by Sevilla, their fifth title (extending their own record) and third win in a row (also a tournament record). Sevilla initially started the 2015–16 European club season in the Champions League as the Europa League title holders, but qualified for the Europa League by finishing third in the Champions League group stage, and successfully defended their title. As the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, they qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, and also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, in the 2016 UEFA Super Cup.

Format changes

The UEFA Executive Committee held in May and September 2013 approved the following changes to the UEFA Europa League starting from the 2015–16 season (for the three-year cycle until the 2017–18 season):

• The title holders of the UEFA Europa League will qualify for the UEFA Champions League, and therefore no Europa League berth will be reserved for them (although it is still possible for them to defend their title if they drop down to the Europa League after Champions League elimination).
• All associations will have a maximum of three teams entering the Europa League (excluding those transferred from the Champions League); previously associations 7–9 each had four entrants (the only exception is when both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders are from the same top three ranked association and do not qualify for either the Champions League or Europa League through domestic competitions, and the fourth-placed team of their association enter the Europa League instead of the Champions League because a maximum of five teams from one association can enter the Champions League, meaning in this case, four teams from their association enter the Europa League).
• The number of teams directly qualifying for the group stage will be increased to 16 teams (from the top 12 associations); previously six teams (from the top six associations) directly qualified for the group stage.
• Should the domestic cup winners qualify for the Champions League, the cup runners-up will no longer be granted a spot in the Europa League, and the spot will be given to the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions.

Association team allocation

A total of 191 teams from all 54 UEFA member associations participated in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:

• Associations 1–51 (except Liechtenstein) each have three teams qualify.
  • As the winners of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, Sevilla qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League; the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League berth they would otherwise have earned for finishing 5th in the 2014–15 La Liga was vacated and not passed to another Spanish team.
• Associations 52–53 each have two teams qualify.
• Liechtenstein and Gibraltar each have one team qualify (Liechtenstein organises only a domestic cup and no domestic league; Gibraltar as per decision by the UEFA Executive Committee).
• The top three associations of the 2014–15 UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth (the 2015–16 season will be the last where Fair Play berths are allocated to the Europa League).
• Moreover, 33 teams eliminated from the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League.

Association ranking

For the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2014 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2009–10 to 2013–14. Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations may have additional teams participating in the Europa League, as noted below:

• (FP) – Additional berth via Fair Play ranking (Netherlands, England, Republic of Ireland)
• (CL) – Additional teams transferred from Champions League
• (EL) – Vacated berth due to Europa League title holders playing in Champions League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1 Spain 97.713 3 −1(EL) +2(CL) 2 England 84.748 +1(FP) +1(CL) 3 Germany 81.641 +1(CL) 4 Italy 66.938 +1(CL) 5 Portugal 62.299 +2(CL) 6 France 56.500 +1(CL) 7 Russia 46.998 8 Netherlands 44.312 +1(FP) +1(CL) 9 Ukraine 40.966 +1(CL) 10 Belgium 36.300 +1(CL) 11 Turkey 34.200 +2(CL) 12 Greece 33.600 +2(CL) 13 Switzerland 33.225 +2(CL) 14 Austria 30.925 +2(CL) 15 Czech Republic 29.350 +2(CL) 16 Romania 27.257 +1(CL) 17 Israel 26.875 18 Cyprus 23.250 +1(CL)

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 19 Denmark 21.300 3 +1(CL) 20 Croatia 19.625 21 Poland 18.875 +1(CL) 22 Belarus 18.625 23 Scotland 16.566 +1(CL) 24 Sweden 16.325 25 Bulgaria 15.625 26 Norway 14.275 +1(CL) 27 Serbia 14.125 +1(CL) 28 Hungary 11.625 +1(CL) 29 Slovenia 11.000 30 Slovakia 11.000 31 Moldova 10.375 +1(CL) 32 Azerbaijan 10.375 +1(CL) 33 Georgia 9.875 34 Kazakhstan 8.250 35 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7.500 36 Finland 7.175 +1(CL)

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 37 Iceland 6.750 3 38 Latvia 6.250 39 Montenegro 6.000 40 Albania 5.500 +1(CL) 41 Lithuania 5.250 42 Macedonia 5.250 43 Republic of Ireland 5.125 +1(FP) 44 Luxembourg 4.875 45 Malta 4.833 46 Liechtenstein 4.500 1 47 Northern Ireland 3.625 3 48 Wales 3.000 49 Armenia 2.875 50 Estonia 2.875 51 Faroe Islands 2.125 52 San Marino 0.999 2 53 Andorra 0.833 54 Gibraltar 0.000 1

Distribution

In the default access list, Sevilla enter the group stage (as the fifth-placed team of the 2014–15 La Liga). However, since they qualified for the Champions League as the Europa League title holders, the spot which they qualified for in the Europa League group stage is vacated, and the following changes to the default allocation system are made:

• The domestic cup winners of association 13 (Switzerland) are promoted from the third qualifying round to the group stage.
• The domestic cup winners of association 18 (Cyprus) are promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round.
• The domestic cup winners of associations 24 (Sweden) and 25 (Bulgaria) are promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.

	Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from previous round	Teams transferred from Champions League
First qualifying round (102 teams)	29 domestic cup winners from associations 26–54 35 domestic league runners-up from associations 18–53 (except Liechtenstein) 35 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–51 (except Liechtenstein) 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play ranking
Second qualifying round (66 teams)	7 domestic cup winners from associations 19–25 2 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–17 6 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 10–15	51 winners from first qualifying round
Third qualifying round (58 teams)	5 domestic cup winners from associations 14–18 9 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–15 5 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 5–9 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 4–6 (League Cup winners for France) 3 domestic league sixth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (League Cup winners for England)	33 winners from second qualifying round
Play-off round (44 teams)		29 winners from third qualifying round	15 losers from Champions League third qualifying round
Group stage (48 teams)	13 domestic cup winners from associations 1–13 1 domestic league fourth-placed team from association 4 2 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–3 (except Europa League title holders)	22 winners from play-off round	10 losers from Champions League play-off round
Knockout phase (32 teams)		12 group winners from group stage 12 group runners-up from group stage	8 third-placed teams from Champions League group stage

Redistribution rules

A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules (regulations Articles 3.03 and 3.04):

• When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualify for the Champions League, their Europa League place is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place" (the 2015–16 season will be the first with this particular arrangement where the domestic cup runners-up are no longer guaranteed a place in the Europa League in this scenario).
• When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place" if possible.
• For associations where a Europa League place is reserved for the League Cup winners, they always qualify for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners have already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place is taken by the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions.
• A Fair Play place is taken by the highest-ranked team in the domestic Fair Play table which have not yet qualified for European competitions.

Teams

The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:

• TH: Title holders
• CW: Cup winners
• 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
• LC: League Cup winners
• PW: End-of-season Europa League play-off winners
• FP: Fair Play
• CL: Transferred from Champions League
  • GS: Third-placed teams from group stage
  • PO: Losers from play-off round
  • Q3: Losers from third qualifying round

Round of 32
Shakhtar Donetsk (CL GS)	Galatasaray (CL GS)	Bayer Leverkusen (CL GS)	Porto (CL GS)
Manchester United (CL GS)	SevillaTH (CL GS)	Olympiacos (CL GS)	Valencia (CL GS)
Group stage
Villarreal (6th)	Braga (4th)	Asteras Tripolis (3rd)	Lazio (CL PO)
Tottenham Hotspur (5th)	Marseille (4th)	Sion (CW)	Club Brugge (CL PO)
Liverpool (6th)	Lokomotiv Moscow (CW)	APOEL (CL PO)	Sporting CP (CL PO)
FC Augsburg (5th)	Groningen (CW)	Skënderbeu (CL PO)	Rapid Wien (CL PO)
Schalke 04 (6th)	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (3rd)	Celtic (CL PO)	Monaco (CL PO)
Fiorentina (4th)	Anderlecht (3rd)	Basel (CL PO)
Napoli (5th)	Beşiktaş (3rd)	Partizan (CL PO)
Play-off round
Lech Poznań (CL Q3)	Steaua București (CL Q3)	Videoton (CL Q3)	Sparta Prague (CL Q3)
Milsami Orhei (CL Q3)	Midtjylland (CL Q3)	Red Bull Salzburg (CL Q3)	Ajax (CL Q3)
HJK (CL Q3)	Viktoria Plzeň (CL Q3)	Panathinaikos (CL Q3)	Fenerbahçe (CL Q3)
Qarabağ (CL Q3)	Molde (CL Q3)	Young Boys (CL Q3)
Third qualifying round
Athletic Bilbao (7th)	Bordeaux (6th)	Standard Liège (4th)	Jablonec (3rd)
Southampton (7th)	Krasnodar (3rd)	İstanbul Başakşehir (4th)	Târgu Mureș (2nd)
Borussia Dortmund (7th)	Rubin Kazan (5th)	Atromitos (4th)	Ironi Kiryat Shmona (2nd)
Sampdoria (7th)	AZ (3rd)	Zürich (3rd)	AEK Larnaca (2nd)
Vitória de Guimarães (5th)	Vitesse (PW)	Rheindorf Altach (3rd)
Belenenses (6th)	Zorya Luhansk (4th)	Sturm Graz (4th)
Saint-Étienne (5th)	Vorskla Poltava (5th)	Slovan Liberec (CW)
Second qualifying round
Charleroi (PW)	Wolfsberger AC (5th)	Copenhagen (CW)	Inverness CT (CW)
Trabzonspor (5th)	Mladá Boleslav (4th)	Rijeka (2nd)	IFK Göteborg (CW)
PAOK (5th)	Astra Giurgiu (4th)	Legia Warsaw (CW)	Cherno More Varna (CW)
Thun (4th)	Hapoel Be'er Sheva (3rd)	Dinamo Minsk (2nd)
First qualifying round
Botoșani (8th)	Debrecen (4th)	FH (2nd)	Vaduz (CW)
Beitar Jerusalem (4th)	Koper (CW)	Víkingur Reykjavík (4th)	Glentoran (CW)
Apollon Limassol (3rd)	Celje (2nd)	Jelgava (CW)	Linfield (2nd)
Omonia (4th)	Domžale (3rd)	Skonto (2nd)	Glenavon (3rd)
Brøndby (3rd)	Žilina (2nd)	Spartaks Jūrmala (6th)	Bala Town (2nd)
Randers (4th)	Slovan Bratislava (3rd)	Mladost Podgorica (CW)	Airbus UK Broughton (3rd)
Hajduk Split (3rd)	Spartak Trnava (4th)	Sutjeska Nikšić (2nd)	Newtown (PW)
Lokomotiva (4th)	Sheriff Tiraspol (CW)	Budućnost Podgorica (3rd)	Ulisses (2nd)
Jagiellonia Białystok (3rd)	Dacia Chișinău (2nd)	Laçi (CW)	Shirak (3rd)
Śląsk Wrocław (4th)	Saxan (5th)	Kukësi (2nd)	Alashkert (4th)
Shakhtyor Soligorsk (3rd)	Inter Baku (2nd)	Partizani (3rd)	Nõmme Kalju (CW)
Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino (4th)	Gabala (3rd)	Kruoja Pakruojis (2nd)	Sillamäe Kalev (2nd)
Aberdeen (2nd)	Neftchi Baku (4th)	Atlantas (3rd)	Flora Tallinn (3rd)
St Johnstone (4th)	Dinamo Tbilisi (CW)	Trakai (4th)	Víkingur Gøta (CW)
AIK (3rd)	Dinamo Batumi (2nd)	Rabotnički (CW)	HB (2nd)
IF Elfsborg (4th)	Tskhinvali (4th)	Shkëndija (3rd)	NSÍ Runavík (4th)
Beroe Stara Zagora (2nd)	Kairat (CW)	Renova (4th)	Juvenes/Dogana (2nd)
Litex Lovech (4th)	Aktobe (2nd)	St Patrick's Athletic (CW)	La Fiorita (3rd)
Rosenborg (2nd)	Ordabasy (4th)	Cork City (2nd)	Sant Julià (CW)
Odd (3rd)	Olimpic (CW)	Shamrock Rovers (4th)	Lusitanos (2nd)
Strømsgodset (4th)	Željezničar (2nd)	Differdange 03 (CW)	Europa (2nd)
Čukarički (CW)	Zrinjski Mostar (3rd)	F91 Dudelange (3rd)	Go Ahead Eagles (FP)
Red Star Belgrade (2nd)	SJK (2nd)	Progrès Niederkorn (4th)	West Ham United (FP)
Vojvodina (4th)	Lahti (3rd)	Birkirkara (CW)	UCD (FP)
Ferencváros (CW)	VPS (4th)	Valletta (2nd)
MTK Budapest (3rd)	KR (CW)	Balzan (4th)

Notably two teams took part in the competition that were not playing in their national top-division. They were Go Ahead Eagles (2nd tier) and UCD (2nd tier).

Notes

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise).

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying	First qualifying round	22 June 2015	2 July 2015	9 July 2015
	Second qualifying round		16 July 2015	23 July 2015
	Third qualifying round	17 July 2015	30 July 2015	6 August 2015
Play-off	Play-off round	7 August 2015	20 August 2015	27 August 2015
Group stage	Matchday 1	28 August 2015 (Monaco)	17 September 2015
	Matchday 2		1 October 2015
	Matchday 3		22 October 2015
	Matchday 4		5 November 2015
	Matchday 5		26 November 2015
	Matchday 6		10 December 2015
Knockout phase	Round of 32	14 December 2015	18 February 2016	25 February 2016
	Round of 16	26 February 2016	10 March 2016	17 March 2016
	Quarter-finals	18 March 2016	7 April 2016	14 April 2016
	Semi-finals	15 April 2016	28 April 2016	5 May 2016
	Final		18 May 2016 at St. Jakob-Park, Basel

Matches in the qualifying, play-off, and knockout rounds may also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.

Qualifying rounds

Main article: 2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase

In the qualifying rounds and the play-off round, teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2015 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.

First qualifying round

The draw for the first and second qualifying round was held on 22 June 2015. With 102 teams involved, it was UEFA's biggest ever tournament draw. The first legs were played on 30 June and 2 July, and the second legs were played on 7 and 9 July 2015. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase|firstroundmatch}}

Second qualifying round

The first legs were played on 16 July, and the second legs were played on 21 and 23 July 2015. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase|secondroundmatch}}

Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 17 July 2015. The first legs were played on 29 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 6 August 2015. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase|thirdroundmatch}}

Play-off round

Main article: 2015–16 UEFA Europa League play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 7 August 2015. The first legs were played on 20 August, and the second legs were played on 27 August 2015. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League play-off round|playoffmatch}}

Group stage

Main article: 2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stage

2015–16 UEFA Europa League is located in Europe

Villarreal

Villarreal

Athletic

Athletic

Tottenham

Tottenham

Liverpool

Liverpool

Augsburg

Augsburg

Schalke

Schalke

Dortmund

Dortmund

Lazio

Lazio

Fiorentina

Fiorentina

Napoli

Napoli

Lisbon

Lisbon

Braga

Braga

2015–16 UEFA Europa League

Monaco

Monaco

Marseille

Marseille

St-Étienne

St-Étienne

Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Lokomotiv

Lokomotiv

Krasnodar

Krasnodar

Rubin

Rubin

AZ

AZ

Ajax

Ajax

Groningen

Groningen

Dnipro

Dnipro

Brugge

Brugge

Anderlecht

Anderlecht

Istanbul

Istanbul

2015–16 UEFA Europa League

PAOK

PAOK

Asteras

Asteras

Basel

Basel

Sion

Sion

Rapid

Rapid

Plzeň

Plzeň

Sparta

Sparta

Liberec

Liberec

APOEL

APOEL

Midtjylland

Midtjylland

Lech

Lech

Legia

Legia

Din. Minsk

Din. Minsk

Celtic

Celtic

Molde

Molde

Rosenborg

Rosenborg

Partizan

Partizan

Qarabağ

Qarabağ

Gabala

Gabala

Skënderbeu

Skënderbeu

Lisbon teams File:Brown pog.svg Belenenses File:Orange pog.svg Sporting CP Istanbul teams File:Orange pog.svg Beşiktaş File:Red pog.svg Fenerbahçe

Lisbon teams
File:Brown pog.svg Belenenses
File:Orange pog.svg Sporting CP

Istanbul teams
File:Orange pog.svg Beşiktaş
File:Red pog.svg Fenerbahçe

class=notpageimage|

Location of teams of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stage.
File:Red pog.svg Red: Group A; File:Yellow pog.svg Yellow: Group B; File:Green pog.svg Green: Group C; File:Dark Green 004040 pog.svg Dark Green: Group D;
File:Purple pog.svg Purple: Group E; File:Pink pog.svg Pink: Group F; File:Blue pog.svg Blue: Group G; File:Orange pog.svg Orange: Group H;
File:Brown pog.svg Brown: Group I; File:DeepPink pog.svg Deep pink: Group J; File:Cyan pog.svg Cyan: Group K; File:SpringGreen pog.svg Spring green: Group L.

The draw for the group stage was held in Monaco on 28 August 2015. The 48 teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2015 UEFA club coefficients. In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 32, where they were joined by the eight third-placed teams of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage. The matchdays were 17 September, 1 October, 22 October, 5 November, 26 November, and 10 December 2015. A total of 24 national associations were represented in the group stage. FC Augsburg, Belenenses, Gabala, Groningen, Midtjylland, Monaco, Sion and Skënderbeu Korçë made their debut appearances in the group stage (although Monaco have appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage). Skënderbeu Korçë were the first team from Albania to play in the group stage of any UEFA club competition.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine the rankings (regulations Article 16.01): higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; if, after having applied criteria 1 to 4, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 4 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6 to 12 apply; superior goal difference in all group matches; higher number of goals scored in all group matches; higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; higher number of wins in all group matches; higher number of away wins in all group matches; lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points); higher club coefficient.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		MOL	FEN	AJX	CEL
1	Molde	6	3	2	1	10	7	+3	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	0–2	1–1	3–1
2	Fenerbahçe	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9			1–3	—	1–0	1–1
3	Ajax	6	1	4	1	6	6	0	7			1–1	0–0	—	2–2
4	Celtic	6	0	3	3	8	12	−4	3			1–2	2–2	1–2	—

Source: Soccerway

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LIV	SIO	RUB	BOR
1	Liverpool	6	2	4	0	6	4	+2	10	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–1	1–1	2–1
2	Sion	6	2	3	1	5	5	0	9			0–0	—	2–1	1–1
3	Rubin Kazan	6	1	3	2	6	6	0	6			0–1	2–0	—	0–0
4	Bordeaux	6	0	4	2	5	7	−2	4			1–1	0–1	2–2	—

Source: Soccerway

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		KRA	DOR	PAOK	QAB
1	Krasnodar	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–0	2–1	2–1
2	Borussia Dortmund	6	3	1	2	10	5	+5	10			2–1	—	0–1	4–0
3	PAOK	6	1	4	1	3	3	0	7			0–0	1–1	—	0–0
4	Gabala	6	0	2	4	2	12	−10	2			0–3	1–3	0–0	—

Source: Soccerway

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		NAP	MID	BRU	LEG
1	Napoli	6	6	0	0	22	3	+19	18	Advance to knockout phase		—	5–0	5–0	5–2
2	Midtjylland	6	2	1	3	6	12	−6	7			1–4	—	1–1	1–0
3	Club Brugge	6	1	2	3	4	11	−7	5			0–1	1–3	—	1–0
4	Legia Warsaw	6	1	1	4	4	10	−6	4			0–2	1–0	1–1	—

Source: Soccerway

Group E

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RW	VIL	PLZ	DMI
1	Rapid Wien	6	5	0	1	10	6	+4	15	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–1	3–2	2–1
2	Villarreal	6	4	1	1	12	6	+6	13			1–0	—	1–0	4–0
3	Viktoria Plzeň	6	1	1	4	8	10	−2	4			1–2	3–3	—	2–0
4	Dinamo Minsk	6	1	0	5	3	11	−8	3			0–1	1–2	1–0	—

Source: Soccerway

Group F

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRA	MAR	LIB	GRO
1	Braga	6	4	1	1	7	4	+3	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–2	2–1	1–0
2	Marseille	6	4	0	2	12	7	+5	12			1–0	—	0–1	2–1
3	Slovan Liberec	6	2	1	3	6	8	−2	7			0–1	2–4	—	1–1
4	Groningen	6	0	2	4	2	8	−6	2			0–0	0–3	0–1	—

Source: Soccerway

Group G

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LAZ	SET	DNI	ROS
1	Lazio	6	4	2	0	13	6	+7	14	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–2	3–1	3–1
2	Saint-Étienne	6	2	3	1	10	7	+3	9			1–1	—	3–0	2–2
3	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	6	2	1	3	6	8	−2	7			1–1	0–1	—	3–0
4	Rosenborg	6	0	2	4	4	12	−8	2			0–2	1–1	0–1	—

Source: Soccerway

Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LMO	SPO	BES	SKE
1	Lokomotiv Moscow	6	3	2	1	12	7	+5	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–4	1–1	2–0
2	Sporting CP	6	3	1	2	14	11	+3	10			1–3	—	3–1	5–1
3	Beşiktaş	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9			1–1	1–1	—	2–0
4	Skënderbeu	6	1	0	5	4	13	−9	3			0–3	3–0	0–1	—

Source: Soccerway

Group I

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BSL	FIO	LCH	BEL
1	Basel	6	4	1	1	10	5	+5	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–2	2–0	1–2
2	Fiorentina	6	3	1	2	11	6	+5	10			1–2	—	1–2	1–0
3	Lech Poznań	6	1	2	3	2	6	−4	5			0–1	0–2	—	0–0
4	Belenenses	6	1	2	3	2	8	−6	5			0–2	0–4	0–0	—

Source: Soccerway

Group J

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TOT	AND	MON	QAR
1	Tottenham Hotspur	6	4	1	1	12	6	+6	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–1	4–1	3–1
2	Anderlecht	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10			2–1	—	1–1	2–1
3	Monaco	6	1	3	2	5	9	−4	6			1–1	0–2	—	1–0
4	Qarabağ	6	1	1	4	4	8	−4	4			0–1	1–0	1–1	—

Source: Soccerway

Group K

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SCH	SPP	AT	APO
1	Schalke 04	6	4	2	0	15	3	+12	14	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–2	4–0	1–0
2	Sparta Prague	6	3	3	0	10	5	+5	12			1–1	—	1–0	2–0
3	Asteras Tripolis	6	1	1	4	4	12	−8	4			0–4	1–1	—	2–0
4	APOEL	6	1	0	5	3	12	−9	3			0–3	1–3	2–1	—

Source: Soccerway

Group L

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ATH	AUG	PAR	AZ
1	Athletic Bilbao	6	4	1	1	16	8	+8	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	5–1	2–2
2	FC Augsburg	6	3	0	3	12	11	+1	9			2–3	—	1–3	4–1
3	Partizan	6	3	0	3	10	14	−4	9			0–2	1–3	—	3–2
4	AZ	6	1	1	4	8	13	−5	4			2–1	0–1	1–2	—

Source: Soccerway

Knockout phase

Main article: 2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final. 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 could not 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.

Bracket

{{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase|bracket}}

Round of 32

The draw for the round of 32 was held on 14 December 2015. The first legs were played on 16 and 18 February, and the second legs were played on 24 and 25 February 2016. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase|Rof32}}

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 26 February 2016. The first legs were played on 10 March, and the second legs were played on 17 March 2016. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase|Rof16}}

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 March 2016. The first legs were played on 7 April, and the second legs were played on 14 April 2016. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase|QF}}

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 April 2016. The first legs were played on 28 April, and the second legs were played on 5 May 2016. {{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase|SF}}

Final

{{#lst:2015–16 UEFA Europa League knockout phase|F}}

Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals	Minutes played
1	Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao	10	907
2	Cédric Bakambu	Villarreal	9	942
3	Kevin Gameiro	Sevilla	8	674
	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund		772
5	Raúl Bobadilla	FC Augsburg	6	412
	Erik Lamela	Tottenham Hotspur		572
7	Aboubakar Oumarou	Partizan	5	331
	Dries Mertens	Napoli		417
	José Callejón	Napoli		448
	Franco Di Santo	Schalke 04		451
	David Lafata	Sparta Prague		558
	Aleksandr Samedov	Lokomotiv Moscow		720
	Marco Reus	Borussia Dortmund		742

Source:

Top assists

Rank	Player	Team	Assists	Minutes played
1	Denis Suárez	Villarreal	6	966
2	Bořek Dočkal	Sparta Prague	5	1029
3	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	4	504
	Nolan Roux	Saint-Étienne		538
	Vitolo	Sevilla		634
	Beñat	Athletic Bilbao		733
	Henrikh Mkhitaryan	Borussia Dortmund		902
	Rafa Silva	Braga		1070
9	15 players		3	—

Source:

Squad of the Season

The UEFA technical study group selected the following 18 players as the squad of the tournament.

Pos.	Name	Team
GK	David Soria	Sevilla
	David de Gea	Manchester United
DF	Toby Alderweireld	Tottenham Hotspur
	Mats Hummels	Borussia Dortmund
	Adil Rami	Sevilla
	Mariano	Sevilla
	Darijo Srna	Shakhtar Donetsk
MF	Emre Can	Liverpool
	Gonzalo Castro	Borussia Dortmund
	Philippe Coutinho	Liverpool
	Éver Banega	Sevilla
	Grzegorz Krychowiak	Sevilla
	Steven Nzonzi	Sevilla
	Marlos	Shakhtar Donetsk
FW	Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao
	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Borussia Dortmund
	Cédric Bakambu	Villarreal
	Kevin Gameiro	Sevilla

See also

• 2015–16 UEFA Champions League
• 2016 UEFA Super Cup

External links

• 2015–16 UEFA Europa League