The European Football Association (UEFA) will hold the draw for the 1st qualifying round of the EL in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday at 13:00. Let's see the most important information!

In which round will we join the tournament?

We ended the 2019-2020 Hungarian championship football season as a silver medalist, so we acquired the right to start the 2020-2021 season in the Europa League. Based on the country classification of Hungary, the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the OTP Bank League, as well as the winners of the Hungarian Cup, will start the international competition series in the 1st qualifying round of the EL.

EL Qualifying Round 1 Date: Thursday, August 27th.

Our club has 10,500 coefficient points gained in the previous five European Cup seasons, which means we can look forward to the draws in the 1st and 2nd qualifiers as a seeded team.

Will there be fans at Europa League matches? 

According to UEFA, until further notice, all UEFA matches will be held behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak. This means that, as it stands, our fans will unfortunately not be able to be present at the MOL Arena Sóstó or at away games. We kindly ask our fans not to book travel and accommodation after the draw on Monday, because they will not be able to get into the matches.

Of course, we hope that the relevant provision of UEFA may change in the event of an improvement in the epidemic situation. If we are notified of any changes in connection with this, we will inform our fans immediately!

What changes will be made?

The most significant change is that due to the coronavirus epidemic, the qualifiers will have to be played in a shorter time, so the matches at this stage of the Europa League 2020-2021 season will not be played in a two-legged system, but over one match, which will decide who goes through. 

The away goal scored will not be "worth more" than for the home team, so in the event of a draw in normal playing time, a 2x15 minute extra time will follow. If the match is not decided in extra time, there will be a penalty shootout.

The draw

UEFA will narrow down the list of our potential opponents on the day before the draw, ie on Sunday, so that on the draw day, we can only get an opponent from the restricted list. Given that our club is waiting for the draw as a seeded side, we will only be able to get a non-seeded opponent, and it is also certain that we will not be able to meet another Hungarian team.

UEFA will take into account the epidemiological situation in each country before the draw and will have 24 hours after the pairings have been formed to finalize the venue and time of the match. If travel restrictions do not allow the match to be played in the home team's country, the home team must host the match in a third, neutral country where no team is subject to an exclusive travel restriction.

Contrary to the practice of previous years, the draw for the 2nd qualifying round will take place after the matches of the 1st qualifying round have been played.

Possible opponents

Although the EL's 1st qualifying list has already been drawn up, it would not make much sense to list all the participating clubs, as this year, in view of the epidemiological situation, UEFA will make the reduction on the basis of a different principle. The shortlist will be posted here on our club’s official website as soon as it is available.