2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage

The 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League group stage began on 20 September 2023 and ended on 14 December 2023. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide 8 of the 16 places in the knockout phase of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League.

All teams besides AZ, Ballkani, Bodø/Glimt, Fiorentina, Gent, HJK, Maccabi Tel Aviv, PAOK, Slovan Bratislava and Zorya Luhansk made their debut appearances in the group stage. Breiðablik, Čukarički, , Olimpija Ljubljana and Zrinjski Mostar made their debut appearances in a UEFA competition group stage. Breiðablik, KÍ and Zrinjski Mostar were the first teams from Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Bosnia and Herzegovina, respectively, to play in a UEFA competition group stage. Breiðablik also became the first ever team to qualify for the group stages of a UEFA club competition after starting in a preliminary round.

A total of 28 national associations were represented in the group stage.

This was the final season with the group stage format, which was replaced by the league phase format starting from the next season.

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 1 September 2023, 14:30 CEST, in Monaco. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots, each of eight teams, based on their 2023 UEFA club coefficients. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Prior to the draw, UEFA formed pairings of teams from the same association, including those playing in the Europa League group stage (one pairing for associations with two or three teams, two pairings for associations with four or five teams), based on television audiences, where one team was into Groups A–D and another team was drawn into Groups E–H, so that the two teams would have different kick-off times. The following pairings were announced by UEFA after the group stage teams were confirmed (the second team in a pairing marked by UEL played in the Europa League group stage):

Teams

Below were the participating teams (with their 2023 UEFA club coefficients), grouped by their seeding pot. They included:

Key to colours
Group winners advanced directly to round of 16
Group runners-up advanced to knockout round play-offs
Pot 1
Team Notes Coeff.
Eintracht Frankfurt 77.000
Dinamo Zagreb 55.000
Club Brugge 54.000
AZ 47.500
Gent 37.500
Fenerbahçe 30.000
Lille 30.000
Ferencváros 27.000
Pot 2
Team Notes Coeff.
PAOK 25.000
Slovan Bratislava 24.500
Maccabi Tel Aviv 24.000
Viktoria Plzeň 22.000
Aston Villa 21.914
Ludogorets Razgrad 21.000
Fiorentina 20.000
Bodø/Glimt 20.000
Pot 3
Team Notes Coeff.
Genk 18.000
Zorya Luhansk 16.000
Astana 14.000
Beşiktaş 14.000
HJK 11.000
Legia Warsaw 11.000
Spartak Trnava 10.500
Olimpija Ljubljana 9.000
Pot 4
Team Notes Coeff.
Zrinjski Mostar 8.500
8.000
Aberdeen 8.000
Čukarički 6.475
Lugano 6.335
Breiðablik 6.000
Nordsjælland 5.565
Ballkani 3.000

Notes

  1. ECL-CP Winners of play-off round (Champions Path).
  2. ECL-MP Winners of play-off round (Main Path).
  3. EL-PO Losers of Europa League play-off round

Format

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The winners of each group advanced to the round of 16, while the runners-up advanced to the knockout round play-offs. The third-placed and fourth-placed teams were eliminated from European competitions for the season.

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see Article 16 Equality of points – group stage, Regulations of the UEFA Europa Conference League):

  1. Points in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among the tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Away goals scored in all group matches;
  8. Wins in all group matches;
  9. Away wins in all group matches;
  10. Disciplinary points (direct red card = 3 points; double yellow card = 3 points; single yellow card = 1 point);
  11. UEFA club coefficient.

Groups

The fixtures were announced on 2 September 2023, the day after the draw. The matches were played on 20–21 September, 5 October, 26 October, 9 November, 30 November and 14 December 2023. The scheduled kick-off times were 18:45 and 21:00 CET/CEST, with possible exceptions at 16:30 CET/CEST due to geographical reasons.

Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification LOSC SLO LJU
1 Lille 6 4 2 0 10 2 +8 14 Advance to round of 16 2–1 2–0 3–0
2 Slovan Bratislava 6 3 1 2 8 7 +1 10 Advance to knockout round play-offs 1–1 1–2 2–1
3 Olimpija Ljubljana 6 2 0 4 4 9 −5 6 0–2 0–1 2–0
4 6 1 1 4 5 9 −4 4 0–0 1–2 3–0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Lille 2–0 Olimpija Ljubljana
Report
Attendance: 13,817
Referee: Joey Kooij (Netherlands)
Slovan Bratislava 2–1
Report
Attendance: 12,454
Referee: Christian-Petru Ciochirca (Austria)

Olimpija Ljubljana 0–1 Slovan Bratislava
Report
0–0 Lille
Report
Attendance: 2,191
Referee: Elchin Masiyev (Azerbaijan)

Lille 2–1 Slovan Bratislava
Report
Attendance: 19,610
Referee: Luca Pairetto (Italy)
3–0 Olimpija Ljubljana
Report
Attendance: 1,121
Referee: Harm Osmers (Germany)

Slovan Bratislava 1–1 Lille
Report
Attendance: 21,544
Referee: Gergő Bogár (Hungary)
Olimpija Ljubljana 2–0
Report
Attendance: 2,296
Referee: Philip Farrugia (Malta)

Olimpija Ljubljana 0–2 Lille
Report
Attendance: 4,053
1–2 Slovan Bratislava
Mikkelsen 17' Report Kucka 24', 62'
Attendance: 1,249

Slovan Bratislava 1–2 Olimpija Ljubljana
Report
Attendance: 14,387
Referee: Arda Kardeşler (Turkey)
Lille 3–0
Report
Attendance: 20,061
Referee: António Nobre (Portugal)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification MTA GNT ZOR BRE
1 Maccabi Tel Aviv 6 5 0 1 14 9 +5 15 Advance to round of 16 3–1 3–2 3–2
2 Gent 6 4 1 1 16 7 +9 13 Advance to knockout round play-offs 2–0 4–1 5–0
3 Zorya Luhansk 6 2 1 3 10 11 −1 7 1–3 1–1 4–0
4 Breiðablik 6 0 0 6 5 18 −13 0 1–2 2–3 0–1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Maccabi Tel Aviv 3–2 Breiðablik
Report
Attendance: 18,558
Referee: Vitālijs Spasjoņņikovs (Latvia)
Zorya Luhansk 1–1 Gent
Report
Attendance: 539
Referee: Daniele Chiffi (Italy)

Breiðablik 0–1 Zorya Luhansk
Report
Gent 2–0 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Report
Attendance: 10,503

Gent 5–0 Breiðablik
Report
Attendance: 9,907
Referee: Robertas Valikonis (Lithuania)

Breiðablik 2–3 Gent
Report
Attendance: 1,211
Referee: Julian Weinberger (Austria)
Zorya Luhansk 1–3 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Report
Attendance: 763

Maccabi Tel Aviv 3–2 Zorya Luhansk
Report
Attendance: 0
Referee: Lukas Fähndrich (Switzerland)

Breiðablik 1–2 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Eyjólfsson 61' Report
Attendance: 629
Referee: Luka Bilbija (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Gent 4–1 Zorya Luhansk
Report Nahnoinyi 82'
Attendance: 10,303
Referee: Evangelos Manouchos (Greece)

Maccabi Tel Aviv 3–1 Gent
Report
Attendance: 0
Zorya Luhansk 4–0 Breiðablik
Report
Attendance: 442
Referee: Tomáš Klíma (Czech Republic)

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PLZ DZG AST BAL
1 Viktoria Plzeň 6 6 0 0 9 1 +8 18 Advance to round of 16 1–0 3–0 1–0
2 Dinamo Zagreb 6 3 0 3 10 5 +5 9 Advance to knockout round play-offs 0–1 5–1 3–0
3 Astana 6 1 1 4 4 13 −9 4 1–2 0–2 0–0
4 Ballkani 6 1 1 4 3 7 −4 4 0–1 2–0 1–2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. Ranked on head-to-head points: Astana 4, Ballkani 1.
Viktoria Plzeň 1–0 Ballkani
Report
Attendance: 9,562
Referee: Damian Sylwestrzak (Poland)
Dinamo Zagreb 5–1 Astana
Report
Attendance: 10,005

Astana 1–2 Viktoria Plzeň
Tomasov 51' Report
Attendance: 24,421
Referee: Gustavo Correia (Portugal)
Ballkani 2–0 Dinamo Zagreb
Report
Attendance: 9,654
Referee: Atilla Karaoğlan (Turkey)

Ballkani 1–2 Astana
Report
Attendance: 7,208
Referee: Vasilios Fotias (Greece)
Dinamo Zagreb 0–1 Viktoria Plzeň
Report
Attendance: 8,407

Astana 0–0 Ballkani
Report
Attendance: 15,337
Referee: Balázs Berke (Hungary)
Viktoria Plzeň 1–0 Dinamo Zagreb
Report
Attendance: 11,084

Astana 0–2 Dinamo Zagreb
Report
Attendance: 20,313
Ballkani 0–1 Viktoria Plzeň
Report Šulc 81'
Attendance: 2,200
Referee: Marian Barbu (Romania)

Viktoria Plzeň 3–0 Astana
Report
Attendance: 8,135
Dinamo Zagreb 3–0 Ballkani
Report

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BRU BOD BEŞ LUG
1 Club Brugge 6 5 1 0 15 3 +12 16 Advance to round of 16 3–1 1–1 2–0
2 Bodø/Glimt 6 3 1 2 11 8 +3 10 Advance to knockout round play-offs 0–1 3–1 5–2
3 Beşiktaş 6 1 1 4 7 14 −7 4 0–5 1–2 2–3
4 Lugano 6 1 1 4 6 14 −8 4 1–3 0–0 0–2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. Ranked on head-to-head goal difference: Beşiktaş +1, Lugano –1.
Club Brugge 1–1 Beşiktaş
Report
Attendance: 18,442
Lugano 0–0 Bodø/Glimt
Report
Attendance: 1,384
Referee: David Šmajc (Slovenia)

Bodø/Glimt 0–1 Club Brugge
Report
Attendance: 7,481
Referee: Ondřej Berka (Czech Republic)
Beşiktaş 2–3 Lugano
Report
Attendance: 24,648
Referee: David Fuxman (Israel)

Lugano 1–3 Club Brugge
Report
Attendance: 4,037
Bodø/Glimt 3–1 Beşiktaş
Report
Attendance: 7,115
Referee: Nenad Minaković (Serbia)

Beşiktaş 1–2 Bodø/Glimt
Report
Attendance: 17,314
Referee: Sander van der Eijk (Netherlands)
Club Brugge 2–0 Lugano
Report
Attendance: 16,493

Bodø/Glimt 5–2 Lugano
Report
Attendance: 6,295
Referee: Dario Bel (Croatia)
Beşiktaş 0–5 Club Brugge
Report
Attendance: 13,021
Referee: David Šmajc (Slovenia)

Club Brugge 3–1 Bodø/Glimt
Report
Attendance: 15,835
Referee: Anastasios Papapetrou (Greece)
Lugano 0–2 Beşiktaş
Report
Attendance: 5,476

Group E

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AVL LEG AZ ZRI
1 Aston Villa 6 4 1 1 12 7 +5 13 Advance to round of 16 2–1 2–1 1–0
2 Legia Warsaw 6 4 0 2 10 6 +4 12 Advance to knockout round play-offs 3–2 2–0 2–0
3 AZ 6 2 0 4 7 12 −5 6 1–4 1–0 1–0
4 Zrinjski Mostar 6 1 1 4 6 10 −4 4 1–1 1–2 4–3
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Legia Warsaw 3–2 Aston Villa
Report
Attendance: 27,801
Referee: Evangelos Manouchos (Greece)
Zrinjski Mostar 4–3 AZ
Report

AZ 1–0 Legia Warsaw
Report
Attendance: 14,239
Referee: Nenad Minaković (Serbia)
Aston Villa 1–0 Zrinjski Mostar
Report
Attendance: 37,327
Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland)

AZ 1–4 Aston Villa
Report
Attendance: 16,633
Zrinjski Mostar 1–2 Legia Warsaw
Report
Attendance: 6,300
Referee: Andrei Chivulete (Romania)

Legia Warsaw 2–0 Zrinjski Mostar
Report
Aston Villa 2–1 AZ
Report
Attendance: 35,156
Referee: Luis Godinho (Portugal)

AZ 1–0 Zrinjski Mostar
Pavlidis 59' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 17,132
Referee: Oleksiy Derevinskyi (Ukraine)
Aston Villa 2–1 Legia Warsaw
Report Muçi 20'
Attendance: 37,866

Legia Warsaw 2–0 AZ
Report
Zrinjski Mostar 1–1 Aston Villa
Report
Attendance: 6,610
Referee: Balázs Berke (Hungary)

Group F

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification FIO FER GNK ČUK
1 Fiorentina 6 3 3 0 14 6 +8 12 Advance to round of 16 2–2 2–1 6–0
2 Ferencváros 6 2 4 0 9 6 +3 10 Advance to knockout round play-offs 1–1 1–1 3–1
3 Genk 6 2 3 1 8 5 +3 9 2–2 0–0 2–0
4 Čukarički 6 0 0 6 2 16 −14 0 0–1 1–2 0–2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Genk 2–2 Fiorentina
Report
Attendance: 11,243
Ferencváros 3–1 Čukarički
Report

Fiorentina 2–2 Ferencváros
Report
Attendance: 20,367
Referee: Daniel Schlager (Germany)
Čukarički 0–2 Genk
Report
Attendance: 2,447
Referee: Adam Ladebäck (Sweden)

Genk 0–0 Ferencváros
Report
Fiorentina 6–0 Čukarički
Report
Attendance: 15,357
Referee: Chrysovalantis Theouli (Cyprus)

Ferencváros 1–1 Genk
Report
Čukarički 0–1 Fiorentina
Report
Attendance: 3,402
Referee: Robert Schröder (Germany)

Fiorentina 2–1 Genk
Report Kayembe 45'
Attendance: 16,666
Referee: Joey Kooij (Netherlands)
Čukarički 1–2 Ferencváros
Adžić 11' Report
Attendance: 1,389
Referee: Mohammed Al-Emara (Finland)

Genk 2–0 Čukarički
Report
Attendance: 10,423
Referee: Trustin Farrugia Cann (Malta)
Ferencváros 1–1 Fiorentina
Report
Attendance: 20,657
Referee: Luis Godinho (Portugal)

Group G

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PAOK FRA ABE HJK
1 PAOK 6 5 1 0 16 10 +6 16 Advance to round of 16 2–1 2–2 4–2
2 Eintracht Frankfurt 6 3 0 3 11 7 +4 9 Advance to knockout round play-offs 1–2 2–1 6–0
3 Aberdeen 6 1 3 2 10 10 0 6 2–3 2–0 1–1
4 HJK 6 0 2 4 7 17 −10 2 2–3 0–1 2–2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Eintracht Frankfurt 2–1 Aberdeen
Report
Attendance: 55,500
Referee: Chrysovalantis Theouli (Cyprus)
HJK 2–3 PAOK
Report
Attendance: 8,532
Referee: Marian Barbu (Romania)

PAOK 2–1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Report
Attendance: 21,549
Referee: Simone Sozza (Italy)
Aberdeen 1–1 HJK
Report
Attendance: 16,316

Eintracht Frankfurt 6–0 HJK
Report
Attendance: 55,500
Referee: Viktor Kopiyevskyi (Ukraine)
Aberdeen 2–3 PAOK
Report
Attendance: 16,089
Referee: Sebastian Gishamer (Austria)

PAOK 2–2 Aberdeen
Report
Attendance: 19,019
Referee: Juxhin Xhaja (Albania)
HJK 0–1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Report
Attendance: 10,121
Referee: Pierre Gaillouste (France)

HJK 2–2 Aberdeen
Report
Attendance: 9,053
Referee: Genc Nuza (Kosovo)
Eintracht Frankfurt 1–2 PAOK
Report
Attendance: 58,000
Referee: Damian Sylwestrzak (Poland)

PAOK 4–2 HJK
Report
Attendance: 13,696
Referee: Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia)
Aberdeen 2–0 Eintracht Frankfurt
Report
Attendance: 14,474
Referee: Miguel Nogueira (Portugal)

Group H

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification FEN LUD NOR TRN
1 Fenerbahçe 6 4 0 2 13 11 +2 12 Advance to round of 16 3–1 3–1 4–0
2 Ludogorets Razgrad 6 4 0 2 11 11 0 12 Advance to knockout round play-offs 2–0 1–0 4–0
3 Nordsjælland 6 3 1 2 17 7 +10 10 6–1 7–1 1–1
4 Spartak Trnava 6 0 1 5 3 15 −12 1 1–2 1–2 0–2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. Tied on head-to-head results. Overall goal difference used as a tiebreaker.
Ludogorets Razgrad 4–0 Spartak Trnava
Report
Attendance: 6,358
Referee: Genc Nuza (Kosovo)
Fenerbahçe 3–1 Nordsjælland
Report
Attendance: 36,130
Referee: Gergő Bogár (Hungary)

Nordsjælland 7–1 Ludogorets Razgrad
Report
Attendance: 4,069
Referee: Juxhin Xhaja (Albania)
Spartak Trnava 1–2 Fenerbahçe
Report

Fenerbahçe 3–1 Ludogorets Razgrad
Report
Spartak Trnava 0–2 Nordsjælland
Report
Attendance: 12,539
Referee: Allard Lindhout (Netherlands)

Nordsjælland 1–1 Spartak Trnava
Report
Attendance: 5,262
Referee: Mohammed Al-Emara (Finland)
Ludogorets Razgrad 2–0 Fenerbahçe
Report
Attendance: 10,363
Referee: Ondřej Berka (Czech Republic)

Nordsjælland 6–1 Fenerbahçe
Report Batshuayi 43'
Attendance: 7,323
Referee: Jérémie Pignard (France)
Spartak Trnava 1–2 Ludogorets Razgrad
Daniel 78' Report
Attendance: 10,158
Referee: Vitālijs Spasjoņņikovs (Latvia)

Ludogorets Razgrad 1–0 Nordsjælland
Report
Attendance: 6,464
Fenerbahçe 4–0 Spartak Trnava
Report