The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
The final was played at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was contested on 15 May 2013 between Portuguese club Benfica and English club Chelsea, who entered the competition at the Round of 32 after they finished in third place in the group stage of the 2012–13 Champions League. Chelsea won the final 2–1 for their first Europa League title, making them the fourth club – after Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich – and the first English club to have won all three major European trophies at the time (UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and the Cup Winners' Cup).
For the 2012–13 edition, the following changes were made from the 2011–12 edition: The cup winners of the six top-ranked associations had direct access to the UEFA Europa League group stage. This allocation of slots has a direct impact on the qualification path, and adaptations were made to the access list in order to accommodate these changes. Matchdays 5 and 6 were no longer held on exclusive weeks, but instead were played on the same weeks as Matchdays 5 and 6 of the UEFA Champions League.
Atlético Madrid were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Rubin Kazan in the Round of 32.
Association team allocation A total of 193 teams from 53 UEFA member associations participate in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: Associations 1–6 each have three teams qualify Associations 7–9 each have four teams qualify Associations 10–51 (except Liechtenstein) each have three teams qualify Associations 52–53 each have two teams qualify Liechtenstein has one team qualify (as it organises only a domestic cup and no domestic league) The top three associations of the 2011–12 UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking each gain an additional berth Moreover, 32 teams eliminated from the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League are transferred to the Europa League (this is one fewer than usual as Tottenham Hotspur did not participate in the UEFA Champions League non-champions qualifying path due to Chelsea winning the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League) The winners of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League are given an additional entry as title holders if they do not qualify for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League or Europa League through their domestic performance. However, this additional entry is not necessary for this season since the title holders qualified for European competitions through their domestic performance.
Association ranking For the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League, the associations are allocated places according to their 2011 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 2006–07 to 2010–11.
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: – Additional berths for associations via the Fair Play ranking (Norway, Finland, Netherlands) – Additional teams transferred from the UEFA Champions League
RankAssociationTeamsNotes185.7853282.329369.436460.552553.678651.596744.7074843.883940.1291035.05031134.1661230.5501327.0001425.8241525.1411624.9001722.0001820.850 RankAssociationTeamsNotes1920.70032018.1242117.8752216.1242316.0832415.9162514.4992614.3752714.2502814.125299.124308.966318.708328.500337.749347.708357.415366.957 RankAssociationTeamsNotes376.1653386.124395.207404.957414.374424.0001433.8753443.874453.791462.790472.583482.416492.249501.416511.374521.0002530.916
Distribution Due to the following reasons, changes to the default allocation system had to be made: The title holders, Atlético Madrid, were guaranteed a place in the Europa League group stage, since they did not qualify for the Champions League. However, they also qualified for the group stage through their domestic performance, as they finished fifth in the 2011–12 La Liga and Champions League-qualified Barcelona won the 2011–12 Copa del Rey. As a result, this spot in the group stage was vacated. Only 14 losers (instead of the default 15) from the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round entered the Europa League play-off round. The following changes to the default allocation system were made to compensate for these vacated spots: The domestic cup winners of association 7 (Russia) were promoted from the play-off round to the group stage. The domestic cup winners of associations 16 and 17 (Switzerland and Israel) were promoted from the third qualifying round to the play-off round. The domestic cup winners of associations 19 and 20 (Austria and Cyprus) were promoted from the second qualifying round to the third qualifying round. The domestic cup winners of associations 33, 34, 35 and 36 (Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia and Georgia) were promoted from the first qualifying round to the second qualifying round.
Teams entering in this roundTeams advancing from previous roundTeams transferred from Champions LeagueFirst qualifying round(74 teams)17 domestic cup winners from associations 37–53 25 domestic league runners-up from associations 28–53 (except Liechtenstein) 29 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 22–51 (except Liechtenstein) 3 teams which qualified via Fair Play rankingSecond qualifying round(80 teams)16 domestic cup winners from associations 21–36 12 domestic league runners-up from associations 16–27 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 16–21 6 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 10–15 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 7–937 winners from the first qualifying roundThird qualifying round(58 teams)3 domestic cup winners from associations 18–20 6 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 10–15 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 7–9 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)40 winners from the second qualifying roundPlay-off round(62 teams)10 domestic cup winners from associations 8–17 3 domestic league third-placed teams from associations 7–9 3 domestic league fourth-placed teams from associations 4–6 3 domestic league fifth-placed teams from associations 1–329 winners from the third qualifying round14 losers from the Champions League third qualifying roundGroup stage(48 teams)Title holders 6 domestic cup winners from associations 1–7(minus the spot vacated by Atlético Madrid)31 winners from the play-off round10 losers from the Champions League play-off roundKnockout phase(32 teams)12 group winners from the group stage 12 group runners-up from the group stage8 third-placed teams from the 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: 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, either of the following teams qualify for the Europa League: The domestic cup runners-up, provided they have not yet qualified for European competitions, qualify for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier (with the earliest starting round), with the other Europa League qualifiers moved up one "place". Otherwise, 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". 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 (or as the second "lowest-placed" qualifier in cases where the cup runners-up qualify as stated above). 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 league 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 CR: Cup runners-up LC: League Cup winners 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position CL4R: League placed 4th but entered Europa League due to Champions League 4 teams per association rule P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners FP: Fair Play UCL: Transferred from the Champions League GS: Third-placed teams from the group stage PO: Losers from the play-off round Q3: Losers from the third qualifying round
Round of 32 Dynamo Kyiv Olympiacos Zenit Saint Petersburg Ajax Chelsea BATE Borisov Benfica CFR Cluj Group stage Atlético MadridTH Académica AEL Limassol Borussia Mönchengladbach Tottenham Hotspur Rubin Kazan Maribor Copenhagen Bayer Leverkusen Basel Udinese Napoli Helsingborgs IF Fenerbahçe Lyon Ironi Kiryat Shmona Panathinaikos Play-off round Newcastle United PSV Eindhoven Hapoel Tel Aviv Neftçi Levante AZ F91 Dudelange Partizan VfB Stuttgart Trabzonspor Debrecen Vaslui Lazio Atromitos Slovan Liberec Motherwell Bordeaux Midtjylland Ekranas Club Brugge Sporting CP Lokeren Śląsk Wrocław Feyenoord CSKA Moscow Dinamo București Sheriff Tiraspol Metalist Kharkiv Heart of Midlothian HJK Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Luzern Molde Third qualifying round Liverpool Marítimo PAOK Sparta Prague Athletic Bilbao Dynamo Moscow Horsens Rapid Wien Hannover 96 Arsenal Kyiv Genk Omonia Internazionale Heerenveen Steaua București Marseille Bursaspor Dundee United Second qualifying round Anzhi Makhachkala Bnei Yehuda Hajduk Split Vojvodina Metalurh Donetsk Maccabi Netanya Slaven Belupo AIK Vitesse Viktoria Plzeň Naftan Novopolotsk Široki Brijeg Eskişehirspor Mladá Boleslav Shakhtyor Soligorsk Inter Turku Asteras Tripolis Admira Wacker Mödling Legia Warsaw Sligo Rovers AGF Ried Ruch Chorzów Videoton Gent APOEL Spartak Trnava Milsami Orhei Rapid București Anorthosis Famagusta Slovan Bratislava Žalgiris St Johnstone CSKA Sofia Aalesund Skonto Young Boys Levski Sofia Tromsø Dila Gori Servette Lokomotiv Plovdiv Red Star Belgrade First qualifying round Osijek Šiauliai Aktobe Floriana Gomel Liepājas Metalurgs Eschen/Mauren Portadown Lech Poznań Daugava Daugavpils Čelik Nikšić Cliftonville Senica Metalurgi Rustavi Rudar Pljevlja Crusaders Rosenborg Torpedo Kutaisi Zeta EB/Streymur Jagodina Baku Tirana Víkingur Gøta IF Elfsborg Khazar Lankaran Teuta NSÍ Kalmar FF Inter Baku Flamurtari Jeunesse Esch Borac Banja Luka Olimpija Ljubljana Levadia Tallinn Grevenmacher Sarajevo Mura 05 Nõmme Kalju Differdange 03 JJK Celje Narva Trans FC Santa Coloma KuPS Renova Bangor City UE Santa Coloma St Patrick's Athletic Metalurg Skopje Llanelli La Fiorita Bohemians Shkëndija Cefn Druids Libertas Honvéd FH Shirak Stabæk MTK Budapest ÍBV Gandzasar Kapan MYPA Dacia Chișinău Þór Pyunik Twente Zimbru Chișinău Ordabasy Hibernians Sūduva Zhetysu Birkirkara