Straight to your inbox
While there's some prize money and silverware on the line, the real trophy is that the winner automatically qualifies for the next edition of the UEFA Champions League. English club Chelsea won last year's tournament.
The group stage was held over set match days from September to December. Knockout games are held from February 2020 to May 2020.
The final will be played on 28 May 2020 at Stadion Energa in Gdansk, Poland.
The UEFA Europa League matches are live and exclusive to Optus Sport. In addition to this Optus also holds the rights for the Euro 2020, EPL and Champions League.
Luckily for most Optus customers you can sign up to Optus Sport for free. If you're a prepaid customer there are a few criteria you'll have to check if you meet. If you aren't an Optus customer, then that's no problem and you can still sign up too.
Optus Sport is priced at $14.99/month but where you subscribe is up to you. There's the option of signing up directly to Optus Sport via the app. This allows you to stream football content to Mac, PC, iOS and Android devices, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One and Amazon Fire.
Your other option is to sign up via Fetch TV, where Optus Sport is available as an add-on. If this appeals to you but you don't have a Fetch box, you could buy a Fetch TV Mini which is the cheapest box offering. Though please note, Fetch devices purchased from Internet providers that aren't Optus aren't supported.
Optus Sport has improved significantly over the years, especially since the "Floptus" World Cup calamity. It now has a bunch of live programming, matches on demand and other football shows.
Luckily for European football fans, Optus Sport is offering Olympiacos vs Wolverhampton first leg as a Free Seat Match, which means you can watch live without having to subscribe, no strings attached.
To watch matches of the non-English teams from the Europa League in their domestic leagues, including Sevilla, AS Roma, Lazio and Wolfsburg, you will need a subscription to either Kayo Sports or beIN SPORTS CONNECT. Of the two Kayo has more content with over 50 sports.
Kayo has some cool features too, like SplitView so you can watch four games simultaneously or Kayo Minis, which are special condensed versions of games to help you catch up.
| Store | Discount | |
|---|---|---|
|
Stream Kayo Sports for 14 days FREE and no lock-in contract Take Kayo Sports' Basic or Premium plan for a spin and stream over 50 sports live completely free for 14 days. Last verified |
The Europa League is an almost identical format to the Champions League, especially as we get to the group stages. Overall there are 128 teams that will take part in the tournament, though many are eliminated during the preliminary and qualifying rounds.
Action and interest starts to pick up at the group stage which is comprised of 48 clubs. This year 26 associations are represented in the group stage. Teams are split into 12 groups of 4 and restrictions ensure clubs from the same country are separated. Again, like the Champions League a home-and-away round robin format is used too.
The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the knockout stage where things get spicy. As it's at this point the eight teams who finished third in their group from the Champions League are introduced. Atletico Madrid are the last club to win the title after being eliminated from the Champions League.
It's also here where the format gets messy. To explain simply, the 12 group winners and 12 runners-up from the Europa League group stage are paired with the 8 third-placed teams from the Champions League groups to make the round of 32. A random draw is then held and teams play over two legs on a home-and-away basis, until the final which is one match at a neutral venue.
This tournament it'll likely be hard to find a winner outside of the heavyweights. The more fancied clubs include Manchester United, Internazionale, Sevilla and AS Roma.
Image source: Kayo Sports website
Greetings from Colorado! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break.
I enjoy the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m shocked at how quick your blog loaded on my phone ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, very good blog!
Hi Janelle,
Thanks for contacting Finder and thanks for your feedback. We appreciate it! Please feel free to contact us at any time if any other questions arise.
Cheers,
Faye