The former UEFA Cup (Union of European Football Associations) is now called the Europa League due to the renaming of the competition to attract interest from the bigger teams. The last edition of the old structure was the 2008-2009 season, won by the Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu with his Ukrainian team Shaktar Donetsk.

A total of 192 teams from 53 UEFA associations are expected to participate in the 2009-2010 UEFA Europa League season. Each country/association will send a number of teams according to their UEFA coefficient. The top countries are England, Spain and Italy, each with 3 team spots, followed by Germany and France, each with 3 teams.

The only difference between the top 3 and these 2 are the UEFA Champions League places.

It is worth mentioning that reigning cup holders Shaktar Donetsk have a guaranteed place in the group stage, even if they are not in the right position in their country’s league, “Ukrainian Premier League”.

In addition, the top three associations in the 2008-2009 UEFA Fair Play ranking (Norway, Denmark, Scotland) each get one additional place.

The distribution is the following:

1) First qualifying round (46 teams)

2) Second qualifying round (80 teams)

3) Third qualifying round (70 teams)

4) Play-off round (76 teams)

5) Group stage (48 teams)

6) Elimination phase (32 teams)

It is worth mentioning that also the prize money increased once with the rebranding process and the new competition also got a new identity logo. The final of the Europa League will be played in Germany, Arena Hamburg on May 12, 2010