Sunderland secured qualification for European competition for the first time since 1973 in May with a famous win over Chelsea at the Stadium of Light.
Excitement on Wearside continues to grow as the Europa League campaign approaches, with the draw for the league phase taking place on Friday. Here, we remind you about all the key details and what you need to know…
How does the league phase work and when will the draw be made?
The final line up will be confirmed on Thursday night, when the final legs of the qualifying play-off round are concluded. By that time, a small handful of teams will also have had their participation in the league phase confirmed due to their defeat in the final Champions League qualifying round.
Teams will then be placed into one of four pots based on their coefficient, with the seedings confirmed on the Europa League website at 7.30am BST on Friday. The draw will then take place from midday, streamed live on the Europa League website.
Each team will then be drawn against two teams from each of the four pots, playing one of those at home and one away. One important thing to note is that though Sunderland will discover their opponents on Friday, they likely won’t learn their full schedule and who they will be playing where until some time the following day. The league phase begins on Wednesday 16 September, with some round one fixtures played the following night. The following seven fixtures will then all take place on Thursday nights. Another couple of things to note: teams can face a maximum of two clubs from another nation in the league phase and none from the same association. So Sunderland can’t draw either Bournemouth or Crystal Palace at this stage. The bottom eight teams in the table at the end of the league phases are eliminated entirely, and those placed 16th to 24th go into a two-legged knockout round. The top eight earn a bye to the last 16.
So who could Sunderland face?
At the moment we don’t know what pot Sunderland will be placed in, though they are unlikely to be placed in a top pot given their lack of recent European football.
The teams already confirmed for the league phases alongside the Black Cats are as follows: Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Hoffenheim, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Rennes, Juventus, AC Milan, Real Sociedad, Celta Vigo, AZ Alkmaar, Torreense. Union Saint-Gilloise, Sparta Prague, Olympiacos and Sturm Graz have all now dropped in from the Champions League, with the final teams to be confirmed by Thursday night.
You can see the current scores from the first leg of the relevant games in the two tweets below…
How much revenue will Sunderland earn from the competition?
Qualifying directly for the Europa League league phase means a minimum of four money-spinning home ties that each will bring a seven-figure revenue boost of their own. Last season, playing in the league phase earned a £3.7 million payout from UEFA, with each win in the league phase worth £389,000 and each draw £130,000. English clubs also earn the biggest TV payout from UEFA as they sit top of the coefficient - and it’s estimated this could earn Sunderland an extra few million next season.
Should they make a run to the latter stages of the competition, there is potentially another £20 million in prize money on the table. It’s estimated that Spurs earned over £40 million from their win in the competition in 2024/25, and it will be the same for Aston Villa this year.
What are UEFA’s financial rules for the Europa League?
It’s important to note that European qualification doesn’t just bring reward. There are huge travelling costs to consider, and UEFA’s financial rules are strict. Clubs in European competition can only spend 70% of their revenues on first team costs, whereas those in the Premier League are able to spend 85%.
Sunderland are confident they’ll be able to meet these rules this season but it is something they have had to consider over the course of the summer. A number of Premier League clubs have broken UEFA’s rules in recent seasons, and been forced into settlement agreements as a result.
What are the Europa League squad registration rules?
This is a tough one for Sunderland. Clubs can name 25 players in their ‘List A’ squad for European qualification, but eight of those must be considered ‘homegrown’ players. Four of those must have trained with Sunderland for three years between the ages of 15 and 21, and four for a club within the same national association during the same timeframe. Clubs have to forfeit a spot for each homegrown place they cannot meet.
There is additional wriggle room for clubs as players under the age of 21 can be registered on a separate ‘List B’, providing they have been eligible to represent the club for an interrupted period of two years since the age of 15. This is the key issue for Sunderland as in the Premier League, any player under the age of 21 does not have to be registered. Though news of an imminent contract extension for Romaine Mundle eases this issue, if Sunderland recruit further between now and the end of the window as they clearly intend to then it is possible some senior players will have to be left unregistered.
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The Europa League league phase matchdays
Matchday 1: September 16-17
Matchday 2: October 15
Matchday 3: October 22
Matchday 4: November 5
Matchday 5: November 26
Matchday 6: December 10
Matchday 7: January 21
Matchday 8 – January 28
The final will take place in the Waldstadion in Frankfurt on May 26, 2027
Sunderland in the Europa League: Draw details, potential opponent updates and the key squad rules
Sunderland in the Europa League: Draw details, potential opponent updates and the key squad rules