UEFA will change the name of the Europa Conference League just TWO YEARS after the tournament’s creation – but not until the 2024-25 campaign
- Next season’s entrants, Aston Villa, will not be affected by the change in name
- Only two clubs have won the tournament – Roma in 2022, and West Ham in ’23
- UEFA also announced the venues for the finals over the next two seasons
UEFA are set to change the name of their third European competition less than two years after the creation of the Europa Conference League.
Established in 2021, Jose Mourinho’s Roma were the inaugural winners of the European tournament, which aims to give teams another route into Europa League qualification, as well as silverware and prestige.
Mourinho placed so much value in becoming the first manager to win all three European competitions, he had the three trophies of the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League inked on his bicep to commemorate the feat.
This year, West Ham hoisted the trophy aloft after beating Fiorentina 2-1 in Prague in a win that saw the Hammers clinch their first major trophy in over 40 years.
But UEFA’s ruling, which was confirmed by a vote at an executive committee meeting on Wednesday, will see future entrants compete for a different honour.
West Ham won this year’s iteration of the Europa Conference League beating Fiorentina in the final in early June
Starting from the 2024-25 season, the competition will drop ‘Europa’ to become the UEFA Conference League.
This decision, the organisation claims, has been fueled by a desire to ensure the competition can grow as a ‘stand-alone’ entity.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, UEFA said: ‘Introduced under the ‘Europa’ umbrella at the start of the 2021–24 commercial cycle, the new competition has quickly established itself amongst a broad audience after two successful seasons.
‘Research amongst fans as well as commercial partners has found that removing “Europa” from the name of the competition will enable further development as a stand-alone competition and this proposed change was approved by the UEFA Executive Committee. It will be effective in the new cycle, as of the 2024/25 season.
‘Together with the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Conference League will continue to deliver “Thursday Night Football” to fans across Europe and beyond.
‘A strong link between the competitions will remain in place as both brand identities will remain very close, and both competitions will continue to be sold to broadcast partners and sponsors together.’
The Premier League’s entrants for the 2023-24 campaign, Aston Villa, will not be impacted by the name change.
At the same conference, UEFA confirmed venues for both the 2024 final and the 2025 final.
There have only been two winners of the Europa Conference League trophy in its brief history
Unai Emery’s side may be focusing their efforts on getting to Athens, and competing in the Agia Sophia Stadium – the newly-built stadium of Super League Greece side AEK Athens.
As the stadium is yet to be used by AEK, UEFA will confirm in November whether the 32,000-capacity ground is fit for purpose.
In 2025, the final will take place at Stadion Wroclaw, the home of Polish outfit Slask Wroclaw, which has a capacity of over 45,000.
The Eden Arena, which hosted the 2023 final, was widely condemned for its 19,370 capacity, which saw a mere 4,890 tickets allocated to Hammers fan.
