Europa League: Why are there nine fixtures on Wednesday?
We explain why the opening round of the 2026-27 Europa League league phase kicks off on a Wednesday instead of the traditional Thursday slot.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Author: HonorTheKing
The opening round of the 2026-27 Europa League league phase begins this Wednesday evening, marking a shift from the competition's traditional Thursday night slot. While Europa League and Conference League fixtures are typically played on Thursdays, scheduling exceptions are now occasionally made to avoid fixture congestion in specific regions.
This scheduling adjustment is a result of the competition's reformatting into a league phase system, which was first introduced in the 2024-25 season. UEFA now allocates exclusive weeks for different competitions to streamline the calendar.
This week, nine of the 18 matches in match week one are taking place on Wednesday, with the remaining nine scheduled for Thursday. Teams in action on Wednesday include Sunderland, AC Milan, Benfica, and Lyon.
The Champions League also features its own exclusive week, which occurred during the opening round of fixtures, while the Conference League will have its designated week in December for the final round of the league phase.