The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stage featured 48 teams: the 7 automatic qualifiers, the 31 winners of the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, and the 10 losing teams from the Champions League play-off round. The teams were drawn into twelve groups of four, and played each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The top two teams in each group advanced to the

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, where they were joined by the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.

Seeding

The draw for the group stage was held on 31 August 2012, 13:00

CEST CEST or cest may refer to: * Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone * Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory * Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...

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UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

), at

Grimaldi Forum The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco is a conference and congress centre located on the seafront of Monaco's eastern beach quartier, Larvotto. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra regularly perform there. This is also the ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. Teams were seeded into four pots based on their 2012

UEFA club coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in wom ...

s. The title holders,

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, were automatically seeded into Pot 1. ;Notes *th Title holder (automatically gets the top position of seeding list) *^Q Qualifiers through

*^CL-CR Losing teams from the Champions League play-off round ( Champions Route) *^CL-LR Losing teams from the Champions League play-off round ( League Route) Each group contained one team from each of the four pots, with the restriction that teams from the same national association cannot be drawn against each other. Moreover, the draw was controlled for teams from the same association in order to split the teams evenly into the two sets of groups (A–F, G–L) for maximum television coverage. The fixtures were decided after the draw. On each matchday, six groups played their matches at 19:00

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, while the other six groups played their matches at 21:05

, with the two sets of groups (A–F, G–L) alternating between each matchday. There were other restrictions, e.g., teams from the same city in general did not play at home on the same matchday (UEFA tries to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day or on consecutive days), and Russian teams did not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.

Tiebreakers

The teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings: #higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; #superior

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

from the group matches played among the teams in question; #higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; #higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; #If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1) to 4) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) to 8) apply; #superior goal difference from all group matches played; #higher number of goals scored from all group matches played; #higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons.

Groups

The matchdays were 20 September, 4 October, 25 October, 8 November, 22 November, and 6 December 2012. Times up to 27 October 2012 (matchdays 1–3) are

(

), thereafter (matchdays 4–6) times are

(

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Group A

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Notes *Note 1:

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

played their home matches at Lokomotiv Stadium,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

instead of their regular stadium,

Dynamo Stadium Dynamo Stadium or Dinamo Stadium is a stadium that often associated with the Dynamo (sports society). It may also refer to: Albania *Selman Stërmasi Stadium, Tirana, formerly "Dinamo Stadium" Belarus *Dinamo Stadium (Brest), Belarus *Dinamo Sta ...

Makhachkala Makhachkala ( rus, Махачкала, , məxətɕkɐˈla, links=yes),; av, Махӏачхъала, Maħaçqala; ce, ХӀинжа-ГӀала, Hinƶa-Ġala; az, Маһачгала, Mahaçqala; nog, Махачкала; lbe, Махачкъала; ...

, due to security issues involving the city of Makhachkala and the autonomous republic of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

Group B

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group C

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Notes *Note 2:

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintai ...

played their home matches at

GSP Stadium Gymnastic Club "The Pancyprians" Stadium (GSP Stadium) ( el, Στάδιο Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος "Τα Παγκύπρια") is a football stadium in Strovolos, Nicosia District, Cyprus. Although small by international standar ...

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

instead of their regular stadium,

Tsirion Stadium The Tsirio Stadium ( el, Τσίρειο Στάδιο) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Limassol, Cyprus. The stadium holds 13,331 people and is mostly used for football matches. It was the home ground of the three biggest clubs in Limass ...

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

Group D

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group E

;

Tiebreakers In games and sports, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests. General operation In matches In some situations, the tiebreaker may consi ...

*Stuttgart are ranked ahead of Copenhagen on head-to-head points. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group F

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group G

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Notes *Note 3: The Sporting CP v Videoton match, originally scheduled to take place on 6 December 2012, 21:05 CET, was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. It was rescheduled to take place on 7 December 2012, 21:05 CET.

Group H

;

*Partizan are ranked ahead of Neftçi on head-to-head away goals. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Notes *Note 4: Neftçi played their home matches at

Tofiq Bahramov Stadium The Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium ( az, Tofiq Bəhramov adına Respublika Stadionu) is a multi-purpose stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. It served as the home ground for the Azerbaijan national fo ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

instead of their regular stadium, Ismat Gayibov Stadium,

Group I

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Notes *Note 5: Ironi Kiryat Shmona played their home matches at

Kiryat Eliezer Stadium The Haifa Municipal Stadium ( he, האצטדיון העירוני חיפה, ''Etztadion HaIroni Haifa''), more commonly known as Kiryat Eliezer (), was a multi-use stadium in the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. It was mostly used fo ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

instead of their regular stadium, Municipal Stadium,

Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona ( he, קִרְיַת שְׁמוֹנָה, ''lit.'' Town of the Eight) is a city in the Northern District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley near the Lebanese border. The city was named after the eight people, includi ...

. *Note 6: The Ironi Kiryat Shmona v Athletic Bilbao match, originally scheduled to take place on 22 November 2012, 19:00 CET, was postponed by UEFA on 21 November due to the ongoing security situation in Israel. It was rescheduled to take place on 28 November 2012, 19:00 CET.

Group J

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Group K

;

*Metalist Kharkiv are ranked ahead of Bayer Leverkusen on head-to-head points. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ;Notes *Note 7:

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

played their home matches at

Ernst-Happel-Stadion Ernst-Happel-Stadion (), known as Praterstadion until 1992, sometimes also called Wiener-Stadion, is a football stadium in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. With 50,865 seats, it is the largest stadium in Austria. It wa ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

instead of their regular stadium,

Gerhard-Hanappi-Stadion The Gerhard-Hanappi-Stadion was a football stadium in Hütteldorf, in the west of Vienna, Austria. It was the home ground of Rapid Vienna. It was officially opened in 1977 as ''"Weststadion"'' (Western stadium). In 1980 it was renamed to honour i ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. *Note 8: The Rapid Wien v Rosenborg match was played behind closed doors due to the punishment handed to Rapid Wien by UEFA following incidents at their play-off round first leg against PAOK on 23 August 2012.

Group L

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

References

External links

2012–13 UEFA Europa League
UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Uefa Europa League Group Stage *2 2012-13