In a change to the format as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, each tie prior to the play-off round was played as a single-legged match hosted by one of the teams decided by draw, except for the preliminary round which was played at neutral venue. If scores were level at the end of normal time,
extra time was played, followed by a
penalty shoot-out if the scores remained tied. The play-off round ties were played over
two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the
away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out. In each draw, teams were seeded based on their 2020
UEFA club coefficients. For any team whose club coefficients were not final at the time of a draw, their club coefficients at that time, taking into account of all 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches played up to that point, were used (Regulations Article 13.03). Teams were divided into seeded and unseeded pots containing the same number of teams, and a seeded team was drawn against an unseeded team. For each tie, a draw was made between the two teams, and the first team drawn was the home team in single-legged matches (or the administrative "home" team in preliminary round matches), or home team of the first leg in play-off round two-legged ties. If the identity of the winners of the previous round was not known at the time of the draws, the seeding was carried out under the assumption that the team with the higher coefficient of an undecided tie advanced to this round, which means if the team with the lower coefficient was to advance, it simply took the seeding of its opponent. Teams from associations with political conflicts could not be drawn into the same tie. Prior to the draws, UEFA may form "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee and based on geographical, logistical and political reasons, and they were purely for convenience of the draw and did not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, all qualifying matches were played
behind closed doors. The following special rules were applicable to the qualifying phase and play-offs: • Prior to each draw, UEFA published the list of known
travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. All teams had to inform UEFA if there were other existing restrictions other than those published. If a team failed to do so as a consequence of which the match could not take place, the team was considered responsible and to have forfeited the match. • If travel restrictions imposed by the home team's country prevented the away team from entering, the home team had to propose an alternative venue that allowed the match to take place without any restrictions. Otherwise they would have been considered to have forfeited the match. • If travel restrictions imposed by the away team's country prevented the away team from leaving or returning, the home team had to propose an alternative venue that allowed the match to take place without any restrictions. Otherwise UEFA decided on a venue. • If after the draw, new restrictions imposed by either the home team's or away team's country prevented the match from taking place, the team of that country were considered to have forfeited the match. • If either team refused to play the match, they were considered to have forfeited the match. If both teams refused to play or were responsible for a match not taking place, both teams would have been disqualified. • If a team had players and/or officials tested positive for
SARS-2 coronavirus preventing them from playing the match before the deadline set by UEFA, they were considered to have forfeited the match. • In all cases, the two teams could have agreed to play the match at the away team's country or at a neutral country, subject to UEFA's approval. UEFA had the final authority to decide on a venue for any match, or to reschedule any match if necessary. • If, for any reason, the qualifying phase and play-offs could not be completed before the deadline set by UEFA, UEFA would have decided on the principles for determining the teams qualified for the group stage. Four countries (Poland, Hungary, Greece and Cyprus) had provided neutral venue hubs which allowed matches to be played at their stadiums without restrictions. ==Schedule==