The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage was played from 18 September to 11 December 2014.
A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League.
[1] The draw was held on 29 August 2014, 13:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
There are other restrictions: for example, teams from the same city in general do not play at home on the same matchday (UEFA tries to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day), and Russian teams do not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.
On 17 July 2014, the UEFA emergency panel ruled that Ukrainian and Russian clubs would not be drawn against each other "until further notice" due to the political unrest between the countries.