The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League qualifying phase began on 30 June and ended on 6 August 2015.
A total of 157 teams competed in the qualifying phase to decide which 44 teams would participate in the play-off round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, the final round before the group stage.
All draws were held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
[2] Matches could also be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of the regular Thursdays due to scheduling conflicts.
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 thirty minutes of extra time was played, divided into two fifteen-minutes halves.
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 penalty shoot-out.
[1] In the draws for each round, teams were seeded based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the teams divided into seeded and unseeded pots.
For these draws (or in any cases where the result of a tie in the previous round was not known at the time of the draw), 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 defeated opponent.
Prior to the draws, UEFA formed "groups" in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee, but they were purely for convenience of the draw and for ensuring that teams from the same association were not drawn against each other, and did not resemble any real groupings in the sense of the competition.
The 22 winners of the play-off round advanced to the group stage to join the 16 teams which entered in the group stage and the 10 losers of the Champions League play-off round.
Below are the participating teams (with their 2015 UEFA club coefficients),[5] grouped by their starting rounds.
[6] A total of 102 teams played in the first qualifying round.
Sheriff Tiraspol (2) Litex Lovech (1) St Johnstone (3) Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino (5) Koper (4) Odd (6) Kukësi (7) Víkingur Reykjavík (9) Jelgava (8) Alashkert (10) West Ham United (1) Dinamo Tbilisi (2) Spartak Trnava (3) Valletta (4) Dacia Chișinău (5) Renova (7) Gabala (6) Lusitanos (8) Olimpic (10) Newtown (9) Rosenborg (3) Shakhtyor Soligorsk (4)
Differdange 03 (2) Aberdeen (5) Víkingur Gøta (10) Shkëndija (7)
Glenavon (9) Bala Town (6) IF Elfsborg (1) Brøndby (2) Vojvodina (5) Linfield (4) St Patrick's Athletic (3) Skonto (10) MTK Budapest (7) Lahti (8)
Juvenes/Dogana (6) Hajduk Split (1) Debrecen (2) Željezničar (3) Beroe Stara Zagora (4) Beitar Jerusalem (5) Sutjeska (6) Ordabasy (7) Sillamäe Kalev (8) Atlantas (9) Balzan (10) Apollon Limassol (1) Red Star Belgrade (2) Randers (3) Rabotnicki (5) Budućnost Podgorica (4) Flora (7) Kairat (6) Saxan (8) Sant Julià (10) Spartaks Jūrmala (9) Omonia (5) Aktobe (2) Jagiellonia Białystok (3) Shamrock Rovers (4) Zrinjski Mostar (1) Nõmme Kalju (6) Shirak (8) Dinamo Batumi (7) Kruoja Pakruojis (10) Progrès Niederkorn (9)
Cork City (9) Trakai (7) Neftçi (1) Žilina (5) Strømsgodset (3) F91 Dudelange (4) Domžale (2) Čukarički (6) Mladost Podgorica (8) Glentoran (7)
Partizani (10) Slovan Bratislava (2) Śląsk Wrocław (1) Botoșani (4) Lokomotiva Zagreb (3) Birkirkara (6) Vaduz (5) Celje (8) Ulisses (7) Tskhinvali (12) La Fiorita (10) Airbus UK Broughton (11) Europa (9) The first legs were played on 30 June and 2 July, and the second legs were played on 7 and 9 July 2015.
3–3 on aggregate; Mladost Podgorica won on away goals.
Slovan Bratislava[†] (2) Mladost Podgorica[†] (4) Nõmme Kalju[†] (5) Ferencváros[†] (1) Željezničar[†] (10) Lokomotiva Zagreb[†] (6)
Kukësi[†] (7) Vaduz[†] (9) Legia Warsaw (1) Rosenborg[†] (3)
Botoșani[†] (10) Beroe Stara Zagora[†] (7) Dacia Chișinău[†] (9) Shirak[†] (8) Odd[†] (4) Omonia[†] (5) Thun (3) Kairat[†] (2) Vojvodina[†] (1) Alashkert[†] (8) Jagiellonia Białystok[†] (9) Shamrock Rovers[†] (7) Hapoel Be'er Sheva (6) Spartaks Jūrmala[†] (10) Trabzonspor (3) IF Elfsborg[†] (6) Charleroi (5) Shakhtyor Soligorsk[†] (4) Gabala[†] (2) Jelgava[†] (1) Randers[†] (8) Wolfsberger AC (12) Differdange 03[†] (9) Rabotnicki[†] (10) Beitar Jerusalem[†] (7) Čukarički[†] (11) West Ham United[†] (3) Rijeka (4) Hajduk Split[†] (6) Apollon Limassol[†] (5) Dinamo Minsk (2) Mladá Boleslav (1) Strømsgodset[†] (10) Aberdeen[†] (12) Koper[†] (8) Trakai[†] (7) Birkirkara[†] (9) Cherno More (11) Copenhagen (3) Astra Giurgiu (2) Śląsk Wrocław[†] (5) Debrecen[†] (6) Spartak Trnava[†] (4)
IFK Göteborg (7) Inter Baku[†] (10) Linfield[†] (12) Newtown[†] (9) Skonto[†] (8) Inverness CT (11) The first legs were played on 16 July, and the second legs were played on 21 and 23 July 2015.
1–1 on aggregate; West Ham United won 5–3 on penalties.
Bordeaux (1) Zürich (3) Aberdeen[†] (5) Vorskla Poltava (4) Dinamo Minsk[†] (6) Žilina[†] (7) AEK Larnaca (8) İstanbul Başakşehir (9) Kairat[†] (10) Copenhagen[†] (1)
Saint-Étienne (2) Belenenses (4) Rosenborg[†] (6) Thun[†] (5) Jablonec (8) IFK Göteborg[†] (7) Debrecen[†] (9) Spartak Trnava[†] (10) Târgu Mureș (12) Vaduz[†] (11) Rubin Kazan (1) Legia Warsaw[†] (2) Sampdoria (3) Southampton (4) IF Elfsborg[†] (5) Zorya Luhansk (6) Vitesse (7) Sturm Graz (8) Charleroi[†] (9) Vojvodina[†] (10) Odd[†] (11) Kukësi[†] (12) Borussia Dortmund (6) Standard Liège (5) Slovan Liberec (3) West Ham United[†] (4) Apollon Limassol[†] (2) Atromitos (1) Astra Giurgiu[†] (7)
Ironi Kiryat Shmona (10) Wolfsberger AC[†] (9) Željezničar[†] (11) Gabala[†] (12) Athletic Bilbao (3) Trabzonspor[†] (2) Vitória de Guimarães (1) Krasnodar (4) Hajduk Split[†] (5) Omonia[†] (6) Slovan Bratislava[†] (7) Strømsgodset[†] (11) Brøndby[†] (9) Inter Baku[†] (10) Rheindorf Altach (8) Rabotnicki[†] (12) The first legs were played on 29 and 30 July, and the second legs were played on 6 August 2015.