Our winter break is over, and that means we're diving head first back into the Europa League.

We cover the upcoming Matchday 7 fixtures and qualification scenarios, plus share updates on each of the 36 participants since we last encountered them in December.

A surprise cheers to Oleksandr Shovkovskiy!

Well, well, well.

The final day of Conference League League play was a dramatic one. Almost every team had something to play for, and almost every game had real stakes for the final table, and thus we were rewarded with thrilling football, dramatic late results, and lots of goals!

Chelsea and Vitoria sealed their top 2 spots, Cercle Brugge snuck in with the last Round of 16 bye, while Celje, Molde, and Backa Topola all claimed thrilling come-from-behind wins to qualify for the knockouts.

Elsewhere, we say goodbye to disappointments Basaksehir, Hearts, St Gallen, and LASK, discuss our favorite parts of the Conference League Phase, and look ahead to the Playoff Knockout Round in February.

A begrudging cheers to Enzo Maresca!

It's official - Lazio, Athletic Club, and Chelsea are the class of the Europa and Conference Leagues.

They may be through as Top 8 finishers in their respective competitions, but so much else is still to be decided!

In the UEL, Roma and Porto get much-needed wins, Lyon looks dangerous, and Nice is finished in our last Europa matchday roundup until January.

Elsewhere, the UECL comes to a head, with just one slate of games left to determine who advances to the knockouts. The Cypriots laid their claim to qualification spots, picking up 3 wins from 3, Shamrock miraculously remains undefeated, and Fiorentina drubs poor LASK.

All that, plus we look ahead to the deciding Conference League fixtures on December 19.

Cheers Marco Baroni!