UEFA Europa League draw details – how the new format works, possible opponents

We’re set to study our opponents within the new-look UEFA Europa League when the draw takes place on Friday (12pm UK).

We’re returning to the competitors for the primary time since 2020/21, with the match taking a unique format to the one we final contested – the earlier group stage, the place groups had been divided into teams of 4, has now change into a single 36-team league stage, the place every membership faces eight completely different groups as soon as, 4 at house and 4 away. The highest eight advance on to the spherical of 16, whereas sides ending from ninth to twenty fourth will contest the knockout spherical play-offs, with the winners of all eight two-legged ties going by way of to the final 16.

For Friday’s semi-automated league stage draw, groups will probably be seeded in 4 pots based mostly on their particular person membership coefficient. Every group will probably be drawn towards two opponents from every pot, one in every of which will probably be at house and one away. We will probably be in pot one.

All 36 groups will probably be manually drawn utilizing bodily balls – every time a membership is pulled out of the hat, automated laptop software program will randomly draw eight opponents from throughout the 4 pots. The software program will even determine which matches will probably be at house and which of them away.

At this stage of the competitors, groups can not face opponents from their very own nation – which means we are able to’t face Manchester United – and might solely play a most of two sides from every other nation.

With qualifying now full, we now know the 36 taking part groups on this 12 months’s competitors. They have been cut up into the 4 pots as follows, providing you with an concept of who we might face…

Pot one: Roma (ITA), Manchester United (ENG), Porto (POR), Ajax (NED), Rangers (SCO), Frankfurt (GER), Lazio (ITA), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Slavia Prague (CZE).

Pot two: Actual Sociedad (ESP), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Braga (POR), Olympiacos (GRE), Lyon (FRA), PAOK (GRE), Fenerbahçe (TUR), Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR), Ferencváros (HUN).

Pot three: Qarabağ (AZE), Galatasaray (TUR), Viktoria Plzeň (CZE), Bodø/Glimt (NOR), Union SG (BEL), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), Ludogorets (BUL), Midtjylland (DEN), Malmö (SWE).

Pot 4: Athletic Membership (ESP), Hoffenheim (GER), Good (FRA), Anderlecht (BEL), Twente (NED), Beşiktaş (TUR), FCSB (ROU), RFS (LVA), Elfsborg (SWE).

Friday’s draw will begin with pot one, with opponents assigned to every of the 9 included groups one after the opposite, which means we are going to study our opponents fairly early within the draw course of. This can proceed for the remaining pots in descending order.

Confirmed dates and kick-off occasions for every sport will probably be confirmed after the draw, probably over the weekend. Matches are resulting from happen on the next dates…

Matchday 1: 25/26 September, 2024
Matchday 2: 3 October, 2024
Matchday 3: 24 October, 2024
Matchday 4: 7 November, 2024
Matchday 5: 28 November, 2024
Matchday 6: 12 December, 2024
Matchday 7: 23 January, 2025
Matchday 8: 30 January, 2025