The Europa League and Conference League group-stage draws will see Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea and Rangers discover their opponents for the opening round of the 2024/25 editions.
When is the draw?
The 2024/25 Europa League and Conference League group-stage draws will take place at 12pm (BST) on Friday August 30 in Monaco.
Olympiakos won last year’s Conference League, becoming the first Greek team to win a European competition
Who are in the Europa League and Conference League draws?
Twelve teams qualified automatically for this year’s Europa League via their 2023/24 league position, while 12 teams booked their places via the play-offs. Eleven losers from the Champions League play-offs will enter the competition and the final spot goes to Conference League winners, Olympiakos.
The 12 teams eliminated in the Europa League play-offs dropped into the Conference League, with the other remaining 24 sides coming from the Conference League qualifiers.
Europa League
Pot One: AS Roma, Manchester United, Porto, Ajax, Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio, Tottenham, Slavia Prague
Pot Two: Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar, Braga, Olympiakos, Lyon, PAOK, Fenerbahce, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Ferencvaros
Pot Three: Qarabag, Galatasaray, Viktoria Plzen, Bodo/Glimt, Union SG, Dynamo Kyiv, Ludogorets, Midtjylland, Malmo
Pot Four: Athletic Club, Hoffenheim, Nice, Anderlecht, Twente, Besiktas, FK RFS, Steaua Bucharest, Elfsborg
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Conference League
Chelsea scraped through to Conference League group stages after a 3-2 aggregate victory despite a 2-1 defeat in Servette.
Chelsea have booked their place in the Conference League
Hearts‘ hopes of making it into the Europa League were dashed after they suffered a fifth defeat in a row, losing their play-off tie against Viktoria Plzen 2-0 on aggregate.
The Edinburgh side – trailing 1-0 from the first leg in the Czech Republic a week earlier – were in the tie until the 76th minute of the second leg at Tynecastle, when Lukas Cerv’s strike sucked the life out of the hosts’ challenge.
Steven Naismith’s beleaguered side – who have now failed to win any of their opening six matches this season – at least have the consolation of knowing they will parachute into the UEFA Conference League group stage draw.
Hearts failed to progress in the Europa League
Northern Ireland will have a team in the league stage of the European competitions for the first time. Larne secured a place in the league stage of the Conference League by eliminating Lincoln Red Imps.
Wales too will have a representative in the group/league stage of the European competitions for the first time after The New Saints secured a Conference League spot by eliminating Panevezys.
Shamrock Rovers’ hopes of a Europa League pool-stage place were predictably ended by Greek opponents PAOK.
Trailing 4-0 after the first leg in Greece, Rovers went down to a 2-0 home defeat following second-half goals from Magomed Ozdoev and Kiril Despodov, and they now go into the Conference League group draw.
Pot One: Chelsea, Copenhagen, Gent, Fiorentina, LASK, Real Betis
Pot Two: Istanbul Basaksehir, Molde, Legia Warsaw, Heidenheim, Djurgarden, APOEL Nicosia
Pot Three: Rapid Vienna, Omonia Nicosia, HJK Helsinki, Vitoria, Astana, Olimpija Ljubljana
Pot Four: Cercle Brugge, Shamrock Rovers, The New Saints, Lugano, Mlada Boleslav, Hearts
Pot Five: Petrocub, St Gallen, Panathinaikos, TSC Backa Topola, Borac Banja Luka, Jagiellonia
Pot Six: Celje, Larne, Dinamo Minsk, Pafos, Vikingur Reykjavik, Noah
How will the draws work?
Like the Champions League, the Europa League and Conference League will see the number of teams expanded from 32 to 36. The biggest change sees a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
In the Europa League, every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.
In the Conference League though, each side will face six different teams (three home games, three away).
In both tournaments, the top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the last 16 of the competition.
Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.
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When are the group stage games?
Europa League
Matchday 1: September 25/26
Matchday 2: October 3
Matchday 3: October 24
Matchday 4: November 7
Matchday 5: November 28
Matchday 6: December 12
Matchday 7: January 23, 2025
Matchday 8: January 30, 2025
Conference League
Matchday 1: October 3
Matchday 2: October 24
Matchday 3: November 7
Matchday 4: November 28
Matchday 5: December 12
Matchday 6: December 19
Manchester United won the Europa League back in 2017
The key dates
The 2024/25 Europa League final will take place on May 21, 2025 at the Estadio de San Mames in Bilbao, while the Conference League final is scheduled for May 28, 2025 at Stadion Wroclaw in Poland.
Europa League
Knockout round play-offs: February 13 & 20, 2025
Round of 16: March 6 & 13, 2025
Quarter-finals: April 10 & 17, 2025
Semi-finals: May 1 & 8, 2025
Final: May 21, 2025 (Estadio de San Mames, Spain)
Conference League
Knockout round play-offs: February 13 & 20, 2025
Round of 16: March 6 & 13, 2025
Quarter-finals: April 10 & 17, 2025
Semi-finals: May 1 & 8, 2025
Final: May 28, 2025 (Stadion Wroclaw, Poland)
