The league phase draw for the 2026-27 Europa League takes place on Friday, 28 August at 12:00 BST in Monaco.
Much like the Champions League draw on Thursday, a total of 36 teams will enter the draw for Europe's second-tier club competition. Just 24 of those teams have been confirmed at present, with the remainder to be made up from the winners from the final round of Europa League qualifying.
In the league phase, each team will face eight different teams once, with four home matches and four away matches.
For the draw, the 36 teams will be placed into four pots, with pot one being the highest-ranked and four being the lowest. The pot placements are based on the club's Uefa club coefficient ranking from the five-season period ending at the conclusion of 2025-26.
Each team will face two teams from each of the four pots and cannot face a team from the same country as themselves.
The teams who finish in the top eight will qualify for the Europa League's round of 16. Those between ninth and 24th place will enter the play-off knockout round. The 12 teams ranked between 25th and 36th place will exit the competition when the league phase is concluded.
Who is in each pot?While the final details of who will qualify are yet to be finalised, the majority of the teams in pot one have been confirmed.
Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, AC Milan, Lyon AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Real Sociedad and Marseille will take eight of the nine pot one places.
As the highest-ranked team still in qualifying, Portuguese outfit Benfica would take the last spot, should they win against Danish side AGF.
Scottish champions Celtic are guaranteed to enter pot two, as are Dinamo Zagreb, Sparta Prague and Rennes. Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise will enter either of pot one or two, although two is more likely.
English trio Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Sunderland will all enter pot two or three, with three being the more likely outcome. Austrian side Sturm Graz will also go in one of those two pots.
Slovenian side Celje are one of two teams confirmed in pot three so far, as are La Liga's Celta Vigo.
TSG Hoffenheim, Hapoel Be'er Sheva and NEC Nijmegen will all enter either pot three or four. Torreense, who play their club football in Portugal’s second tier, will also enter either of those pots.
Bulgarian side Levski Sofia are the only team to be confirmed for a place in pot four at present.
Which teams are in each pot?Pot one
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Juventus
- AC Milan
- Lyon
- AZ Alkmaar
- Olympiakos
- Real Sociedad
- Marseille
Pot one or two
- Union Saint-Gilloise
Pot two
- Dinamo Zagreb
- Celtic
- Sparta Prague
- Rennes
Pot two or three
- Sturm Graz
- Crystal Palace
- Bournemouth
- Sunderland
Pot three
- Celje
- Celta Vigo
Pot three or four
- TSG Hoffenheim
- Torreense
- Hapoel Be'er Sheva
- NEC Nijmegen
Pot four
- Levski Sofia
Pots unconfirmed
- Winner of Trabzonspor vs Ferencvaros
- Winner of Universitatea Craiova vs Aarat-Armenia
- Winner of Sint-Truiden vs Omonia
- Winner of Red Star Belgrade vs Viktoria Plzen
- Winner of Egnatia vs Lillestrom
- Winner of Jagiellonia Bialystok vs Iberia 1999
- Winner of Mjallby AFG vs Red Bull Salzburg
- Winner of Kairat vs Anderlecht
- Winner of Lech Poznan vs Thun
- Winner of Besiktas vs Kauno Zalgiris
- Winner of Benfica vs AGF
- Winner of OFI vs CSKA Sofia
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
More questions answered...
Leave a Comment