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

We are set to learn our opponents in the new-look UEFA Europa League when the draw takes place on Friday (12pm UK).

We're returning to the competition for the first time since 2020/21, with the tournament taking a different format to the one we last contested – the previous group stage, where teams were divided into groups of four, has now become a single 36-team league stage, where each club faces eight different teams once, four at home and four away. The top eight advance directly to the round of 16, while sides finishing from ninth to 24th will contest the knockout round play-offs, with the winners of all eight two-legged ties going through to the last 16.

For Friday’s semi-automated league stage draw, teams will be seeded in four pots based on their individual club coefficient. Each team will be drawn against two opponents from each pot, one of which will be at home and one away. We will be in pot one.

All 36 teams will be manually drawn using physical balls – each time a club is pulled out of the hat, automated computer software will randomly draw eight opponents from across the four pots. The software will also decide which matches will be at home and which ones away.

At this stage of the competition, teams cannot face opponents from their own country – meaning we can’t face Manchester United – and can only play a maximum of two sides from any other country.

Qualifying matches conclude this evening (Thursday), but here's a look at who we could face at this moment...

Pot 1: Roma, Porto, Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio
Pot 2: Olympiacos, Lyon
Pot 1 or 2: Real Sociedad, AZ
Pot 3 or 4: Malmo, Athletic Club, Hoffenheim, Nice, Twente, Ludogorets Razgrad or Petrocub, RFS or APOEL, Anderlecht or Dinamo Minsk, Besiktas or Lugano
Pot to be determined: Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, USG, Dynamo Kyiv, Bodo/Glimt, Slavia Prague, Qarabag, Midtjylland, Ajax or Jagiellonia Bialystok, LASK or FCSB, Maccabi Tel Aviv or TSC, Shamrock Rovers or PAOK, Ferencvaros or Borac Banja Luka, Molde or Elfsborg, Braga or Rapid Wien, Hearts or Viktoria Plzen

Friday’s draw will start with pot one, with opponents assigned to each of the nine included teams one after the other, meaning we will learn our opponents quite early in the draw process. This will continue for the remaining pots in descending order.

Confirmed dates and kick-off times for each game will be confirmed after the draw, potentially over the weekend. Matches are due to take place on the following 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