The road to Bilbao starts soon with the draw for the Europa League group stage.
A new format has been introduced by UEFA which will see a massive shake-up take place across European football in 2024-25.
A total of 36 teams will fight it out over one massive league table in a bid to reach the knockouts.
Thursday nights have often been seen as a bit of a slog for some of the continent’s top clubs and an expanded tournament will test squads to the maximum in what promises to be an intriguing debut season for this experimental setup.
When is the Europa League draw?
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What is the new Europa League format?
Unlike in previous years when eight groups of four faced off home and away, with two qualifying for the knockouts, this year’s Europa League will feature just one league table of all 36 clubs.
Although each team will only face eight opponents, the draw is designed to provide a fair fixture list for each club based on the pot they have been drawn out of.
The top eight will qualify direct to the last-16. Clubs finishing ninth to 24th will contest an additional play-off round and those finishing 25th to 36th will be eliminated from the season’s European competitions.
This is the same format to the one being used in the Champions League and Europa Conference League. As per usual, clubs from the same association will not play each other while no team can face more than two opponents from one other country.
How does the Europa League draw work?
Four pots of nine teams will be created before the draw, based on the UEFA coefficient ranking of the 36 qualified clubs.
Each team will be manually drawn using physical balls during the sort of ceremony which fans are familiar with, starting with Pot 1.
As each team is picked out, a software programme will then randomly draw two opponents from each pot. This will then be revealed during the ceremony, along with their home-away designations.
The matchdays and kick-off times will then be formulated by UEFA and released on Saturday, August 31.
What teams are qualified for the Europa League?
The competition will be completed by the addition of 12 Europa League play-off winners later this month, plus the seven Champions League play-off losers.
Pot 1: Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma, Rangers, Lazio, Porto, Eintracht Frankfurt
Pot TBD: Real Sociedad, AZ, USG, Nice, Twente, Athletic Club, Fenerbahce, Hoffenheim
When will the Europa League fixtures be played?
Matchday 1: September 25-26, 2024
Matchday 2: October 3, 2024
Matchday 3: October 24, 2024
Matchday 4: November 7, 2024
Matchday 5: November 28, 2024
Matchday 6: December 12, 2024
Matchday 7: January 23, 2025
Matchday 8: January 30, 2025
