Our second draw of the night is underway in Monaco. The fourth edition of the UEFA Conference League draw.
A reminder that Chelsea are in Pot One, so we should know right off the bat who they’ll be up against this year.
But before that, we’re taken back to the drama of last years’ campaign, where Olympiacos triumphed, having bested Aston Villa in the semi-final.
There we have it. A much speedier affair than usual thanks to the button that instantly generates the fixtures.
Manchester United have been handed a reunion with Jose Mourinho as they go away to his Turkish Super Lig club, Fenerbahce.
Spurs will face their toughest tests against Rangers and Roma.
And Rangers will have to play both of the above.
More of a revolution than a revamp. From this season, the competition will adopt the ‘Swiss Model’. There will be one league of 36 teams. Each team will be drawn to play eight matches against different opponents, half at home and half away.
Uefa will trot out the usual line about evolving the competition. But the bottom line is that there are four more teams in the group stages and each club gets two more games. More TV broadcasting money, more gate receipts and more supporters travelling across the continent.
The format does allow for more big-hitters playing each other in the new league-style group stage. But the top eight will automatically qualify for the round of 16, so they could secure a place early and then rest big players for important matches at the weekend. Those finishing between ninth and 24th go into two-legged play-offs. So every place counts. But if a team cannot finish in the top eight, does it matter too much who they face in the play-offs? The battle for 24th will be exciting.
Chelsea are featuring in today’s Conference League draw despite making hard work of a messy loss away to Servette in Geneva.
Christopher Nkunku put Chelsea ahead from a penalty after 14 minutes, as he had in the first leg and everything seemed set fair for a straightforward passage into the next phase.
But Servette striker Jeremy Guillemenot levelled against the run of play before the interval, and substitute Enzo Crivelli headed the hosts in front on the night after 72 minutes. Chelsea had chances to settle their nerves, but in the end they were relieved to hear the final whistle.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the Europa league and UEFA Conference League phase draws. Man Utd, Spurs and Rangers will feature in the former, which gets underway at midday. Chelsea and Hearts are among those involved in the latter, taking place just after at around 1.30pm.
In the new ‘Swiss model format’, the Europa League has been expanded to 36 teams, all of the clubs will compete against each other in one big league table rather than eight groups of four. Each team will play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away, with two opponents drawn from each of the four pots.
In the Conference League though, each side will face six different teams (three home games, three away) as the boosted 36 teams have been split into six pot.
In both tournaments, the top eight in the league 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.
As was the case with yesterday’s Champions League draw, the new system simply involves too many multiples and permutations to be done manually using bowls full of Uefa-branded, star-spangled plastic balls.
Instead, each of 36 teams will have one ball in the bowl. Each of the Pot One teams will be drawn out first, before their fixtures are spat out by a supercomputer. These will be displayed on a screen for the audience to see. With the teams in Pot Two already aware of their Pot One opponents, they will be drawn out of the bowl and their remaining six fixtures revealed. And so on, through to the last Pot.