Europa League - guide to the group-stage draw

Published on: 26 August 2018

Chelsea are in the Europa League for the first time since winning the competition in 2013

Arsenal and Chelsea will find out their Europa League group-stage opponents when the draw is made on Friday.

Burnley, Celtic and Rangers will join them if they overcome their play-off opponents on aggregate on Thursday.

Arsenal and Chelsea will be in pot one and cannot face each other when the draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco at 12:00 BST.

A total of 48 teams will make up the draw, split into 12 groups of four.

How does it work?

As well as Arsenal and Chelsea, pot one will also contain German club Bayer Leverkusen and Villarreal from Spain.

The 48 sides are split into four seeding pots based on their club coefficients - a ranking determined by how they have performed in Europe over the past five years - with each of the 12 groups to contain one team from each seeding tier.

Burnley will make the draw if they overturn a 3-1 deficit against Greek side Olympiakos in the second leg at Turf Moor.

Celtic host Lithuanian champions Suduva with the tie poised at 1-1, while Rangers take a 1-0 lead to Russia to face Ufa.

Clubs from the same nation cannot be drawn together at this stage.

Chelsea will play in the Europa League for the first time since winning it in 2013.

Arsenal reached the semi-finals last season before losing to eventual winners Atletico Madrid.

Teams definitely involved in the draw

Seventeen teams enter at the group stage along with the 21 winners of the play-off round.

The six losers of this week's Champions League play-off round will also feature in the group draw, as well as Standard Liege, Fenerbache, Slavia Prague and Spartak Moscow - the four teams defeated in the Champions League third qualifying round league path.

The teams definitely involved in the draw are:

England: Arsenal, Chelsea.

Germany: Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt.

Spain: Villarreal, Real Betis.

Italy: Lazio, AC Milan.

France: Marseille, Rennes.

Belgium: Anderlecht, Standard Liege.

Portugal: Sporting Lisbon.

Turkey: Fenerbahce, Akhisar Belediyespor.

Russia: Krasnodar, Spartak Moscow.

Switzerland: FC Zurich.

Ukraine: Vorskla Poltava.

Czech Republic: Slavia Prague, Jablonec.

When does the football start?

The first Europa League group stage games take place on 20 September, with clubs playing the last of their six matches on 13 December.

The knockout rounds begin in February and the final will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 29 May.

Source: bbc.com

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