The full Europa League draw
Lyon and Nice are fixed! The day after the Champions League draw, the Europa League draw has given its verdict for OL and OGCN, the two French clubs involved in the competition. If the Gones were relatively spared, with Frankfurt in particular on the menu, the Aiglons will have a lot to do against Real Sociedad and Lazio Rome.
- OL’s opponents: Frankfurt, Olympiakos, Ludogorets and Besiktas at home; Glasgow Rangers, Fenerbahçe, Qarabag and Hoffenheim away.
- OGCN’s opponents: Glasgow Rangers, Real Sociedad, Bodo/Glimt and Twente at home; Lazio Rome, Ferencvaros, Union Saint-Gilloise and Elfsborg away.
Everything you need to know about the draw
A new formula in the Europa League!
This year, the reform of the Champions League and the Europa League, desired by UEFA, comes into force. In this new format, there will no longer be 32 teams divided into eight groups but 36 classified in a single pool. Each club will face eight opponents, two from each of the four pots.
At the end of this first phase, known as the “league phase”, the top eight will qualify directly for the round of 16 of the competition. The next sixteen will face off in the play-offs, while the last twelve will be definitively eliminated and will therefore no longer be transferred to the Europa League.
Hats are known
While there will be four in the Champions League (PSG, Monaco, Brest and Lille), this season there will only be two Ligue 1 teams on deck in the Europa League: Olympique Lyonnais and OGC Nice. For this draw for the league phase, the Gones are in pot 2 while the Aiglons are in pot 4.
- Hat 1: AS Roma, Manchester United, FC Porto, Glasgow Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Tottenham, Lazio Rome, Slavia Prague, Ajax Amsterdam.
- Hat 2: Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos;, Olympique Lyonnais, Fenerbahçe, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Qarabag, Galatasaray, Braga.
- Hat 3: Bodo/Glimt, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dynamo kyiv, Ludogorets Razgrad, Midtjylland, Malmö, PAOK Salonika, Viktoria Plzen, Ferencvaros.
- Hat 4: Athletic Bilbao, Hoffenheim, OGC Nice, Anderlecht, Twente, Besiktas, Riga, Elfsborg, Steaua Bucharest.
An automated draw
Unlike previous years, the draw for this new edition of the Europa League will be carried out by a computer. Doing it manually would have been too long and far too complicated. So UEFA called on the company AE Live to automate it, while still respecting a few criteria.
Rule #1: No club will be able to face a team from its own league. Rule #2: A club will not be able to challenge more than two teams from the same league. Olympique Lyonnais, for example, will not be able to meet OGCN Nice, nor face three Spanish, English, German or Italian opponents.
On which channel and at what time can I watch the draw?
The draw for the first phase of the Europa League will take place this Friday, August 30 in Monaco, starting at 1 p.m. It should last between 30 and 40 minutes. It will be broadcast live on Canal+ Foot, the Canal group having obtained all the TV rights for the three European cups, but also on the UEFA website.
