Europa League Draw: Round of 16 draw to set last-16 ties — europa league draw
The europa league draw takes place on Friday, with the Europa League draw scheduled from 12pm and the Conference League draw at 1pm, leaving 16 teams in each competition and three Premier League clubs still involved. Every team’s potential opponents for the next round have already been narrowed down to two possibilities.
Round of 16 draw
The Europa League and Conference League knockout draws take place on Friday with 16 teams left in each competition, including three Premier League clubs: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace. Both draws will take place on Friday, with the Europa League from 12pm and the Conference League from 1pm.
Round pairings and possibilities
Every team's potential opponents for the next round has already been narrowed down to two possibilities. Aston Villa could face Celta Vigo or Lille; Nottingham Forest will be drawn against Real Betis or Midtjylland; Crystal Palace will get Mainz or AEK Larnaca. With the midweek play-offs concluding, English teams know they will face one of two opponents but do not know their individual pathways until the draw is made.
Seeding and match order
Teams can play opponents from their own country and opponents they have already faced in the competition. However, the sides that did not require a play-off will be seeded, meaning they get to play the second leg of their last-16 ties at home. Seeded (finished top eight in the league phase).
ROUND OF 16 OPPONENTS CONFIRMED
The earliest two English teams could face each other is the quarter-finals of the Europa League between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Crystal Palace do not have any potential English opponents in the Conference League.
Play-off outcomes and routes
Several play-off results decided the remaining participants and narrowed options to two for each team. Celta Vigo beat PAOK 3-1 on aggregate, winning 1-0 in their Europa League play-off second leg. Lille bounced back from losing the first leg to win 2-0 at Red Star Belgrade. Robbie Keane's Ferencvaros overturned a one-goal first-leg deficit to win 2-0 at home and knock out Ludogorets Razgrad. Despite losing 1-0 at home to Celtic, Stuttgart also went through 4-2 on aggregate.
Every team's potential opponents remain limited to those two possibilities until the draw determines the actual fixtures.
Schedules and next steps
The round-of-16 match schedule will be available on Friday evening. The quarter-final match schedule will be confirmed on March 19, while the semi-final schedule will be communicated on April 16.
The europa league draw will determine who hosts second legs, finalise last-16 pairings and set the pathway for the quarter-finals and semi-finals across both competitions.
