Europa League Draw: Premier League Trio Learn Opponent Options Ahead of Friday's Knockout Draws
The europa league draw is scheduled for Friday at 12pm ET, with 16 teams remaining in each knockout competition and three Premier League clubs set to discover their last-16 opponents. Every side’s potential opponent has already been narrowed to two possibilities ahead of the live draws that will set the paths to the quarter-finals and beyond.
Europa League Draw: timing, seeding and format
The Europa League draw will take place on Friday at 12pm ET, followed by the Conference League draw at 1pm ET. With 16 teams left in each competition, seeded status matters: seeded teams finished in the top eight of the league phase, and the sides that did not require a play-off will be seeded, meaning they will play the second leg of their last-16 ties at home. Teams are permitted to face opponents from the same country and opponents they have already faced earlier in the competition. Every team already has just two possible opponents lined up for the next round.
Premier League clubs and their two opponent possibilities
The three English clubs remaining each know the two teams they might draw:
- Aston Villa: Celta Vigo or Lille
- Nottingham Forest: Real Betis or Midtjylland
- Crystal Palace (in the Conference League): Mainz or AEK Larnaca
With the midweek play-offs concluded, those English teams know their pair of potential opponents but do not know the exact bracket pathway until the draw is made. Crystal Palace does not have any potential English opponents in the Conference League.
Pathways and the earliest domestic meeting
The earliest two English teams could meet is in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, where a meeting between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest is the earliest possible domestic clash based on the two-way opponent lists. Exact match pairings and order of legs will be determined in the draw later on Friday.
Play-off results that shaped the last-16 fields
Several midweek play-off outcomes finalized the last-16 fields and the two-option lists:
- Celta Vigo beat PAOK 3-1 on aggregate, winning 1-0 in their Europa League play-off second leg.
- Lille recovered from losing their first leg to win 2-0 at Red Star Belgrade and progress.
- Robbie Keane's Ferencvaros overturned a one-goal first-leg deficit to win 2-0 at home and knock out Ludogorets Razgrad.
- Stuttgart, despite losing 1-0 at home to Celtic, went through 4-2 on aggregate.
Scheduling notes and what's next
The round-of-16 match schedule will be made available on Friday evening. The quarter-final match schedule is due to be confirmed on March 19, and the semi-final schedule will be communicated on April 16. Follow live coverage of the draw on Friday on the competition's website and app for real-time updates and the full bracket as it is revealed.
Details remain fixed only to the facts above; any further developments or clarifications will be determined by the outcomes of the draws and subsequent official schedule announcements.
