Europa League draw as it happened! Brighton Liverpool, and West Ham drawn in the Europa League
It's the Europa League draw and Europa Conference League draw live, as Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham and Aston Villa find out who they've got in Europe
Hello and welcome, to the Europa League draw live.
• Liverpool face LASK, Union Saint-Gilloise and Toulouse
• Brighton play Ajax, Marseille and AEK
• West Ham have got Olympiacos, Freiburg and TSC
• Rangers in a group with Real Betis, Sparta Prague and Aris Limassol
• Aston Villa have been drawn with AZ, Zrinjski and Legia Warsaw
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John O'Shea is here in Monaco for the draw
John O'Shea poses with the Europa League trophy (Image credit: Claudio Lavenia - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
With the final in Dublin next May, UEFA have wheeled out an Irish legend in the form of Big John!
UEFA competitions are changing, once and for all!
From 2024/25, the Europa League will have 36 teams competing in a group phase, just like the Champions League. Here to explain, here’s FFT’s Adam Clery…
Here are the pots for the Europa League…
Pot 1
🏴 West Ham United
🏴 Liverpool
🇮🇹 Roma
🇳🇱 Ajax
🇪🇸 Villarreal
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen
🇮🇹 Atalanta
🏴 Rangers
Owing to the format change of UEFA competitions from a group stage to a Swiss-style league format (see earlier, we got Adam to explain it), this is potentially the last time that we’ll ever see a Europa League winner defend their title.
Jose Antonio Reyes of Sevilla poses with the Europa League (Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Sevilla won three Europas in a row under Unai ‘Mr Europa’ Emery (more on him later, we’re sure) – and the Andalusian outfit could well sweep another title, should they drop into the competition from finishing third in their group. But in the immortal words of Keane, this is the last time.
Next time around, the Europa League winners will qualify for the Champions League as normal – but the Swiss-style league format won’t allow clubs to drop from the UCL to the UEL. Sorry, Sevilla!
As an aside, Jose Antonio Reyes (pictured above) would have been 40 today. Rest in peace, Jose: fitting, too, that Arsenal drew Sevilla in the Champions League yesterday.
2023/24 Europa League outright winner - Latest odds via BettingSites.co.uk
Liverpool head into this competition the favourites (Image credit: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Liverpool - 7/2
Brighton, Roma - 12/1
Villarreal - 14/1
Atalanta - 16/1
West Ham, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting Lisbon, Real Betis - 20/1
Ajax, Rennes - 25/1
SC Freiburg - 28/1
Rangers, Toulouse - 50/1
Liverpool go into this competition as the outright favourites – and for good reason, too.
According to Transfermarkt, the Reds have a squad market value of €801.30 million. That’s some €300m more than the next on the list, Bayer Leverkusen. The real Super League was the Premier League, etc. etc., blah, blah, blah.
Roma are rising from their ruins
Houssem Aouar is now at Roma (Image credit: Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
The grumpy Timelord himself is back in the competition and eyeing No.6: that’s right, Jose Mourinho and Roma are returning to the scene of the crime.
The Italian giants were beaten in last year’s final on penalties but have come back leaner, meaner and now kitted out by Adidas – alright for some. Mourinho won this competition back in 2017 with Manchester United and none of us would put it past him to mastermind yet another daring height in Europe.
We all know how these competitions work by now, right?
For the Europa and Europa Conference Leagues, there will just be eight groups of four teams each drawn today (the competition used to be much bigger). The winner of the Europa League will get a bye to the last 16 of the competition, while the runner-up will be drawn in a two-legged playoff tie against any of the eight teams who finish third in their Champions League group. The winners are then drawn against group winners of the Europa League.
That’s weird, because if you win your group, you can face a team from the group you just played in. Last time, we saw the Union derby as Saint-Gilloise topped their four-team group ahead of Berlin, only for Union Berlin to beat Ajax in their playoff and… have to play USG again in the next round. Tiresome, huh?
The same format is true of the Conference: third-placed Europa League group teams drop into the Conference League for a playoff.
So… where are Juventus today? They got a points deduction and finished seventh. Surely they should be here…
Paul Pogba in action for Juventus (Image credit: Getty Images)
Well, sorry to disappoint. The Italian powers that be took away 10 points from the Old Lady due to a violation of financial regulations, leaving them with 62 points. They would have finished comfortably in the Champions League.
Yet because they broke UEFA’s own rules, too, the expulsion from competitions is a separate punishment, allowing Fiorentina – eighth in Serie A – to compete in their place.
Spare a thought for Prishtina while the Europa Conference League draw takes place today.
Who? You heard. Prishtina. They compete in the Football Superleague of Kosovo and would have qualified for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round as the winners of the 2022/23 Kosovar Cup but for the paperwork.
You see, The Clods (no, that’s genuinely their nickname, we’re not making that – or any this – up) failed to obtain a UEFA license to compete in this competition. Their place was taken by national rivals and league runners-up Drita, who originally entered the first qualifying round. Drita’s place in the first qualifying round was given to the fourth-placed team, Dukagjini.
It’s all a moot point, anyway. Drita were beaten 2-1 on aggregate by Viktoria Plzen.
Brighton have qualified for their first-ever European campaign – and they go into the competition as one of the favourites.
Brighton are one of the favourites for the Europa League title (Image credit: Valerio Pennicino - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Roberto De Zerbi has transformed this side into one of the best teams in the Premier League, with incredible press resistance in the buildup, a renewed eye for goal up front and the seemingly shapeshifting ability to absorb the hits of selling their midfield axis of last term without conceding ground in the table.
Are Brighton too light to compete on four fronts? Or will they shock a few in the Europa?
FFT’s Chris Flanagan has made a shocking prediction about the Europa League this season.
Find out what our esteemed Senior Staff Writer thinks, along with some other bonkers ideas about Luton finishing higher up the table than you realised and Harry Kane actually being the most cursed striker ever…
Conference champs West Ham United are in the Europa League once more – and looking to be the first to complete a unique achievement.
Could West Ham win European trophies two years on the trot? (Image credit: Valerio Pennicino - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Plenty have won this competition to qualify for the bigger one but since the advent of the Conference League, no one’s gone from the third-tier competition to the second to the top. Roma won the inaugural Europa Conference League and came oh so close, as they were foiled in the final last June. Can West Ham go one better?
Former European champions in the Europa League this season:
Liverpool (six UCL, three UEL)
Ajax (four UCL, one UEL)
Marseille (one UCL)
Roma (one UECL)
Villarreal (one UEL)
Bayer Leverkusen (one UEL)
Qualifying for the Conference League always throws up some mad scenarios – and Neman Grodno of Belarus are perhaps the pick of the bunch, actually.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk and Energetik-BGU Minsk finished first and second in the Belarusian Premier League respectively – but both were found guilty of match-fixing by the Football Federation of Belarus and denied a place in UEFA competition. Third were BATE Borisov, who got the Champions League qualification place, fourth were Dinamo Minsk who got a Conference qualifying place – but there was one more Europa Conference League berth to be given out to a club for their league finish.
Fifth-placed Isloch Minsk Raion were involved in the scandal so banned, too. The sixth- and seventh-placed teams, Minsk and Gomel, didn’t even bother applying to be a part of it.
As eighth-placed Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino already qualified for the second qualifying round as domestic cup winners, the next in line were Neman Grodno, granted a UEFA license after finishing ninth in the league. Hilariously, there are only 16 teams in the division. They finished closer to the bottom than the top.
Ivan Vorsovich’s side put in a respectable performance, however, making it all the way to the third round of qualifying, where they were knocked out by Celje. You did Belarus proud, lads.
TNT Sports' coverage is just about to begin…
Our hosts are Alex Scott and Matt Smith.
The TV presenter, not the former Doctor Who.
Excitingly for Liverpool fans, the final this time around is in Dublin.
Dublin hosts the Europa League final this season (Image credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
A short hop across the Irish Sea to watch their team lift another European trophy? Don’t mind if they do.
This is the first major UEFA competition final that the Republic of Ireland has ever held.
Jesus Navas has been named the Europa League Player of the Season
Jesus Navas is the Europa League player of the season (Image credit: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
Florian Wirtz is Young Player of the Season
Stephane Mbia is out to do the draw today.
Special guest Stephane Mbia poses with the Europa League trophy (Image credit: Claudio Lavenia - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Presenters Matt Smith and Alex Scott now welcome out John O'Shea
Presenters Matt Smith and Alex Scott (Image credit: Valerio Pennicino - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
The wait is nearly over… here comes The velvet-voiced Deputy General Secretary of UEFA, Giorgio Marchetti.
Marchetti has returned to the floor fresh from yesterday’s Champions League draws, too. Giorgio has been Director of Competitions at UEFA, responsible for all youth and professional club and national competitions in the past.
Loving the tie, John
Final Ambassador John O’Shea (Image credit: Valerio Pennicino - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Those pots one more time…
Pot 1
🏴 West Ham United
🏴 Liverpool
🇮🇹 Roma
🇳🇱 Ajax
🇪🇸 Villarreal
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen
🇮🇹 Atalanta
🏴 Rangers
🇮🇹 Roma
🇨🇿 Slavia Prague
🇲🇩 Sheriff Tiraspol
🇨🇭 Servette
Group H
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen
🇦🇿 Qarabag
🇳🇴 Molde
🇸🇪 BK Hacken
Happy with that Brighton fans? Some big European trips on the horizon for the Seagulls
(Image credit: Twitter)
Roberto De Zerbi takes his side to Amsterdam for a clash against Ajax, Athens to play AEK and Marseille, where they'll play a former Champions League winner.
It's a baptism of fire for Brighton's first-ever Europa campaign.
Some of the most anticipated fixtures of this season's Europa group stage:
Ajax vs Marseille, as two former Champions League winners face off Rangers vs Real Betis, as the Gers return to Seville Atalanta vs Sporting, as two dark horses lock horns Roma vs Sheriff, as Jose Mourinho takes on a team of giant-killers from recent seasons
And now, we turn our attention to the Europa Conference League.
2023/24 Europa Conference League outright odds via LuckyBlock.com
Aston Villa - 6/1
Eintracht Frankfurt - 7/1
Fiorentina - 9/1
Fenerbahce - 10/1
Lille - 11/1
Besiktas - 13/1
Club Brugge - 16/1
Bodo/Glimt - 20/1
Gent, AZ Alkmaar, Ferencvárosi - 28/1
Genk - 34/1
PAOK, Nordsjælland, Viktoria Plzen, Dinamo Zagreb - 50/1
Aberdeen - 200/1
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