Live

Europa League and Europa Conference League last-16 draws and reaction, as it happened

Leicester, West Ham, Rangers and Barcelona among the teams who have discovred their next European opponents

By
last updated
Europa Conference League last-16 draw
(Image: © Getty Images)

In the Europa League last-16 draw, West Ham have been handed a tough tie against Sevilla, while Rangers will play Red Star Belgrade. In the Europa League last-16 draw, Leicester have been given French side Rennes.

Full Europa League last-16 fixtures:

Refresh

Welcome to FourFourTwo's Europa League and Europa Conference League draws liveblog! We'll be covering all the build-up ahead of the draw starting at 11am, then a bit of reaction as we find out who the likes of West Ham, Rangers, Barcelona and Leicester will play next.

The next round draws aren't the only thing happening today: UEFA has also called an extraordinary meeting to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We'll update you on the outcome of that meeting when we have that news. Current expectations are that the Champions League final will be moved but no new host decided yet, and that Russia World Cup qualifier play-offs will be moved to a neutral country.

For now, though, back to the draws.

Latest reports from Martyn Ziegler at The Times, the Champions League final will be in Paris, at the Stade De France:

The biggest story of last night was probably Rangers holding on to a home draw to Borussia Dortmund, securing a 6-4 victory for the Scottish side.

For West Ham, of course, the opposite is true. Having soared through a group with Dinamo Zagreb, Rapid Wien and Genk, they bypassed the next round and sit on the opposite side of this draw to the Champions League dropouts. Fixtures against the likes of Rangers, Barcelona, Real Betis, Sevilla, Porto or RB Leipzig await.

UEFA has now confirmed the news that the Champions League final moves from Saint Petersburg to the Stade De France in Paris.

There could have been two Russian sides in the next round: Real Betis only progressed without extra time last night thanks to a very late VAR decision to rule out a Zenit Saint Petersburg goal. And it was a pretty soft decision...

Meanwhile, in Naples, Adama Traore set up a lovely Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal to round off a 4-2 victory for Barcelona:

Let's check in on the Europa Conference League (that's the one you're in, Brendan).

Leicester are the only British team left in the competition. Tottenham, of course, stank out the group stage, while Celtic suffered a 5-1 aggregate defeat to Bodo/Glimt.

Bodo/Glimt? Randers? Roma?

Could Leicester win the Europa Conference League? There's the prospect of Feyenoord or Roma in the next round, while PSV Eindhoven and Marseille are probably the toughest teams in their own side of the draw.

Just under 20 minutes until the Europa League draw gets underway. You'll be able to watch it live on UEFA's website, on BT Sport, and we'll also post the live YouTube video here when it begins.

The Europa League final this year will be held in Seville, at Sevilla's Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium.

And here we g... er, what's that noise?

Rejoice! The sound is now working as it should. Here we go, for real this time!

Still, that was a minor hiccough compared to UEFA's Champions League draw in December – a miscalculation somewhere led the whole draw to be redone.

Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA deputy general secretary, makes a statement of solidarity with Ukraine before the draw begins.

Marchetti, who also moonlights as a Claudio Ranieri lookalike, praises West Ham for making it to the last 16 for the first time.

Andres Palop, the former Valencia and Sevilla goalkeeper, is here to help with the draw. He won three UEFA Cups in his career: one with Valencia, and two with Sevilla.

Bit of chat as filler before we get going. The teams are all great, aren't they? I would pick Barcelona out as a good team. Next, the weather.

Once again, here are the teams. Remember, teams from the same country can't be drawn together, though – that only really applies to RB Leipzig's opponents.

First fixture:

Second fixture:

Third fixture:

Fourth fixture:

Fifth fixture:

Sixth fixture:

Seventh fixture:

Eighth fixture:

Full Europa League last-16 fixtures:

Red Star Belgrade won't be an easy tie for Rangers, but there's still a reasonable chance of making the quarter-finals, especially after beating Borussia Dortmund in the last round.

Still, at least Seville will be a nice trip, eh?

The first legs for this round of the Europa League will take place on Thursday, March 10, except for the Real Betis and Porto home games. FFT didn't catch exactly why, but presumably it is to do with the Sevilla and Porto home games also taking place on the same night.

Forty-two years since West Ham played a Spanish team, according to Opta:

Let's remind ourselves of the Europa Conference League teams, then. Once again, teams from the same country can't be drawn together, so AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord can't be drawn against PSV or Vitesse, and Rennes can't be drawn against Marseille.

Almost there! If there's one team Leicester want to avoid at this stage it's surely Jose Mourinho's Roma?

And we're off! Our host Pedro Pinto is back, which is like if UEFA let Stan Lee name their presenters.

Fully expecting Claudio Ranieri lookalike Giorgio Marchetti (who is also UEFA deputy general secretary) to return for this, which makes the Leicester link all the more fun.

Marchetti again opens with a statement of solidarity with Ukraine. UEFA this morning decided to move the Champions League final to Paris from Saint Petersburg, and Russian and Ukrainian teams in UEFA competitions will have to play home games at neutral venues.

The final is in Tirana this year, so the ex-footballer they have to help with the draw is former Albanian captain Altin Lala, who's from Tirana and made over 300 appearances for Hannover 96 during his career. But you knew that.

First fixture:

Second fixture:

Third fixture:

Fourth fixture:

Fifth fixture:

Sixth fixture:

Seventh fixture:

Eighth fixture:

Here's the full list of Europa Conference League last-16 fixtures:

So, Leicester face Rennes in the next round – probably one of the tougher ties.

The Europa Conference League last-16 games will have their first legs on Thursday, March 10, with the second legs on Thursday, March 17. Then the quarter-final draw takes place on Friday, March 18, along with the Europa League and Champions League draws.

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1