Who is in the Europa League draw and who is in each pot?
Aston Villa won the Europa League trophy last season
- Published
The league phase draw for the 2026-27 Europa League takes place on Friday, 28 August at 12:00 BST in Monaco.
Much like the Champions League draw on Thursday, a total of 36 teams will enter the draw for Europe's second-tier club competition.
In the league phase, each team will face eight different teams once, with four home matches and four away matches.
For the draw, the 36 teams will be placed into four pots, with pot one being the highest-ranked and four being the lowest. The pot placements are based on the club's Uefa club coefficient ranking from the five-season period ending at the conclusion of 2025-26.
Each team will face two teams from each of the four pots and cannot face a team from the same country as themselves.
The teams who finish in the top eight will qualify for the Europa League's round of 16. Those between ninth and 24th place will enter the play-off knockout round. The 12 teams ranked between 25th and 36th place will exit the competition when the league phase is concluded.
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Who is in each pot?
Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen front up pot one alongside Portuguese outfit Benfica, Italian duo Juventus and AC Milan, as well as Ligue 1 sides Lyon and Marseille. AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos and Real Sociedad complete the top pot.
Scottish champions Celtic are part of the group of nine teams in pot two. They are joined by Ferencvaros, Viktoria Plzen, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Bull Salzburg, Sparta Prague, Rennes and Anderlecht.
The English trio of Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Sunderland are all in pot three. La Liga side Celta Vigo also feature, as do Sturm Graz, Lech Poznan, Celje, Jagiellonia Bialystok and Omonia.
Portuguese second-tier side Torreense, on their European debut, are in pot four. Hoffenheim and Besiktas join them in the bottom pot, alongside Hapoel Be'er Sheva, NEC Nijmegen, OFI Crete, Lillestrom, Aarat-Armenia and Levski Sofia.
Which teams are in each pot?
Pot one
Bayer Leverkusen
Benfica
Juventus
AC Milan
Lyon
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Real Sociedad
Marseille
Pot two
Ferencvaros
Viktoria Plzen
Union Saint-Gilloise
Dinamo Zagreb
Red Bull Salzburg
Celtic
Sparta Prague
Rennes
Anderlecht
Pot three
Sturm Graz
Lech Poznan
Crystal Palace
Bournemouth
Sunderland
Celje
Jagiellonia Bialystok
Omonia
Celta Vigo
Pot four
TSG Hoffenheim
Besiktas
Torreense
Hapoel Be'er Sheva
NEC Nijmegen
OFI Crete
Lillestrom
Aarat-Armenia
Levski Sofia
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
