Things to know before the Europa League and Conference League draws

 Today (February 23), the draw for round 1/8 (round of 16 teams) of the Europa League and Conference League will take place. Below is some information to know before this event.

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#1 Europa League and Conference League draw time

The draw for the 1/8 round of the Europa League will take place at 12:00 CET, 1 hour later will be the draw for the 1/8 round of the Conference League. Both events took place at the headquarters of the European Football Federation (UEFA) in Nyon, Switzerland.

#2 Lottery format

1. Europa League

Europa League round of 1/8 includes 16 participating teams, divided equally into 2 groups: Seeded and Unseeded

The seeding group includes the 8 clubs ranked first in the group stage:

• Atalanta

• Brighton

• Leverkusen

• Liverpool

• Rangers

• Slavia Prague

• Villarreal

• West Ham

The unseeded group includes 8 clubs that have won the play-off series:

• AC Milan

• Benfica

• Freiburg

• Marseille

• Qarabag

• Rome

• Sparta Praha

• Sporting Lisbon

The team in the seeded group will be drawn to face an opponent in the unseeded group. However, clubs from the same country or federation cannot meet each other in this round.

In addition, the team in the seeded group will play at home in the second leg.

2. Conference League

The 1/8 round of the Conference League also has 16 teams participating, divided into 2 groups: Seeded and Unseeded.

The seeding group includes the top teams in the group stage:

• Aston Villa

• Club Bruges

• Fenerbahce

• Fiorentina

• LOSC Lille

• Maccabi Tel-Aviv

• PAOK

• Viktoria Plzen

The unseeded group includes 8 clubs that have won the play-off series:

• Ajax

• Dinamo Zagreb

• Maccabi Haifa

• Molde

• Olympiacos

• Servette

• Sturm Graz

• Union SG

The team in the seeded group will be drawn to face an opponent in the unseeded group. However, clubs from the same country or federation cannot meet each other in this round.

In addition, the team in the seeded group will play at home in the second leg.

#3 Time of the 1/8 round of Europa League and Conference League

The first leg series of the 1/8 round of the Europa League and Conference League will take place on March 7. A week later is the return match.