The league phase draw for the 2026-27 Europa League takes place on Friday, 28 August at 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. Just 20 of those teams have been confirmed at present, with the remainder to be made up from the losers of the final round of Champions League qualifying and the winners from the final round of Europa League qualifying.
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. While the final details of who will qualify are yet to be finalised, the majority of the teams in pot one have been confirmed. Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, AC Milan, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Real Sociedad and Marseille will take seven of the nine pot one places.
The losing team in the Champions League qualifying tie between Fenerbahce and Lyon are guaranteed to enter pot one of the Europa League draw. As the highest-ranked team still in qualifying, Portuguese outfit Benfica would take the last spot, should they win against Danish side AGF. Scottish champions Celtic are guaranteed to enter pot two, as are Sparta Prague and Rennes.
Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise will enter either of pot one or two, although two is more likely. English trio Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Sunderland will all enter pot two or three, with three being the more likely outcome. Austrian side Sturm Graz will also go in one of those two pots.
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