Round of 16 draw

The 2024/25 UEFA Conference League round of 16, quarter-final and semi-final draw took place on Friday 21 February at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.

Conference League round of 16 fixtures

First legs

Thursday 6 March
Copenhagen vs Chelsea (18:45 CET)
Molde vs Legia Warszawa (18:45 CET)
Panathinaikos vs Fiorentina (18:45 CET)
Real Betis vs Vitória SC (18:45 CET)
Borac vs SK Rapid
Celje vs Lugano
Jagiellonia vs Cercle Brugge
Pafos vs Djurgården

Second legs

Thursday 13 March
Cercle Brugge vs Jagiellonia (18:45 CET)
Djurgården vs Pafos (18:45 CET)
Lugano vs Celje (18:45 CET)
SK Rapid vs Borac (18:45 CET)
Chelsea vs Copenhagen
Fiorentina vs Panathinaikos
Legia Warszawa vs Molde
Vitória SC vs Real Betis

Conference League quarter-final ties

Real Betis (ESP)/Vitória SC (POR) vs Jagiellonia (POL)/Cercle Brugge (BEL)*
Celje (SVN)/Lugano (SUI) vs Panathinaikos (GRE)/Fiorentina (ITA)
Copenhagen (DEN)/Chelsea (ENG) vs Molde (NOR)/Legia Warszawa (POL)*
Pafos (CYP)/Djurgården (SWE) vs Borac (BIH)/SK Rapid (AUT)

Ties will take place on 10 and 17 April.

* The potential home matches of Cercle Brugge and Chelsea in the quarter-finals may be subject to a change of schedule.

Conference League semi-final ties

Real Betis/Vitória SC/Jagiellonia/Cercle Brugge vs Celje/Lugano/Panathinaikos/Fiorentina*
Copenhagen/Chelsea/Molde/Legia vs Pafos/Djurgården/Borac/SK Rapid*

Ties will take place on 1 and 8 May.

* The potential home matches of Chelsea and Panathinaikos in the semi-finals may be subject to a change of schedule.

Which teams were in the Conference League round of 16 draw? 

The eight winners of the two-legged knockout phase play-offs joined the top eight sides from the league phase in the round of 16 draw. The top eight sides in the league phase were seeded for the round of 16 draw.

League phase top eight (seeded, ordered alphabetically)
Cercle Brugge (BEL)
Chelsea (ENG)
Djurgården (SWE)
Fiorentina (ITA)
Legia Warszawa (POL)
Lugano (SUI)
SK Rapid (AUT)
Vitória SC (POR)

Knockout phase play-off winners (unseeded, ordered alphabetically)
Borac (BIH)
Celje (SVN)
Copenhagen (DEN)
Jagiellonia (POL)
Molde (NOR)
Pafos (CYP)
Panathinaikos (GRE)
Real Betis (ESP)

How did the Conference League round of 16 draw work?

The clubs were paired based on their positions at the end of the league phase to form four seeded pairs (clubs in positions 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, and 7 and 8).

The clubs in each seeded pair were drawn into one of two positions in the round of 16 against the relevant winner of the knockout phase play-offs, whose position was determined by the knockout phase play-off draw.

Four bowls were prepared for the draw, with the balls containing the names of each pair of seeded teams placed in the corresponding marked bowls according to the league rankings.

The draw allocated the side of the bracket for all the seeded teams, starting with the teams ranked 7/8 and finishing with the teams 1/2.

One ball was taken from the bowl containing the two relevant ranked teams (i.e. the teams ranked 7 and 8) and opened to display the team. The first team drawn from this bowl was placed in their reserved spot on the silver side of the bracket. The other seeded team of the pairing was then drawn and displayed, and allocated in the corresponding reserved spot on the green side of the bracket.

The same procedure is carried out with the remaining seeded teams.

How does the Conference League quarter-final draw work? 

The draw was made to determine the order of the matches (i.e. which team will host the first leg and which team the return leg) as all the potential opponents were known until the final.

Four bowls were prepared for this draw, two for the silver side of the bracket and two for the green side of the bracket. Each bowl contained two balls representing the winners of the round of 16 matches from one rung of the relevant side of the bracket, with the first silver bowl containing slips of paper marked 'Winners R16 1' and 'Winners R16 2' and the second silver bowl 'Winners R16 3' and 'Winners R16 4'.

The first bowl on the green side contained slips of paper marked 'Winners R16 5' and 'Winners R16 6' and, finally, 'Winners R16 7' and 'Winners R16 8' in the second bowl on the green side.

The draw starts by shuffling and then drawing the balls placed in the first bowl of the silver side of the bracket. The first ball drawn from this bowl indicated the team which will play the first match of the quarter-final at home, and the second ball the team which will play the return leg at home.

The procedure was repeated with the remaining bowls to complete the quarter-final pairings.

How did the Conference League semi-final draw work? 

Two bowls were prepared for this draw, one for the silver side of the bracket with balls containing slips of paper marked 'Winners Q-F 1' and 'Winners Q-F 2', and one for the green side of the draw containing 'Winners Q-F 3' and 'Winners Q-F 4'.

The draw started by shuffling and then drawing the balls placed in the bowl for the silver side of the bracket. The first ball drawn indicated the team which will play the first match of the silver side semi-final at home, and the second ball the team which will play the return leg at home.

The procedure was repeated with the remaining bowl to complete the semi-final pairings.

Was there a draw for the Conference League final? 

As the teams were designated to a side of the bracket by the draw for the knockout phase play-off / round of 16, no draw was made for the final. The winners of the semi-final on the silver side of the bracket are designated as the nominal home team for the final.

Can teams from the same country face each other in the Conference League round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals? 

Yes, clubs can face opposition from the same national association, and teams they previously came up against in the league phase.

When do the Conference League round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals take place?

The dates for the remainder of the knockout phase are as follows:

Round of 16: 6 & 13 March
Quarter-finals: 10 & 17 April
Semi-finals: 1 & 8 May
Final: 28 May 2025 (Wroclaw)

Calendar elaboration (Paragraphs 23.01, 24.02 and 24.03 of the official UEFA Conference League regulations) 

23.01: All matches are played in accordance with the UEFA Match Calendar (see Annex C). These dates are final and binding on all concerned, subject to the provisions of Paragraph 24.01 to Paragraph 24.02. The following principles apply to this competition:

a) Matches in the competition are played on Thursdays, apart from the final, which is played on a Wednesday. Exceptions to this rule can be made by the UEFA administration.

b) From the league phase onwards, the UEFA administration decides the match schedule of each round.

24.02: If two or more clubs from the same city, within a radius of 50km of each other and/or playing in the same stadium, take part in any of the UEFA club competitions, and if the association and the clubs concerned explicitly declare when entering the clubs that their matches cannot be played on the same day or on consecutive days, the UEFA administration may alter or confirm dates and kick-off times in accordance with the principles set by the Club Competitions Committee.

24.03: The UEFA administration decides on match dates and fixture reversals on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the applicable principles set by the Club Competitions Committee. In any case, the UEFA administration reserves the right to impose a match date if the circumstances so require. The round of 16 match schedule will be available on 21 February; the quarter-final and semi-final match schedules will be communicated on 14 March, following the return legs of the round of 16.