UEFA Europa League group stage draw

The 2023/24 UEFA Europa League group stage draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, on Friday 1 September and will be streamed live from 13:00 CET.

Purpose and conditions of the draw

The purpose of the group stage draw is to divide the 32 clubs into 8 groups of 4 teams. The groups will be lettered A to H.

The conditions to be observed are as follows:

• Clubs from the same association must not be drawn in the same group.

• In the case of associations with two representatives, these clubs will be paired so that their matches kick off at different times.

In the case of associations with three representatives, only two clubs will be paired.

In the case of associations with one representative in the UEFA Europa League group stage and one representative in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage, these clubs will also be paired so that their matches kick off at different times.

In the case of associations with one representative in the UEFA Europa League group stage and three representatives in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage, the unpaired UEFA Europa Conference League club will be paired with the club in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

In the case of associations with three representatives in the UEFA Europa League group stage and one representative in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage, the unpaired UEFA Europa League club will be paired with the club in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage.

All these pairings will be based on TV audiences.

• In principle, each team will play three matches at 18:45 CET and three matches at 21:00 CET.

• Each club plays one home and one away match against each other club in its group. A club does not play more than two home or two away matches in a row and each club plays one home match and one away match on the first two and last two matchdays. Clubs' first leg matches should be completed before MD4.

• Clubs from Nordic countries will be scheduled away on matchday 6. A maximum of two clubs per group will therefore have venues that are exposed to severe winter conditions and/or cannot guarantee facilities fit for use in severe weather conditions.

Draw explanations

For the group stage draw, the 32 clubs involved are seeded in four pots of eight teams, in accordance with the following principles.

The first pot comprises the UEFA Europa Conference League titleholder (West Ham United FC) and the top seven clubs in the club coefficient rankings, the second group the next eight clubs in the rankings, and so on for Pots 3 and 4.

To ensure that paired clubs from the same association kick off at different times, as per the aforementioned pairing principles, the eight groups will be distinguished by colour: groups A to D will be red and groups E to H blue.

When a paired club is allocated, for example, to a red group (A, B, C or D), the other paired club – once it has been drawn – will automatically be assigned to one of the four blue groups (E, F, G or H).

Red group matches will not be played at the same time as blue group matches.

Draw procedure

A ball is drawn at random from Pot 1 and is opened to display the name of the team drawn.

This team is placed in the first available group in alphabetical order from A to H as indicated by the computer.

This procedure is then repeated for all the remaining clubs in Pot 1.

For example, if the team drawn has all group options from A to H available, it will be automatically allocated to Group A. If the team drawn has three options available, from E to G for example, it will be automatically allocated to Group E. If the team drawn has two options available, C or H for example, it will be automatically allocated to Group C, and so on.

Please note that the options available to a team depend not only on the team's own attributes and those of the clubs already drawn, but also on the attributes of the other clubs still to be drawn. This is enabled by computer calculations, which are needed to anticipate all possible scenarios and prevent any deadlock situations.

When all the clubs in Pot 1 have been drawn at random and allocated to the various groups, the procedure is repeated for the clubs in Pots 2, 3 and 4, in that order.

The draw result and full fixture list (matchdays 1 to 6) will be available on Saturday, 2 September by 12.00 CET at the latest.

Additional information
A video will be shown prior to the draw explaining the key principles of the draw.

Pots and pairings

Pot 1
West Ham United FC (ENG) – pairing A
Liverpool FC (ENG) – A
AS Roma (ITA) – B
AFC Ajax (NED) – UECL C
Villarreal CF (ESP) – D
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER) – E
Atalanta BC (ITA) – B
Rangers FC (SCO) – UECL F

Pot 2
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
SK Slavia Praha (CZE) – G
Stade Rennais FC (FRA) – H
Olympiacos FC (GRE) – I
Real Betis Balompié (ESP) – D
LASK (AUT) – J
Olympique de Marseille (FRA) – H
Qarabağ FK (AZE)

Pot 3
Molde FK (NOR) – UECL K
Brighton & Hove Albion (ENG) – UECL L
FC Sheriff Tiraspol (MDA)
R. Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL) – UECL M
SC Freiburg (GER) – E
AC Sparta Praha (CZE) – G
Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR) – UECL N
SK Sturm Graz (AUT) – J

Pot 4
Toulouse FC (FRA) – UECL O
AEK Athens FC (GRE) – UECL P
FK TSC Bačka Topola (SRB) – UECL Q
Servette FC (SUI) – UECL R
Panathinaikos FC (GRE) – I
Raków Czestochowa (POL) – UECL S
Aris Limassol (CYP)
BK Häcken (SWE)

The UEFA Europa Conference League pots and pairings are available here.