All you need to know: GAA provincial senior football championship draws

The draws for next year's provincial football championships will be made live on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and online on 21 October.

The round-robin structure in hurling means no draws are required but for the second season in a row the football championship will consist of a traditional knock-out provincial phase, followed by the All-Ireland series and Tailteann Cup.

The eight provincial finalists and Tailteann Cup champions Meath qualify automatically for the Sam Maguire series, with the remaining spots filled based on finishing positions in the Allianz Football League.

Reigning champions Dublin will be one of four teams seeded into the quarter-finals in Leinster, alongside the other teams who reached the semis last year: Kildare, Offaly and Louth, who have appointed former Dubs defender Ger Brennan to replace Mickey Harte.

There will be three first-round games, with one of Carlow, Laois, Longford, Meath, Wexford, Westmeath and Wicklow also receiving a bye to the quarter-finals.

Under the rotating quarter-final system in place in Connacht, Mayo will travel to New York and holders Galway to London.

Two of Leitrim, Sligo and Roscommon will face off in a third quarter-final, with the remaining team getting a bye to the semi-finals. The last four pairings will be decided in a separate draw.

Last year's Munster SFC finalists Kerry and Clare will be in the semi-finals, which will be an open draw that also includes the winners of two quarter-finals between Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

In nine-county Ulster, the four teams who contested the preliminary round over the last two years (Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh and Antrim) cannot be in the extra round again.

Two from Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down and Monaghan will be chosen