EL & ECL return: Barca vs Napoli, Rangers, Celtic, Leicester in play-offs

As the 2021/22 Europa League and Europa Conference League return for the knockout round play-offs, we bring you the state of play, upcoming fixtures and the schedule for the remainder of the tournaments.

The group stage of the Europa League came to a conclusion in early December, with Celtic and Leicester both dropping into the Europa Conference League as a result.

There are some big-hitters who missed out on reaching the last 16 of the Champions League who have joined the Europa League at the newly-formed knockout round play-off stage, with Rangers taking a 4-2 lead against Borussia Dortmund into the second leg at Ibrox.

Starting from this season, the Europa League group stage has been truncated to eight groups. Instead of a round of 32, the eight second-placed teams will meet one of the eight sides finishing third in their respective Champions League groups in a two-legged play-off round in February.

Thursday February 17

Thursday February 24

Group winners who have already qualified

Draw scheduled to take place on Friday February 25.

First legs scheduled to be played on Thursday March 10; Second legs on Thursday March 17.

Draw scheduled to take place on Friday March 18.

First legs scheduled to be played on Thursday April 7; Second legs on Thursday April 14.

Draw scheduled to take place on Friday March 18.

First legs scheduled to be played on Thursday April 28; Second legs on Thursday May 5.

Scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 18 at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, Sevilla.

The Europa Conference League is the third UEFA club competition and runs alongside both the Champions League and Europa League.

The idea behind the Europa Conference League is to give more clubs a taste of European football, particularly sides