How the Europa League draw works – league phase and new structure for Rangers

The Europa League has followed in the footsteps of its big brother the Champions League by ripping up the old format and installing a new one for the 2024/25 season.

Scottish giants Rangers will join FA Cup winners Manchester United and Tottenham, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, in the new-look draw which will take place from midday UK time on Friday, writes the Mirror.

Like the Champions League, UEFA’s second-tier competition will have 36 teams in a single league, with sides playing eight different opponents as they strive to reach the knockout phase, which will feature an extra play-off round before the round of 16. Here’s all the need to know about how the new-look Europa League draw will work…

Traditionally, the names of teams, according to their seeding status, were completely hand-drawn. However, under the new format, that would take up to four hours and is therefore unworkable, according to UEFA.

So in keeping with modern life in general, AI technology will do most of the leg work. Clubs still be seeded according to their coefficient. But instead of being hand-picked, matches will be randomly drawn by dedicated software. To avoid accusations of draw-rigging, UEFA insists the automated system will be independently monitored regularly.

Teams will be split into four pots. For example, when a team in pot one is manually drawn, the technology will pick eight opponents, two from each pot. The software will also randomly decide which side plays are at home and away.

Each team will face one side from each pot at home and one away. Clubs from the same country will be kept apart in the league phase while each team will play a maximum of two opponents from one other nation.

While United and Spurs