Europa League: League phase draw pots confirmed

The 36 UEFA Europa League hopefuls have been split into four pots for the league phase draw, which will take place at 13:00 CET on Friday 29 August.

2025/26 Europa League: League phase draw pots

Pot 1
Roma (ITA)
Porto (POR)
Rangers (SCO)
Feyenoord (NED)
Lille (FRA)
GNK Dinamo (CRO)
Real Betis (ESP)
Salzburg (AUT)
Aston Villa (ENG)

Pot 2
Fenerbahçe (TUR)
Braga (POR)
Crvena Zvezda (SRB)
Lyon (FRA)
PAOK (GRE)
Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
Ferencváros (HUN)
Celtic (SCO)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)

Pot 3
Young Boys (SUI)
Basel (SUI)
Midtjylland (DEN)
Freiburg (GER)
Ludogorets (BUL)
Nottingham Forest (ENG)
Sturm Graz (AUT)
FCSB (ROU)
Nice (FRA)

Pot 4
Bologna (ITA)
Celta (ESP)
Stuttgart (GER)
Panathinaikos (GRE)
Malmö (SWE)
Go Ahead Eagles (NED)
Utrecht (NED)
Genk (BEL)
Brann (NOR)

How will the league phase draw be carried out?

The league phase draw of the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League will be combined into one special show for the first time. The Europa League draw will be followed by the Conference League draw.

The two draws will be made in a fully digital format working with the same digital technology already used last year to instantly draw opponents, allowing for a smooth, efficient and speedy draw process.

Thanks to its flexibility, the system can either draw opponents to all teams one after the other – as in the UEFA Champions League – or draw all pairings instantly with a single press of the button. The latter will be the case for the Europa League and Conference League.

After the software has conducted the full draw, the pairings and who plays each fixture home or away will be released progressively, pot after pot, starting with Pot 1, thus maintaining suspense and clarity for viewers.

The teams will know all their opponents by the end of the draws, however the fixture lists with match dates and kick-off times will be elaborated afterwards and communicated by Sunday 31 August at the latest.

When are this season's Europa League matches?

League phase

Matchday 1: 24 & 25 September 2025
Matchday 2: 2 October 2025
Matchday 3: 23 October 2025
Matchday 4: 6 November 2025
Matchday 5: 27 November 2025
Matchday 6: 11 December 2025
Matchday 7: 22 January 2026
Matchday 8: 29 January 2026

Knockout stage

Knockout phase play-offs: 19 & 26 February 2026
Round of 16: 12 & 19 March 2026
Quarter-finals: 9 & 16 April 2026
Semi-finals: 30 April & 7 May 2026
Final: 20 May 2026 (Istanbul)