Conference League draw LIVE: Chelsea to learn last-16 opponents

All three British sides involved in the competition qualified automatically for the last 16, having all finished in the top eight in the league phase.

Manchester United make a shaky start with three successive draws against FC Twente, Porto and Fenerbahce, though successive wins against PAOK, Bodo/Glimt, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers and FCSB meant that Rube Amorim’s side eventually qualified unbeaten in third place.

Spurs started off their campaign with three successive wins – against Qarabag, Ferencvaros and Alkmaar – before losing to Galatasaray in November. They followed that with draws against Roma and Rangers, before two wins in their last two saw them finish in fourth.

It was a little more dramatic for Rangers, who beat Nice 4-1 away from home and held Tottenham to a 1-1 draw at Ibrox. Despite suffering a 2-1 loss to United at Old Trafford, the Scottish side finished in eighth thanks to a final-day 2-1 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise.

Round of 16: 6 & 13 March 2025

Quarter-finals: 10 & 17 April 2025

Semi-finals: 1 & 8 May 2025

Final: 21 May 2025 (San Mames, Bilbao)

From the knockout play-offs onwards the tournament is a bracket, so potential opponents in the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals were also pre-determined by pairings that were set according to league phase positions.

As the bracket was set after the end of the league phase, teams already know their potential opponents.

In this case, the draw is only made to determine the order of the matches (i.e. who plays at home in each leg).

According to the new rules, the top-eight sides will be placed into seeded pairs ahead of the round of 16, and will all play the second legs of their last-16 ties at home.

The seeded pairs consist of the teams who finished first and second, third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and seventh and eighth in the league phase – for example, United and Spurs make up one seeded pair as they finished third and fourth respectively. They will then be drawn against teams from the equivalent pair from the play-off ties.

The possible combinations are as follows:

• Viktoria Plzen – to play Lazio or Athletic Club
• Bodo/Glimt – to play Olympiacos or Rangers
• Ajax – to play Eintracht Frankfurt or Lyon
• AZ – to play Man Utd or Tottenham
• Real Sociedad – to play Man Utd or Tottenham
• FSCB – to play Eintracht Frankfurt or Lyon
• Fenerbahce – to play Olympiacos or Rangers
• Roma – to play Lazio or Athletic Club

The draw for the next rounds of the Europa League takes place at 12pm GMT on Friday, 21 February at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.

The draw will follow the conclusion of the Champions League last-16 draw, which begins at around 11am GMT.

How can I watch the Europa League draw?

The draw will be streamed live on Uefa’s website.

The two Premier League clubs are among the favourites to win the competition despite some poor form domestically, and they are joined in the draw by 14 other clubs including Rangers, Lazio and Athletic Bilbao.

And with the two English clubs being seeded in third and fourth respectively, they cannot meet again until the final, with both sides hoping that they can go far in this competition as they look to salvage a poor league season.

League phase top eight (seeded, ordered alphabetically)Cercle Brugge (BEL)Chelsea (ENG)Djurgården (SWE)Fiorentina (ITA)Legia Warszawa (POL)Lugano (SUI)SK Rapid (AUT)Vitória SC (POR)

Knockout phase play-off winners (unseeded, ordered alphabetically)Borac (BIH)Celje (SVN)Copenhagen (DEN)Jagiellonia (POL)Molde (NOR)Pafos (CYP)Panathinaikos (GRE)Real Betis (ESP)

Hello and welcome to the Independent’s coverage of the Europa League last-16 draw.

The ties for the 1/8 final will be revealed in Nyon, Switzerland later today following the Champions League last-16 draw.

And British interest comes in the shape of Manchester United and Tottenham, both favourites with the bookmakers at this stage of the competition.

While Rangers will also retain ambitions to go far on the road to Bilbao, with each side learning their path through the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Stay tuned for all the build-up and latest results, ties and dates from the draw.