British clubs discover the fate of today’s 2026/27 Europa and Conference League league phase draws, getting underway at 12pm.
Celtic, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Brighton and Hearts all feature. You can watch a live stream of both draws by scrolling just a little further down in this article…
Which teams are in which pots?
EUROPA LEAGUE
Pot 1 – Leverkusen (GER), Benfica (POR), Juventus (ITA), Milan (ITA), Lyon (FRA), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Olympiacos (GRE), Real Sociedad (ESP), Marseille (FRA)
Pot 2 – Ferencváros (HUN) , Viktoria Plzeň (CZE), Union SG (BEL), GNK Dinamo (CRO), Salzburg (AUT), Celtic (SCO), Sparta Praha (CZE), Rennes (FRA), Anderlecht (BEL)
Pot 3 – Sturm Graz (AUT), Lech Poznań (POL), Crystal Palace (ENG), Bournemouth (ENG), Sunderland (ENG), Celje (SVN), Jagiellonia (POL), Omonia (CYP), Celta (ESP)
Pot 4 – Hoffenheim (GER), Beşiktaş (TUR), Torreense (POR), H. Beer-Sheva (ISR), N.E.C. (NED), OFI Crete (GRE), Lillestrøm (NOR), Levski Sofia (BUL), Ararat-Armenia (ARM)
EUROPA + CONFERENCE LEAGUE DRAW:
Key dates:
Europa League Phase
Matchday 1: 16/17 September 2026
Matchday 2: 15 October 2026
Matchday 3: 22 October 2026
Matchday 4: 5 November 2026
Matchday 5: 26 November 2026
Matchday 6: 10 December 2026
Matchday 7: 21 January 2027
Matchday 8: 28 January 2027
Europa Knockout phase
Knockout phase play-offs: 18 & 25 February 2027
Round of 16: 11 & 18 March 2027
Quarter-finals: 8 & 15 April 2027
Semi-finals: 29 April & 6 May 2027
Final (Frankfurt): 26 May 2027
Which teams are in which pots?
CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Pot 1 – Atalanta (ITA), Braga (POR), Ajax (NED), Freiburg (GER), Monaco (FRA), Copenhagen (DEN)
Pot 2 – Midtjylland (DEN), Crvena Zvezda (SRB), Gent (BEL), Panathinaikos (GRE), Pafos (CYP), Brighton (ENG)
Pot 3 – Lugano (SUI), Getafe (ESP), KuPS Kuopio (FIN), Twente (NED), Lincoln Red Imps (GIB), Borac (BIH)
Pot 4 – Sint-Truidense (BEL), Brann (NOR), Hearts (SCO), Kairat Almaty (KAZ), Trabzonspor (TUR), U. Craiova (ROU)
Pot 5 – Riga (LVA), Hajduk Split (CRO), Jablonec (CZE), Nordsjælland (DEN), Aarhus (DEN), Inter Escaldes (AND)
Pot 6 – Thun (SUI), CSKA Sofia (BUL), Kauno Žalgiris (LTU), Mjällby (SWE), Iberia Tbilisi (GEO), Egnatia (ALB)
Key dates:
Conference League Phase
Matchday 1: 15 October 2026
Matchday 2: 22 October 2026
Matchday 3: 5 November 2026
Matchday 4: 26 November 2026
Matchday 5: 10 December 2026
Matchday 6: 17 December
Conference Knockout phase
Knockout phase play-offs: 18 & 25 February 2027
Round of 16: 11 & 18 March 2027
Quarter-finals: 8 & 15 April 2027
Semi-finals: 29 April & 6 May 2027
Final (Istanbul): 2 June 2027
Thursday night saw a few British sides dumped out, here’s a quick rundown of results:
In the Conference League play-off…
Northern Ireland side Larne lost 3-2 on aggregate to Gibraltar outfit Lincoln Red Imps.
Scottish side Motherwell lost 7-2 on aggregate to German outfit SC Freiburg.
Scottish side Hibernian lost 3-2 on aggregate to Belgian outfit Gent.
Scottish side Rangers drew 1-1 on aggregate but lost 4-3 on penalties to Czech Republic side Jablonec
We also saw Republic of Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers lost 2-1 on aggregate to Finland outfit KuPS.
Celtic meanwhile drop into the Europa League league phase draw after they lost their Champions League play-off tie to LASK. More on that HERE.
There were some good news, with Brighton beat Norwegian side Tromso 4-0 on aggregate and Scottish side Hearts progressing through with a 4-3 penalty shootout win after a 4-4 aggregate scoreline against Austrian side Rapid Wien.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-7cVqRoVkc&pp=ygUPYnJpZ2h0b250IHJvbXNv
Rangers manager Derek McInnes said, as per Sky Sports:
“First of all, I’m embarrassed with the performance. I think the only people who represented the club well tonight were my staff, the support staff in the preparation.
“We do so much right here to get the players ready and in peak condition to go and perform. And the supporters, who to a man were outstanding, getting behind the team despite watching what we all watched.
“It wasn’t a good performance at any stretch of the imagination. Then you think you might just get through.
“It shouldn’t have come down to two boys, James Penrice and Findlay Curtis, in tears for missing a penalty kick. It shouldn’t have come down to that.
“I’m not going to sit here and make any excuses whatsoever. It wasn’t good enough.
“I thought the opposition were better than us in most aspects of the game so we got what we deserved. If we’d won it on penalties, we’d have taken it, of course, because of how important that is. But we’d have covered over the cracks, to be honest.
“I’m mortified by the performance. I know you can lose games of football, but we should have enough in the building to take care of that tonight.
‘I’m mortified with the performance’ 😳
Rangers boss Derek McInnes reacts to his side’s exit from Europe ⤵️#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/qMRgZiJByC
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) August 27, 2026
🎙️ Derek McInnes spoke to @RangersTV following tonight’s match in Jablonec.#UECL pic.twitter.com/xqzDjKo9it
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) August 27, 2026
“Yes, there’s been a big turnover of players. Yes, we looked very inexperienced at times. But the responsibility is mine to make sure that we are better than what we served up tonight. And we were miles short, miles short.
“I’ll take responsibility for the result, but the responsibility is shared. The players have got to be better than that. We know that. It’s my job to help the players but they’ve got to help themselves as well.
“It’s such a low point. I’m embarrassed with the result. I’m gutted for the supporters because they’ve come here. We come over on a charter flight, we stay in a nice hotel, we get all the preparation, and they come here whatever way they can.
“They don’t always need to see their team perform brilliantly, but they do deserve to see their team perform way better than that. For that, it’s not good enough.”
As the Europa and Conference League games played out on Thursday night, the Champions League league phase draw was made.
Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester United all feature in this season’s tournament. You can watch a live stream of draw by scrolling just a little further down in this article…
Take a look at the opponents they will face below…
English clubs discover fate of 2026/27 Champions League league phase draw
