Europa League draw LIVE: Aston Villa, Forest, Celtic and Rangers learn eight opponents
Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Celtic and Rangers are among the 36 teams who will learn their fate in today's Europa League draw. It's the second year of the revised format after Tottenham Hotspur triumphed in the inaugural edition last season.
The 36 teams will all enter the same table in the league phase and play eight fixtures, four at home and four away. After the matches have taken place, the top eight will automatically progress to the round of 16, while the next 16 highest finishers enter a play-off round to determine the other eight.
Follow below for LIVE updates of the Europa League draw...
In case you forgot, this is the second year in which the draw takes a league phase format instead of group stages.
That means all 36 teams into one single league table.
Instead of playing three teams twice, home and away, to determine the two teams to advance into the knockouts, every club now plays eight different opponents - four home and four away.
The top eight in the table automatically advance to the round of 16, their eight opponents will come from the teams who finish 9th to 24th.
Those teams will take each other on in a playoff round to determine who advances to the last 16.
The teams 25th to 36th are all automatically eliminated.
UEFA have now confirmed the four pots ahead of the Europa League draw, which begins at 12pm.
Let's address the elephant in the room, shall we?
Aston Villa are in the Europa League on merit after finishing sixth in the Premier League last season.
Meanwhile, Celtic and Rangers are involved after losing their respective Champions League qualifying matches.
Nottingham Forest, however...
They have replaced Crystal Palace, who qualified via their historic FA Cup win in May.
UEFA booted Palace out after determining that American businessman John Textor had control or influence at both the Eagles and French club Lyon.
Textor has since sold his Palace shares, but Oliver Glasner's side will compete in the Conference League instead.
The Champions League took centre stage in Nyon, Switzerland, yesterday, and now it's the Europa League's turn!
UEFA will host the Europa League draw at 12pm UK time, with four British clubs awaiting to learn their fate.
Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are the Premier League representatives, with Celtic and Rangers also in the mix.
Stay tuned for live coverage of the league phase draw.
Daily Express
