Liverpool isn’t included in the Europa League draw; why? Playoff regulations: UK sides are excluded

Four British teams—Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham, and Rangers—have all advanced to the Europa League knockout stages; however, they will not be participating in the draw on Monday.

Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham, and Rangers have already advanced to the tournament’s final 16, thus they will not be represented in Monday’s Europa League play-off draw.

The House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland is the venue for the Europa League’s first knockout round draw. On Monday, there will also be the draws for the Europa Conference League play-offs and the Champions League’s round of 16.

Eight teams who placed second in the group stage and eight teams that placed third in the Champions League group stage will compete in the Europa League play-off draw. Each group stage runner-up will play a team that is descending into the tournament from the Champions League thanks to a seeding system in the draw.

Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham, and Rangers have all qualified for the Europa League’s round of sixteen automatically because they won their respective groups. They won’t know who their next opponents are until the eight play-off round winners are known.

The eight Europa League teams that placed second in their group (seeded) are Freiburg, Marseille, Sparta Prague, Sporting, Toulouse, Rennes, Roma, and Qarabag. Eight Champions League teams—Galatasaray, Lens, Braga, Benfica, Feyenoord, AC Milan, Young Boys, and Shakhtar Donetsk—finished third in their group (unseeded).

In the play-off round, clubs from the same nation cannot be paired against one another. Therefore, there is no opportunity for Roma to play Milan or Marseille to play Lens.

The 2021–2022 season saw the introduction of the play-off system. Previously, the top-finishing teams from each Europa League group, together with the runners-up and those relegating from the Champions League, would advance to the competition’s final 32.

Teams who place first in their group, like the four British competitors, are rewarded under the current system. Similar rules apply to the Europa Conference League, which is now contested by the teams that placed third in their Europa League group.

Ajax, Molde, Maccabi Haifa, Union Saint-Gilloise, Sturm Graz, Olympiacos, Maccabi Haifa, Servette, and Real Betis have all been eliminated from the Europa Conference League (unseeded). In the play-off round (seeded), they will play Ludogorets Razgrad, Ferencvaros, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bodo/Glimt, Legia Warsaw, Gent, Dinamo Zagreb, and Slovan Bratislava.

After winning their group, Aston Villa is not included in the Europa Conference League play-off draw. Club Brugge, Fiorentina, Lille, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Viktoria Plzen, PAOK, and Fenerbahce have all advanced to the tournament’s round of sixteen.

The eight group winners and the eight group runners-up will face off in the Champions League. Group winners must play runners-up from a different group; clubs within the same nation cannot be paired against one another.

Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Bayern Munich, and Arsenal are all seeded. The teams without seeds are Porto, Lazio, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Copenhagen, PSV, Napoli, and Inter Milan.

On Monday, the Champions League draw will take place first, at approximately 11 a.m. Following at approximately 12 p.m. (UK time), the Europa Conference League draw will occur at approximately 1 p.m.