British clubs discover last-16 opponents in 23/24 Europa League and Conference League draws

Five British clubs discover their last-16 opponents in the 23/24 Europa League and Europa Conference League draws this week.

Liverpool, West Ham, Brighton, and Rangers will be part of the Europa League draw at 11:00pm, while Aston Villa will be part of the Europa Conference League draw at 12:00pm.

All five clubs are seeded, indicating that they will play away for the first leg on the 7th of March and at home for the second leg on the 14th of March.

How does the draw work?

The draw, taking place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, will feature 16 teams.

They are made up of the eight Europa League group winners and the eight teams that came through the knockout play-off round.

Victory in the last 16 will see teams progress to the quarter-finals in April.

Teams from the same nation cannot be drawn together, but Rangers could face one of the English teams.

Seeded teams for Europa League draw: West Ham, Brighton, Rangers, Liverpool, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal, Slavia Prague.

Unseeded teams for Europa League draw: Roma, Marseille, Sparta Prague, Sporting Lisbon, AC Milan, Qarabag, Benfica, Freiburg.

Seeded teams for Europa Conference League draw: Aston Villa, Lille, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Viktoria Plzen, Club Bruges, Fiorentina, PAOK, Fenerbahce.

Unseeded teams for Europa Conference League draw: Sturm Graz, Servette, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiakos, Ajax, Molde, Maccabi Haifa.

Liverpool, the current leaders of the Premier League, suffered defeats in two out of their three away matches in Group E, losing to Toulouse and Union Saint-Gilloise. Despite this, they managed to secure the top spot in the group.

West Ham, who emerged as the winners of the Europa Conference League last season, only dropped three points in Group A.

On the other hand, Brighton, participating in European competitions for the first time, defeated Ajax in both home and away matches to finish at the top of Group B.

Rangers, leading the Scottish Premiership, claimed the top spot in Group C after securing victories against Real Betis in both home and away matches, as well as against Sparta Prague.

Aston Villa progressed in the Europa Conference League by finishing at the top of Group E with an impressive 13 points from six matches.

👇 WATCH THE DRAW IN FULL 👇

Europa League
• Sparta Praha vs Liverpool
• Marseille vs Villarreal
• AS Roma vs Brighton & Hove Albion
• Benfica vs Rangers
• SC Freiburg vs West Ham
• Sporting vs Atalanta
• AC Milan vs Slavia Prague
• FK Qarabag vs Bayer Leverkusen

Conference League
AFC Ajax vs Aston Villa
Servette FC vs Viktoria Pilsen
Molde vs Club Brugge
Union Saint-Gilloise vs Fenerbahce
Dinamo Zagreb vs PAOK
Sturm Graz vs Lille
Olympiacos vs Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Haifa vs Fiorentina

England is well-positioned to secure a fifth Champions League qualification spot in the upcoming season’s expanded competition.

Despite being ranked third in the overall country coefficient list, behind Italy and Germany, England’s advantage has been highlighted by the recent elimination of Eintracht Frankfurt from the Europa Conference League.

This has left only five Bundesliga teams in European competition, compared to England’s six.

Furthermore, with three English teams competing in the Champions League, the challenge of accumulating ranking points is more difficult. France, currently in fourth place, suffered the elimination of three teams last night, while Spain, with five of its initial eight European qualifiers still in the mix, is in fifth place.

England missed out on gaining any ranking points this week due to the absence of its teams in the play-offs.

Both England and Italy have four teams participating in the draws.

Europa League and Conference League 2023/24 – key dates

March 7: Europa League and Conference League last-16 first legs
March 14: Europa League and Conference League last-16 second legs
March 15: Europa League and Conference League quarter-final and semi-final draws
April 11: Europa League and Conference League quarter-final first legs
April 18: Europa League and Conference League quarter-final second legs
May 2: Europa League and Conference League semi-final first legs
May 9: Europa League and Conference League semi-final second legs
May 22: Europa League final – Dublin, Ireland
June 7: Europa Conference League final – Athens, Greece

Twitter users give their reaction as British clubs discover last-16 opponents in the Friday’s 23/24 Europa League and Conference League draws…

@stevonevo1: Tough but not the worst draw #rangersfc

@murphy_lee04: Tough draw that, Benfica have some real quality players, but I really fancy us to win at Ibrox if we come away with a respectable scoreline in the away game. #EuropaLeague #rangersfc

@CM_11: In the Europa League last 16 draw there were three draws consisting of teams who were in the same Group and have already played twice, which is farcical.
Freiburg v West Ham
Sporting v Atalanta
Qarabag v Leverkusen
Delighted Milan & Leverkusen avoided each other at the end.

@bfcplev: What a draw lads #bhafc

@FPLSeagull: Wow! Flights booked – see you in Rome 🇮🇹 #bhafc

@CockneyDazza: Freiburg is a good draw for us @WestHam just can’t be complacent thinking it’s already won after beating them already this season. Brighton vs Roma is a decent tie. #COYI #EuropaLeague

@Kelly77722: Atleast the away fans will finally get to visit #whufc

@Antiguamann: Well they wouldnt let is in the first time, so only right we go back again ⚒️ #whufc

@germanhammers: this time with all of us over here 🙌💪

@_ludicrousspeed: Can’t wait, gonna be sat near Roma fans at the Amex, atmosphere should be rocking #bhafc

@CaptainComplia1: Bring it on!!!! #bhafc

@lanu73: Glad to be able to see the Seagulls in Rome after having been to AMEX twice this year! It won’t be easy. Roma is on a positive trend, they have changed coach and the Stadio Olimpico can make a difference: it won’t be easy. Forza Seagulls!

@Scaife51: Going to Prague days before the City game is decent. Not to mention they aren’t the strongest team. Could’ve been a top team like AC Milan or a team miles away in Azerbaijan. Very good draw! 👍🏻 #lfc

@Phil79Allen: Could’ve been better, could’ve been worse. The timing of the games (three days before City, three days before Everton) remains the biggest challenge of navigating the last 16 – regardless of the opponent. #lfc

@thomashope1998: Liverpool surely underdogs in this with all their injuries ??? #lfc

@jackgreen408: Flights have just gone from £81 to £272 in the space of 2 minutes 🤯 #lfc

@TheRealTeacher9: Not the opponent I wanted based on their thrashing to Galatasaray, but no doubt we’ll be up for it!! #YNWA #lfc

@SkinoMino: 2nd leg at home was more important than the opposition. Well pleased. Up the Reds… #lfc

@tommo2611: Decent, but not easy draw, they literally just took Galatasary apart last night with ease, so we’ll see #lfc