The draw for the Europa League takes place this afternoon with the three Premier League clubs involved in the competition discovering who they will face in the league phase of the tournament.
Bournemouth and Sunderland both qualified for the competition after finishing sixth and seventh in the top-flight last season and will feature in Europe’s second tier tournament this year. It will be the first time that Bournemouth have undertaken a European campaign while Sunderland are playing in Europe for the first time since the 1973-74 season.
They will be joined by Crystal Palace after the Eagles won the Conference League title last season under Oliver Glasner. Palace are now led by Pierre Sage who will mastermind their campaign and hope to take them into the further reaches of the Europa League this term.
Joining these three clubs in the competition are Celtic, after their painful defeat in Champions League play-offs, as well as European heavyweights Juventus, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen while Olympiacos, Real Sociedad, Marseille and more bring plenty of experience to a tournament that will be difficult for the English teams.
Follow along for all the updates from the Europa League draw with our live blog below:
Confirmed Europa League teams and pots
The draw splits the teams into four different pots and then makes the league phase fixtures through a combination of selecting names from each pot.
All will be explained further shortly but for now, here’s how the teams have been placed:
Pot 1
Leverkusen (GER)
Benfica (POR)
Juventus (ITA)
Milan (ITA)
Lyon (FRA)
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Olympiacos (GRE)
Real Sociedad (ESP)
Marseille (FRA)
Pot 2
Ferencvaros (HUN)
Viktoria Plzen (CZE)
Union SG (BEL)
GNK Dinamo (CRO)
Salzburg (AUT)
Celtic (SCO)
Sparta Praha (CZE)
Rennes (FRA)
Anderlecht (BEL)
Pot 3
Sturm Graz (AUT)
Lech Poznan (POL)
Crystal Palace (ENG)
Bournemouth (ENG)
Sunderland (ENG)
Celje (SVN)
Jagiellonia (POL)
Omonia (CYP)
Celta (ESP)
Pot 4
Hoffenheim (GER)
Besiktas (TUR)
Torreense (POR)
H. Beer-Sheva (ISR)
N.E.C. (NED)
OFI Crete (GRE)
Lillestrøm (NOR)
Levski Sofia (BUL)
Ararat-Armenia (ARM)
*British teams in bold.
Mike Jones28 August 2026 10:15
When is the Europa League draw?
The draw will begin from 12pm BST on Friday 28 August.
If the Champions League is anything to go by, the first ball could be drawn at around 12:30pm.
The draw will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max in the United Kingdom, the joint host broadcasters in the UK of the Champions League alongside Prime Video.
As with the past couple of seasons, the draw will arrange the eight matches each team contests in the 36-team first phase – facing two teams from pots one, two, three and four.
Half of the matches will be at home, the other half away.
Mike Jones28 August 2026 10:07
Europa League draw
Bournemouth, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Celtic take their place in the Europa League draw – which will be revealed later this afternoon.
Bournemouth have qualified for Europe for the first time in their history while Sunderland are back in a continental competition for the first time since 1974.
Crystal Palace will be bidding for more European glory after their victory in the Conference League last season, meaning there will be three Premier League sides involved.
Celtic, meanwhile, dropped into the Europa League after their embarrassing collapse against LASK in the Champions League play-off second leg on Tuesday night.
Juventus, AC Milan, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Lyon and Real Sociedad are the top European sides who the British teams could be drawn with in today’s draw.
Mike Jones28 August 2026 10:00
Good morning!
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of today’s Europa League draw.
The draw takes place at 12.00pm and will determine the fixture list for the league phase of the competition.
Premier League clubs, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace will all discover who they face in the first phase of the competition as they seek to emulate Aston Villa and win the tournament this year.
We’ll have all the important information you’ll need to know ahead of the draw and live updates from the draw itself so stick around.
Mike Jones28 August 2026 09:36