Europa League draw as it happened: Manchester United draw Fenerbahce, Southampton face Inter

Follow live coverage of Friday's Europa League group stage draw

A view of the Europa League trophy (GETTY IMAGES)

Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of today's Europa League group stage draw, which will see Manchester United and Southampton learn their European fate.

• Europa League draw: What time does it start, what TV channel is it on, where can I watch it live?
• West Ham United vs Astra Giurgiu: Bilic's men crash out of Europa League after shock defeat
• Champions League draw: Guardiola faces daunting path in search of European glory
• Arsenal Champions League fixtures: Gunners face PSG in difficult group stage draw
• Tottenham Champions League fixtures: Spurs face tricky tests in group stage draw

Follow the draw with our live blog below...

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What time does it start?

The draw will take place at 12.00pm BST in Monaco.

How does it work?

48 clubs, including United, Southampton and the League of Ireland's Dundalk, will be drawn into 12 groups.

The teams are seeded into four pots, with one team from each pot going into each group.

Two qualify from each group. They are joined in the next round - the round-of-32 - by the eight third-placed sides from the Champions League group stage.

Who's in the pots?

Pot 1

Schalke 04, Zenit St Petersburg, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, Olympiakos, Villarreal, Ajax, Internazionale, Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Viktoria Plzen

Pot 2

AZ Alkmaar, Braga, Salzburg, Roma, Fenerbahce, Sparta Prague, PAOK, Steaua Bucharest, Genk, APOEL, Standard Liege, St-Etienne

Pot 3

Gent, Young Boys, Krasnodar, Rapid Wien, Slovan Liberec, Celta Vigo, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Feyenoord, Austria Wien, Mainz, Zurich, Southampton

Pot 4

Panathinaikos, Sassuolo, Qarabag, Astana, Nice, Zorya Luhansk, Astra Giurgiu, Konyaspor, Osmanlispor, Qabala, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Dundalk

When will the ties be played?

The matches will be held on 15 and 29 September, 20 October, 3 and 24 November and 8 December.

[26 August 2016 12:08 · Mark Critchley]

More waffle. Andres Palop's now telling us how brilliant Sevilla's 2007 Uefa Cup victory was.

A polite reminder that Sevilla, as current holders, are not in this draw.

[26 August 2016 12:12 · Mark Critchley]

Claudio Ranieri lookalike Giorgio Marchetti's back.

You may remember him as the man with the bottom-tier patter from yesterday's interminable Champions League draw.

[26 August 2016 12:13 · Mark Critchley]

Don't worry, the draw's coming. We're moments away now...

They're just going through the rules.