Europa Conference League draw LIVE: West Ham learn group stage opponents

Manchester United and Arsenal found out their Europa League fate, as West Ham did likewise in the Conference League

Related: Mourinho targets Europa League as key goal in new campaign

Manchester United have drawn Spanish side Real Sociedad, Moldovan champions Sheriff and Cypriot minnows Omonia in the Europa League group stages, meanwhile, Arsenal have drawn PSV Eindhoven, Bodø/Glimt and FC Zurich.

Winners of the competition in 2017, United are back in the Europa League having failed to qualify for the Champions League last season. On their last tournament appearance in 2020/21, they reached the final under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but lost to Villarreal on penalties in Gdasnk.

In terms of the Gunners’ opponents, Dutch side PSV, who are managed by former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, were knocked out by Rangers in the Champions League play-offs.

Van Nistelrooy was involved in several high-tempered clashes with Arsenal during his playing career, notably with former Gunners defender Martin Keown, when the club’s rivalry with Manchester United was at its peak.

The Europa League draw was followed by the Conference League draw, where West Ham were placed ina group with Romanian side FCSB, Belgium’s Anderlecht and Silkeborg of Denmark.

Follow live updates from the Europa Conference League draw, below:

Europa Conference League group stage draw

• Arsenal drawn in a Europa League group with PSV, Bodø/Glimt and FC Zurich
• Man Utd to face Real Sociedad, Sheriff Tiraspol and Omonia in Europa League
• West Ham in the same Europa Conference League group as FCSB, Anderlecht and Silkeborg

[26 August 2022 12:04 · Michael Jones]

Here we go

The draw for the 2022/23 Europa League is about to get started. First up there is a video montage of last season’s best moments.

367 goals were scored in this competition last season - averaging one every 34 minutes - before Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Rangers in the final.

[26 August 2022 12:00 · Michael Jones]

Casemiro ready to go

Manchester United’s new signing Casemiro is ready to hit the ground running at Old Trafford and is looking forward to helping the club get back to winning trophies.

Is a Europa League medal in his future this season?

[26 August 2022 11:56 · Michael Jones]

Can Man Utd end their drought?

It’s been five years since Manchester United last won a trophy. They defeated Ajax 2-0 in this competition back in 2017 under then manager Jose Mourinho.

The closest they’ve come to winning a trophy since was again in the Europa League when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Red Devils lost 11-10 on penalties to Villarreal in 2021.

Is this the year they finally get back to lifting silverware?

[26 August 2022 11:53 · Michael Jones]

Which teams are paired?

Clubs that play in the same domestic leagues are paired so that they avoid each other and also play at different times during the group stages.

For the Europa League draw these are the paired clubs:

Roma & Lazio

Man United & Arsenal

Feyenoord & PSV Eindhoven

Rennes & Monaco

Real Sociedad & Real Betis

Union Berlin & Freiburg

Fenerbahçe & Trabzonspor

AEK Larnaca & Omonoia

[26 August 2022 11:50 · Michael Jones]

Third time lucky for Arsenal?

Arsenal are looking to go one better this years after twice being runners-up in the Europa League.

Their first run to the final ended with a 4-1 loss on penalties to Galatasaray following a goalless draw in 2000 and the second time they reached the final saw them lose 4-1 to Chelsea in Baku in 2019 under former boss Unai Emery.

[26 August 2022 11:45 · Michael Jones]

What happens in the group stage?

Once all the teams have been allocated one of the eight available groups they will face each of the other three clubs in their section twice.

The group winners automatically advance to the next round.

The group runners-up progress to the knockout stage play-off round, where they will face one of eight teams transferring from the Champions League having finished third in their groups.

The third-placed teams move into to the Europa Conference League, where they will face the group runners-up from that competition in the knockout round play-offs.

[26 August 2022 11:40 · Michael Jones]

How the draw works

The draws for Uefa competitions are unnecessarily complicated considering all it takes is to pull names out of a hat. So here’s a breakdown of how today’s Europa League draw will work:

For the group stage draw, the 32 clubs involved are seeded in four pots of eight.

The first pot comprises the Europa Conference League winners (Roma) and the top seven clubs in the club coefficient rankings. The second group has the next eight clubs in the rankings, and so on for groups 3 and 4.

There are also paired clubs from the same association and to ensure these teams kick off at different times the eight groups will be distinguished by colour: groups A to D will be red and groups E to H blue.

When a paired club is pulled out, for example, into a red group (A, B, C or D), the other paired club – once it has been drawn – will automatically be assigned to one of the four blue groups (E, F, G or H).

The matches in the red groups and the blue groups will be at alternate kick-off times during the group stages (17:45 or 20:00 BST).

[26 August 2022 11:35 · Michael Jones]

What time is the Europa League draw today?

The Europa League draw takes place this afternoon with both Arsenal and Manchester United set to learn their group stage opponents.

Eintracht Frankfurt were the winners last season, beating Rangers in the final, while Jose Mourinho’s Roma will be among the favourites after winning the Conference League.

Arsenal are back in European competition after a one-year absence, with Mikel Arteta’s side narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification to rivals Tottenham.

United will feature in the Europa League under Erik ten Hag. They were defeated in the final by Villarreal two seasons ago, and also reached the semi-finals the previous year.

[26 August 2022 11:30 · Michael Jones]

Europa League dates

The Europa League group stage will get underway in less than a fortnight and it’s full steam ahead from there as the group stage will be completed before the World Cup in November.

Here’s a full list of the key dates in this year’s competition.

Key Dates

Group stage

Matchday 1: 8 September 2022

Matchday 2: 15 September 2022

Matchday 3: 6 October 2022

Matchday 4: 13 October 2022

Matchday 5: 27 October 2022

Matchday 6: 3 November 2022

Knockout phase

Knockout round play-offs: 16 & 23 February 2023

Round of 16: 9 & 16 March 2023

Quarter-finals: 13 & 20 April 2023

Semi-finals: 11 & 18 May 2023

Final: 7 June 2023

[26 August 2022 11:25 · Luke Baker]

West Ham cruise past Viborg and into Europa Conference League group stage

After the Europa League draw (which is scheduled to get underway at 12pm), there will be the Europa Conference League draw. West Ham ensured their presence after beating Viborg in the play-offs last night.

The Hammers rediscovered their goalscoring touch as they booked another European tour with a 3-0 win. David Moyes’ side, without a point or a goal after three matches in the Premier League, ran out comfortable 6-1 winners on aggregate over the two legs of their qualifying play-off.

Italy striker Gianluca Scamacca, the £30million signing from Sassuolo, opened the scoring midway through the first half with his second goal in two European appearances.

Said Benrahma and Tomas Soucek also found the net after the break to put the seal on an ultimately comfortable evening in front of 1,000 noisy travelling fans in Denmark.