Who could Arsenal play in the Europa League next season and when is the group stage draw?

Everything you need to know about Arsenal's participation in next year's Europa League

Arsene Wenger will lead Arsenal in Europe's second-tier competition for the first time since 2000 (AP)

Arsenal will spend at least a season outside of the Champions League for the first time in 20 years after failing to secure a top-four finish on the final day of the Premier League season.

Europe’s second-tier club competition is unfamiliar territory for the Gunners, whose last campaign at that level came in the 1999/2000 season.

The situation may not be ideal, but Arsene Wenger and the club’s supporters can already start to put plans in place for their European travels next season.

When will Arsenal enter?

The good news for Arsenal is, by virtue of finishing fifth in the Premier League, they will bypass earlier qualifying rounds and enter the competition at the group stage.

Who could they play?

48 teams will play in the Europa League group stage, competing in 12 groups of four.

Villarreal, FC Koln, Lazio, Atalanta, Vitoria de Guimaraes, Lokomotiv Moscow, Zulte Waregem and Vitesse are all guaranteed a place in the groups already.

Manchester United are also guaranteed a place, but will qualify for the Champions League instead if they beat Ajax in Wednesday’s Europa League final.

Six more clubs, from Spain, France, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland and Ukraine, will enter the group stage automatically.

The rest of the entrants will be made up from the 22 winners from the Europa League play-off round and the 10 losers from the 2017/18 Champions League playoff round.

When is the draw?

The group stage draw will be held on Friday 25 August.

When will the group stages start?

The group stages begin on Thursday 14 September, lasting through until Thursday 7 December.

Would Arsenal be seeded?

Arsenal have the highest coefficient on any club to currently be involved in next season’s competition, and are therefore all but certain to be seeded in the draw for the group stages.

Seedings will only be confirmed once the identities of the teams to have qualified for the group stages are known.