Europa League and Conference League Matches Scheduled: Key Dates and Opponents
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The league phase draws for both competitions were made on Friday, with Europa League clubs set to play eight matches while Conference League sides will play six, an equal number home and away, between September 2026 and January 2027.
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CBS SportsThe 2026–2027 UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League draws took place on Friday, setting the stage for the league phase, which kicks off on September 16. The Europa League final will be held at Frankfurt's Stadion Frankfurt on May 26 while the Conference League final will take place at the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul on June 2. The Europa League will feature some of the biggest European teams such as AC Milan, Juventus, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Sociedad, among others. Here's the full list of games that will be played during the league phase:
BBC SportHow does the league phase work? In the Europa League, each of the 36 teams will play eight different teams, four at home and four away, in the league phase.
The Guardian SportSo when are the European draws taking place? Well the Europa League draw is happening at 12pm BST / 1pm CEST and the Conference League will happen directly after the Europa one has taken place.
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Sunderland reached Europe for the first time in 53 years and will travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan, while Bournemouth, in their first-ever European competition, will host the Italian club.
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BBC SportPublished Sunderland will mark their first European campaign since 1973 with a trip to the San Siro after drawing AC Milan in the Europa League.
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Scottish Premiership champions Celtic, who fell into the Europa League after surrendering a four-goal lead against LASK in the Champions League play-off tie earlier this week, will take on Marseille, Benfica and Besiktas.
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Sky SportsCeltic will host Marseille and travel to Marco Silva's Benfica among their eight Europa League matches, while Crystal Palace, last season's Conference League winners, will host LaLiga side Real Sociedad and visit France's Lyon.
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Celtic: Marseille (H), Benfica (A), Ferencvaros (H), Union SG (A), Celta Vigo (H), Omonia (A), Besiktas (H), Torreense (A).
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BBC SportCeltic: Marseille (home), Benfica (away), Ferencvaros (home), Union SG (away), Celta Vigo (home), Omonia (away), Bestikas (home), Torreense (away)
CBS SportsCeltic: Marseille, Benfica, Ferencvaros, Union SG, Celta, Omonia, Besiktas, Torreense
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Sunderland: AZ Alkmaar, Milan, GNK Dinamo, Anderlecht, Jagiellonia, Lech Poznan, Levski Sofia, Torreense
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Sky SportsSunderland: AZ Alkmaar (H), AC Milan (A), GNK Dinamo (H), Anderlecht (A), Jagiellonia (H), Lech Poznan (A), Levski Sofia (H), Torreense (A).
BBC SportEuropa League fixtures Sunderland: AZ Alkmaar (home), AC Milan (away), GNK Dinamo (home), Anderlecht (home), Anderlecht (away), Jagiellonia (home), Lech Poznan (away), Levski Sofia (home), Torreense (away)
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Crystal Palace: Real Sociedad (H), Lyon (A), Sparta Prague (H), Salzburg (A), Lech Poznan (H), Jagiellonia (A), Hoffenheim (H), Besiktas (A).
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CBS SportsCrystal Palace: Real Sociedad, Lyon, Sparta Praha, Salzburg, Lech Poznan, Jagiellonia, Hoffenheim, Besiktas
BBC SportCrystal Palace: Real Sociedad (home), Lyon (away), Sparta Praha (home), Salzburg (away), Lech Poznan (home), Jagiellonia (away), Hoffenheim (home), Besiktas (away).
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Hearts have also been drawn against Monaco and will also face a trip to Mohamed Salah's Trabzonspor.
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Sky SportsScottish Premiership side Hearts, owned by Brighton chief Tony Bloom, will host Monaco as well and take on Mohamed Salah's Trabzonspor, who also have Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana on loan.
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Conference League fixtures Hearts: Monaco (home), Pafos (away), Borac (home), Trabzonspor (away), Nordsjaelland (home), Thun (away)
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Sky SportsHearts: Monaco (H), Pafos (A), Borac (H), Trabzonspor (A), Nordsjaelland (H), Thun (A).
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Pot two Ferencvaros Viktoria Plzen Union Saint-Gilloise Dinamo Zagreb Red Bull Salzburg Celtic Sparta Prague Rennes Anderlecht
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CBS SportsPOT 2 Ferencvaros: Juventus, Milan, Viktoria Plzen, Celtic, Celje, Lech Poznan, Torreense, Hoffenheim
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Pot three Sturm Graz Lech Poznan Crystal Palace Bournemouth Sunderland Celje Jagiellonia Bialystok Omonia Celta Vigo
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CBS SportsPOT 3 Sturm Graz: Marseille, AZ Alkmaar, Rennes, GNK Dinamo, Celje, Bournemouth, OFI Crete, Hoffenheim
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The teams who finish in the top eight will qualify for the Europa League's round of 16. Those between ninth and 24th place will enter the play-off knockout round. The 12 teams ranked between 25th and 36th place will exit the competition when the league phase is concluded.
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The Guardian SportThe 16 teams ranked ninth to 24 go into a playoff round, with the eight winners going through to the last 16. The bottom eight are eliminated and will be taunted and booed until our throats are sore.
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The draw is pretty straightforward. Each team is allocated eight opponents, with four home games and four away games. Two opponents are taken from each seeding pot and teams cannot meet a team from their own country.
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BBC SportEach team will face two teams from each of the four pots and cannot face a team from the same country as themselves.
5 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 ESPN Champions League draw reaction: Good for Liverpool, bad for Barcelona, must-see games The Champions League is back! So let's unpack all the must-see games, winners and losers, and talking points from Thursday's draw for the 2026-27 league phase.
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02 Sky Sports Friday 28 August 2026 13:10, UK Sunderland will travel to AC Milan in the Europa League and Bournemouth will host the Serie A giants as Brighton and Hearts discovered their Conference League opponents.
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03 CBS Sports Bournemouth: Milan, Real Sociedad, Viktoria Plzen, Sparta Praha, Sturm Graz, Celta, H. Beer-Sheva, Lillestrom
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04 BBC Sport Bournemouth: AC Milan (home), Real Sociedad (away), Viktoria Plzen (home), Sparta Praha (away), Sturm Graz (home), Celta Vigo (away), Hapoel Be'er Sheva (home), Lillestrom (away)
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05 The Guardian Sport If you are wondering when the Champions League draw will happen, well it has already taken place. Have a read here to catch up with all the headlines from that:
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