Conference League play-off draw live: Crystal Palace to learn opponents as Eagles look to make knockout rounds

Pedro Pinto is hosting the draw and begins by giving a summary of the league phase including the final matchday round up.

Pinto then explains that 16 teams will be drawn into eight play off fixtures.

Okay then, coverage of the Conference League play off draw is about to begin.

Crystal Palace must get through the play off in order to make it into the knockout rounds properly and Oliver Glasner will be confident his team can go on a long run in the competition.

Let’s see how it all plays out…

The following eight teams finished in the top eight in the league phase and automatically qualified for the knockout rounds:

• RC Strasbourg
• Raków Częstochowa
• AEK Athens
• Sparta Praha
• Rayo Vallecano
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Mainz
• AEK Larnaca

As mentioned above, the seedings are based on where each side finished in the league phase, so every club has a rough idea of who they’ll face in the play-offs.

The following list shows which clubs could face each other:

• Lausanne OR Crystal Palace vs Sigma Olomouc OR Zrinjski
• Lech Poznan OR Samsunspor vs KuPS Kuopio OR Shkëndija
• Celje OR AZ Alkmaar vs Noah OR Drita
• Fiorentina OR Rijeka vs Jagiellonia OR Omonoia

• Drita (KOS)
• Jagiellonia (POL)
• KuPS Kuopio (FIN)
• Noah (ARM)
• Omonoia (CYP)
• Shkëndija (MKD)
• Sigma Olomouc (CZE)
• Zrinjski (BIH)

There are 16 teams in the draw in total, with eight seeded clubs and another eight unseeded clubs. The teams who finished between 9th and 16th in the league phase are seeded, with those finishing between 17th and 24th unseeded.

• AZ Alkmaar (NED)
• Celje (SLO)
• Crystal Palace (ENG)
• Fiorentina (ITA)
• Lausanne-Sport (SUI)
• Lech Poznań (POL)
• Rijeka (CRO)
• Samsunspor (TUR)

According to Uefa, “clubs are paired based on their positions at the end of the league phase, and they form four seeded pairs (clubs in positions 9 and 10, 11 and 12, 13 and 14, and 15 and 16) and four unseeded pairs (positions 17 and 18, 19 and 20, 21 and 22, and 23 and 24).”

Then, the clubs in each seeded pair are drawn into the knockout phase bracket, against the clubs in each unseeded pair: clubs 9 or 10 against clubs 23 or 24, clubs 11 or 12 against clubs 21 or 22, clubs 13 or 14 against clubs 19 or 20, and clubs 15 or 16 against clubs 17 or 18.

This means that clubs already know that they will face one of two teams. In the case of Palace, the Eagles will be drawn against one of the sides who finished 23rd or 24th, so either HŠK Zrinjski Mostar of Bosnia or SK Sigma Olomouc of Czechia.

The draw for the play-offs will take place on Friday, 16 January at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw is scheduled to begin at 12pm GMT (1pm CET).

The draw will be streamed live on UEFA.com and the official UEFA Conference League app.

The ceremony sees the teams who finished between 9th and 24th in the league phase drawn out to face each other over two legs in a bid to reach the knockout phases proper.

Several sides who are among the favourites for the competition – including Palace – are in the draw alongside a range of European clubs, from minnows KuPS and Zrinjski Mostar to Italian giants and two-time runners-up Fiorentina.

Ties will be played on 19 and 26 February, with those sides who finished between 9th and 16th playing the second legs at home in principle.

Palace already have an idea of a rough route to the final, and fans and players alike can start evaluating who they might want to avoid.

If the Eagles get through their play-off tie then they will face either AEK Larnaca or German side Mainz, who currently sit 17th in the Bundesliga.

After that things could start to get tricky, with a potential tie against Strasbourg or Raków Częstochowa in the quarter-finals.

The semi-finals would be far from straightforward too, with potential to face Rayo Vallecano, Sparta Praha or Shakhtar Donetsk depending on results elsewhere.