When is the Europa League last-16 and knockout stage draw? Date, start time and how to watch

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The draw for the last 16 of the Europa League takes place on Friday as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United learn their potential routes to the final in May.

The two Premier League clubs are among the favourites to win the competition despite some poor form domestically, and they are joined in the draw by 14 other clubs including Rangers, Lazio and Athletic Bilbao.

With the play-off matches having concluding on Thursday night, Spurs and United know they will face either the winner of Galatasaray v AZ Alkmaar (1-4 after first leg) or the winner of Real Sociedad v FC Midtjylland (2-1 agg) in the round of 16.

And with the two English clubs being seeded in third and fourth respectively, they cannot meet again until the final, with both sides hoping that they can go far in this competition as they look to salvage a poor league season.

Here’s everything you need to know:

When is the draw for the Europa League last 16?

The draw for the next rounds of the Europa League takes place at 1pm CET (12pm GMT) on Friday, 21 February at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.

The draw will follow the conclusion of the Champions League last-16 draw, which begins at around 11am GMT.

How can I watch it?

The draw will be streamed live on Uefa’s website. You can also follow dedicated coverage on The Independent’s live blog on the day.

Which teams qualified automatically?

The teams who finished in the top eight of the competition’s new league phase table automatically qualified for the last 16.

Those clubs were:

Lazio
Athletic Bilbao
Manchester United
Tottenham
Eintracht Frankfurt
Lyon
Olympiacos
Rangers

Who are in the play-offs?

The 16 teams who finished between ninth and 24th in the league phase table went into the play-offs, which conclude on Thursday night.

Here are the scores after the first legs:

AZ Alkmaar 4-1 Galatasaray
Porto 1-1 Roma
Twente 2-1 Bodo/Glimt
PAOK 1-2 FCSB
Ferencvaros 1-0 Viktoria Plzen
Union SG 0-2 Ajax
Midtjylland 1-2 Real Sociedad

How does the last-16 draw work?

According to the new rules, the top-eight sides will be placed into seeded pairs ahead of the round of 16, and will all play the second legs of their last-16 ties at home.

The seeded pairs consist of the teams who finished first and second, third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and seventh and eighth in the league phase – for example, United and Spurs make up one seeded pair as they finished third and fourth respectively.

The seeding is relevant for the last 16 as it determines which two opponents each club can be drawn against.

For example, the first seeds will face the winners of the knockout phase play-off ties involving the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th-placed teams.

As United and Tottenham have been placed in the same pair, they will face either the winner of Galatasaray v AZ Alkmaar (1-4 after first leg) or the winner of Real Sociedad v FC Midtjylland (2-1 agg) in the round of 16.

What about the quarter-finals and semi-finals?

From the knockout play-offs onwards the tournament is a bracket, so potential opponents in the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals were also pre-determined by pairings that were set according to league phase positions.

As the bracket was set after the end of the league phase, teams already know their potential opponents.

In this case, the draw is only made to determine the order of the matches (i.e. who plays at home in each leg).