Conference League draw LIVE! Chelsea learn fixture fate in revamped competition

Conference League draw LIVE!

Chelsea will host Irish club Shamrock Rovers in the Conference League league phase. The Blues will also welcome Gent and Armenian minnows FC Noah to Stamford Bridge, while their three away matches will see them face Bundesliga side Heidenheim, a trip to Athens to face Panathinaikos and a lengthy trek to Kazakhstan as they go up against Astana.

The order of the fixtures will be confirmed on Saturday, but Chelsea will get their campaign underway on October 3. Shamrock Rovers will also travel to face Northern Ireland’s Larne, in what will be a hugely-anticipated fixture for both sides, as well as welcoming Welsh club The New Saints to Dublin.

Saints are the first club from the top-flight Cymru Premier to feature in the group stages of a European competition, and can looking forward to blockbuster trip to Italy to take on Fiorentina. Their three home fixtures are against Heidenheim, Omonoia and Petrocub. Hearts, meanwhile, will host Heidenheim, Omonoia and Petrocub, with their away matches coming against Copenhagen, Cercle Brugge and Dinamo Minsk.

Conference League draw latest news

• Chelsea to host Shamrock Rovers

• The New Saints face Fiorentina trip

• Larne to take on Shamrock Rovers

• New Conference League format explained

• When will the fixtures be played?

Chelsea fixtures confirmed

14:24 , Matt Verri

And that’s the draw wrapped up.

Here’s a look at the full set of fixtures for those in Pot 1.

Chelsea will host Irish club Shamrock Rovers, and also welcome Gent and Armenian minnows FC Noah to Stamford Bridge.

Their three away matches will come against Bundesliga side Heidenheim, a trip to Athens to face Panathinaikos and a lengthy trek to Kazakhstan as they go up against Astana.

Larne fixtures

14:18 , Matt Verri

Gent H

Molde A

Olimpija A

Shamrock Rovers H

St Gallen H

Dinamo Minsk A

Hearts fixtures

14:09 , Matt Verri

Copenhagen A

Heidenheim H

Omonoia H

Cercle Brugge A

Petrocub H

Dinamo Minsk A

The New Saints fixtures

14:08 , Matt Verri

Fiorentina A

Djurgarden H

Astana H

Shamrock Rovers A

Panathinaikos H

Celje A

Shamrock Rovers fixtures

14:07 , Matt Verri

Chelsea A

Apoel H

SK Rapid A

The New Saints H

Borac H

Larne A

14:04 , Matt Verri

Right, time for Pot 4.

The New Saints, Shamrock Rovers and Hearts about to learn their set of six opponents.

13:59 , Matt Verri

Hearts will host Bundesliga side Heidenheim, who also go up against Chelsea.

Tricky set of fixtures for the German club.

13:57 , Matt Verri

Larne know that they will travel to face Gent, while The New Saints have a blockbuster tie away to Fiorentina.

Full fixtures for the British clubs coming up very shortly...

13:53 , Matt Verri

That home clash against Irish side Shamrock Rovers the stand out fixture for Chelsea.

Panathinaikos and Astana fairly lengthy away trips, with German side Heidenheim also to be visited.

Chelsea fixtures

13:50

Gent H

Heidenheim A

Astana A

Shamrock Rovers H

Panathinaikos A

Noah H

Gent fixtures

13:49 , Matt Verri

Chelsea A

Molde H

Omonoia H

Lugano A

TSC H

Larne A

It's time!

13:47 , Matt Verri

Waffling over, here we go.

Draw coming up now...

Draw explained

13:43

Time for Giorgio Marchetti to explain how the draw works and tell us how exciting and dramatic UEFA competitions are.

All you need to know:

Six pots, each including six teams, have been created, based on the UEFA coefficient ranking of the 36 qualified clubs. There are teams from qualifying and 12 losers from the Europa League play-off round.

Each team will be manually drawn using physical balls during the sort of ceremony which fans are familiar with, starting with Pot 1.

As each team is picked out, a software programme will then randomly draw one opponent from each pot. This will be revealed during the ceremony, along with their home-away designations.

Like the Europa League and Champions League, the Conference League will feature just one league table of all 36 clubs.

Each team will play six matches against six different opponents, consisting of three home games and three away. Clubs from the same association will not play each other and no team can face more than two opponents from one other country.

Here we go!

13:36 , Matt Verri

The ceremony has started. We’re about 15 montages away from the draw beginning.

For now, here’s a reminder of the pots for the draw. Each club will face one side all six pots.

Europa League draw

13:27 , Matt Verri

A few minutes until we get underway in this Conference League.

Just had the Europa League draw - here is who the British clubs will be going up against.

Manchester United

• Rangers (H)

• Porto (A)

• PAOK (H)

• Fenerbahce (A)

• Bodo/Glimt (H)

• Viktoria Plzen (A)

• FC Twente (H)

• FCSB (A)

Rangers

• Tottenham (H)

• Manchester United (A)

• Lyon (H)

• Olympiakos (A)

• Union SG (H)

• Malmo (A)

• FCSB (H)

• Nice (A)

Tottenham

• Roma (H)

• Rangers (A)

• AZ Alkmaar (H)

• Ferencvaros (A)

• Qarabag (H)

• Galatasaray (A)

• Elfsborg (H)

• Hoffenheim (A)

Maresca asked about Conference League priorities

13:18 , Matt Verri

Speaking after last night’s defeat, Enzo Maresca insisted Chelsea will take the Conference League seriously this season.

Asked where their European endeavours rank amid Chelsea’s priorities this term, the Italian boss replied: “It is a competition where we are going to try and do our best in.

“I think tonight, once again, the team shows in the way we started that the team was there. Then the game, we concede; they had some chances and we lost a little bit of confidence.

“But overall, even in the second-half I am now thinking a bit that I remember three times one-on-one with the goalkeeper. In the end, if we are able to take the chances, especially in the first-half when we are 1-0 up, if we are able to score the second one then the game is finished.

“It's one more competition. We have Conference League, Premier League, FA Cup, the Carabao Cup - they are all competitions where we are going to try and do our best and then we will see where we arrive.”

All eyes on Monaco!

13:08 , Matt Verri

Worse places to spend a Friday afternoon...

History for The New Saints

13:01 , Matt Verri

Welsh side The New Saints will be in the league phase draw, after a sensational win last night.

They are the first club from from the top-flight Cymru Premier to feature in the group stages of a European competition, having beaten FK Panevezys in the play-off round.

“It’s not only history for the football club but the history of Welsh domestic football,” boss Craig Harrison told BBC Sport.

“It’s massive – it gives everyone the opportunity to move forward. It’s huge, it’s brilliant.”

Chelsea through to league phase... just

12:48 , Matt Verri

Chelsea ensured they will be in today’s Europa Conference League draw despite a nervy 2-1 second-leg defeat to Servette in Switzerland last night.

When Christopher Nkunku scored early from the penalty spot, the Blues were 3-0 up on aggregate and seemingly cruising through their play-off tie with minimal fuss.

But Jeremy Guillemeno finished well before half-time to level it up on the night, before Enzo Crivelli headed home with 20 minutes remaining to set up a grandstand finish as Chelsea came under huge pressure.

Nicolas Jackson had a goal disallowed for offside and Cole Palmer then hit the bar, with the Blues unable to find the goal that would have made things more comfortable, but they survived the significant scare to secure a 3-2 aggregate win.

When will the fixtures be played?

12:40 , Matt Verri

Matchday 1: October 3, 2024

Matchday 2: October 24, 2024

Matchday 3: November 7, 2024

Matchday 4: November 28, 2024

Matchday 5: December 12, 2024

Matchday 6: December 19, 2024

Conference League format explained

12:31 , Matt Verri

Six pots, each including six teams, have been created before the draw, based on the UEFA coefficient ranking of the 36 qualified clubs. There are teams from qualifying and 12 losers from the Europa League play-off round.

Each team will be manually drawn using physical balls during the sort of ceremony which fans are familiar with, starting with Pot 1.

As each team is picked out, a software programme will then randomly draw one opponent from each pot. This will then be revealed during the ceremony, along with their home-away designations.

Like the Europa League and Champions League, the Conference League will feature just one league table of all 36 clubs.

Each team will play six matches against six different opponents, consisting of three home games and three away. Clubs from the same association will not play each other and no team can face more than two opponents from one other country.

The top eight will qualify directly for the knockout stages. Clubs finishing ninth to 24th will face off in a play-off round and those finishing 25th to 36th will be knocked out.

Pots for this afternoon's draw

12:25 , Matt Verri

Pot 1: Chelsea, Copenhagen, Gent, Fiorentina, LASK, Real Betis

Pot 2: Istanbul Basaksehir, Molde, Legia Warsaw, Heidenheim, Djurgarden, APOEL Nicosia

Pot 3: Rapid Vienna, Omonia Nicosia, HJK Helsinki, Vitoria, Astana, Olimpija Ljubljana

Pot 4: Cercle Brugge, Shamrock Rovers, The New Saints, Lugano, Mlada Boleslav, Hearts

Pot 5: Petrocub, St Gallen, Panathinaikos, TSC Backa Topola, Borac Banja Luka, Jagiellonia

Pot 6: Celje, Larne, Dinamo Minsk, Pafos, Vikingur Reykjavik, Noah

How to watch Conference League draw

12:16 , Matt Verri

TV channel: The draw will be shown on TNT Sports. It is scheduled to begin at 1:30pm BST.

Live stream: Subscribers will be able to watch on the Discovery+ app.

The draw will also be shown for free on UEFA.com and the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

LIVE coverage: Follow all the action right here with us!

Good afternoon!

12:08 , Matt Verri

Hello and welcome to Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of the Europa Conference League draw!

Chelsea are among the clubs in Pot 1, having just about edged through their play-off tie against Servette last night.

New format, new draw... all will be explained!

Draw is coming up at 1:30pm BST from Monaco.