The Standard

Conference League draw: Date, start time, teams, fixtures and new format for 2024/25 season

By Alex Young,

5 hours ago

Conference League returns this season with a shortened name and new format.

Chelsea are the sole representatives from England, with Kilmarnock and St Mirren coming from Scotland and The New Saints, Caernarfon, Bala and Connah's Quay from Wales in the earlier qualifying rounds.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of draw...

When is the Conference League draw?

The Conference League draw will take place on Thursday, August 30, 2024 at 1.30pm UK time.

What is the new Conference League format?

A new season brings a new format to the Conference League. Like the Europa League and Champions League, it 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.

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=05wgCn_0v5W4GPn00 — St Mirren matchday programme for their second qualifying round game (Steve Welsh/PA Wire)

How does the Conference League draw work?

Six pots, each including six teams, will be created before the draw, based on the UEFA coefficient ranking of the 36 qualified clubs. There will be 24 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 two opponents from each pot. This will then be revealed during the ceremony, along with their home-away designations.

The matchdays and kick-off times will then be formulated by UEFA and released on Saturday, August 31.