On Friday (12:00 UK time) we will announce who our opponents are in the revamped UEFA Europa League.

We are returning to the competition for the first time since 2020/21, with the tournament following a different format to the previous one we participated in: the previous group stage, where teams were divided into groups of four, has now become a single 36-team competition stage, with each club taking on eight different teams once, four at home and four away. The top eight will progress directly to the round of 16, while teams finishing between ninth and 24th will play in knockout round play-offs, with the winners of all eight two-legged matches progressing to the last 16.

For the semi-automatic draw of the competition on Friday, teams are drawn into four pots based on their individual club coefficient. Each team is drawn against two opponents from each pot, one home and one away. We are in pot one.

All 36 teams are drawn manually using physical balls – Each time a club is drawn from the hat, automated computer software will randomly select eight opponents from the four potsThe software also determines which matches are home and which are away.

At this stage of the competition, teams cannot face opponents from their own country, meaning we can’t face Manchester United – and a maximum of two teams from another country may play.

The qualifying matches conclude tonight (Thursday), but here’s a preview of some of the opponents we could face at the moment…

Pot 1: Roma, Porto, Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio
Pot 2: Olympiacos, Lyon
Pot 1 of 2: Real Sociedad, AZ
Pot 3 or 4: Malmö, Athletic Club, Hoffenheim, Nice, Twente, Ludogorets Razgrad or Petrocub, RFS or APOEL, Anderlecht or Dinamo Minsk, Besiktas or Lugano
Pot yet to be determined: Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, USG, Dynamo Kiev, Bodo/Glimt, Slavia Prague, Qarabag, Midtjylland, Ajax or Jagiellonia Bialystok, LASK or FCSB, Maccabi Tel Aviv or TSC, Shamrock Rovers or PAOK, Ferencvaros or Borac Banja Luka , Molde of Elfsborg, Braga of Rapid Wien, Hearts of Viktoria Plzen

Friday’s draw will begin with pot one, with opponents being allocated one at a time to each of the nine participating teams, meaning we’ll get to know our opponents quite early in the draw process. This will continue for the remaining pots in descending order.

The final dates and kick-off times for each match will be announced after the draw, possibly over the weekend. The matches will take place on the following dates…

Matchday 1: September 25/26, 2024
Matchday 2: October 3, 2024
Matchday 3: October 24, 2024
Matchday 4: November 7, 2024
Matchday 5: November 28, 2024
Matchday 6: December 12, 2024
Matchday 7: January 23, 2025
Matchday 8: January 30, 2025