Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, Valencia, Napoli, Lazio, Porto – just a few of the big teams taking part in the Europa League this season. With such famous teams and more in the lineup, expect the last 32 draw of the UEFA Europa League to throw up a few humdingers.
The draw in Nyon will be watched with considerable interest, even if the spotlight will be largely taken by the UEFA Champions League last 16 draw, which will be held an hour prior to the Europa League one.
However, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Dortmund and more involved in this season's last 32 of the Europa League, the sometimes-forgotten second competition of Europe should pique the interest of quite a few fans across the world.
Manchester United dropped down to the Europa League after only managing a third-place finish in their Champions League group. The defeat to Wolfsburg on the final Matchday will still be rankling Louis Van Gaal, and having suffered defeat to Bournemouth in the English Premier League at the weekend, the Dutchman will hope for a kind draw.
United could face the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Fiorentina, Sevilla, the defending champions, Valencia and Villarreal, while there are a few kinder draws in there as well.
The same can be said about Liverpool, who have seen their momentum just quelled a bit of late. Jurgen Klopp, though, remains confident in his squad, and with Liverpool expected to make a fair few signings in January, no team will particularly fancy facing the Reds in the round of 32.
The 32 teams have been bifurcated into two groups – seeded and unseeded – with one seeded team set to be drawn with an unseeded one. Teams from the same Europa League group in the previous round and same country, though, cannot be drawn together, which means fans will have to wait a while longer to see a Manchester United vs Liverpool clash in Europe.
The last 32 ties will be played on 18 February and 25 February next year.
Seeded teams: Group winners: Molde, Liverpool, Krasnodar, Napoli, Rapid Wien, Braga, Lazio, Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Basel, Tottenham Hotspur, Schalke, Athletic Bilbao.
UEFA Champions League third-place (four best-placed teams): Porto, Olympiakos, Manchester United, Bayer Leverkusen.
Unseeded teams: Runners-up: Fenerbahce, Sion, Borussia Dortmund, FC Midtjylland, Villarreal, Marseille, St-Etienne, Sporting Lisbon, Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Sparta Prague, Augsburg.
UEFA Champions League third-place teams (next four): Sevilla, Valencia, Galatasaray, Shakhtar Donetsk.
Where to Watch Live
The Europa League draw is set to begin at 1 pm local time (5.30 pm IST, 12 pm GMT, 7 am ET).
Live TV coverage: India: Ten Action.
UK: BT Sport.
USA: Fox Sports.
Thailand, Indonesia, North Africa, Spain, Australia, France, Middle East, Canada: Bein Sports.
Live streaming: UEFA.com.
