The new domestic season is just around the corner after a summer of international football at the Olympics, Euro 2024 and the Copa America – and for one Premier League team in Chelsea, a new start under a new boss also means a new competition.
They’ll be taking part in the newly rebranded Uefa Conference League – formerly the Europa Conference League – after finishing sixth in the top flight last season. That would have seen them sneak into the Europa League, but Manchester United’s FA Cup victory instead bumped them down into the third Uefa competition.
Enzo Maresca has had a tricky start to life as boss after switching from Leicester in summer and he’s still yet to take charge of a top-flight game, but he’ll find out this afternoon what task lies before him and his team to make it through the Conference League play-off round.
Follow the live blog below for the full play-off round draw in the Europa League at 12pm BST and Conference League at 1pm BST.
Europa and Conference League play-off draws – LIVE
Chelsea await Uefa Conference League draw
11:52 , Karl Matchett
So the Europa League draw is up first of course, starting in around 10-15 minutes. Chelsea’s Conference League draw will follow that from 1pm.
The last time they were in a third-tier European competition was 1998/99, when they were in the old Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and reached the semi-finals, losing to Mallorca before Lazio in turn beat the Spanish side in the final.
Since then they’ve won the 2012 Champions League, the 2013 Europa League, the same competition again in 2019 and the 2021 Champions League.
Bit of a fall over the last couple of years since then, highlighting the job Maresca has on his hands.
Chelsea await Uefa Conference League draw
11:45 , Karl Matchett
New Chelsea signing Marc Guiu reveals reasons behind Barcelona exit
Chelsea’s new striker Marc Guiu says his move to England was all about playing in the Premier League and not about money. The 18-year-old joined from Barcelona after the Blues triggered a £5m release clause in his contract, a move he described as a dream.
“I’ve always dreamt of playing in the Premier League and Chelsea is a great club with a lot of history,” he said.
“It was a tough decision but it was an amazing opportunity, so I had to go for it.”
The Spaniard has made four appearances for Chelsea during their preseason tour of the USA, scoring once in the 3-0 win over Club America – and he believes he is ready to make a name for himself in the Premier League.
New Chelsea signing Guiu reveals reasons behind Barcelona exit
Chelsea await Uefa Conference League draw
11:35 , Karl Matchett
Enzo Maresca hasn’t had an easy start to what is not an easy job, clearly.
Chelsea drew with Wrexham and lost to Celtic as well as Man City, though they have beaten Club America. Here’s what the head coach has said about his team’s summer form:
“I have no doubts about the progress this team is making in this moment. Mistakes are part of the process.
“I have known City for many years and even in friendly games, they don’t concede possession to the opposition, don’t concede many chances and they have long [spells of] possession. Thinking about the first half, I don’t remember them making six or seven passes in a row, so that was good from us off the ball.
“On the ball, we had many long [spells of] possession, some good chances and – I don’t know but I think – we had about 60 per cent possession in the first half.
“It doesn’t matter that it was a friendly game and they didn’t have six or seven of their starting players missing, this is the analysis of this moment.
“In any game, if you concede two goals [early on], it is not good.”
Chelsea await Uefa Conference League draw
11:25 , Karl Matchett
So this is one the more long-winded and quite absurd Uefa processes for these draws, involving teams from different paths and indeed different competitions, some of which are not yet known.
But the Groups are already set and seeded teams from each group therefore know they’ll be facing one of the unseeded options from that collection, meaning Chelsea’s options are thus:
Maribor (Slovenia) or FK Vojvodina (Serbia)
Spartak Trnava (Slovakia) or Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Paksi FC (Hungary) or Mornar (Montenegro)
St Patrick’s Athletic (Ireland) or Sabah (Azerbaijan)
Braga (Portugal) or Servette (Switzerland)*
Now, while that’s fairly straightforward for the most part, the top four fixtures listed there are Conference qualifying ties, so it would be Chelsea vs the winner of whichever they are drawn against.
If they are drawn against Braga or Servette, however, they will play the loser of that tie – as it’s a Europa League qualifier, so the loser drops down into the Conference play-off instead.
Chelsea await Uefa Conference League draw
11:15 , Karl Matchett
Chelsea are the big British club involved of course, but not the only one today. Also featuring from the UK and Ireland in the two draws will be…
Europa League:
The New Saints FC (WAL) – unseeded Group 1
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL) – unseeded Group 2
Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO) – unseeded Group 3
Conference League:
Kilmarnock FC (SCO) – unseeded Group 1
St Mirren FC (SCO) – unseeded Group 2
Chelsea FC (ENG) – seeded Group 3
St Patrick’s Athletic (IRL) – unseeded Group 3
Chelsea await Uefa Conference League draw
11:05 , Karl Matchett
We’ll explain shortly the entire draw procedure but for now you need to know Chelsea are seeded in Group 3, along with the following sides:
Seeded
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1. Chelsea (ENG)
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2. FC Iberia 1999 Tbilisi (GEO) / İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)
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3. FK Mladá Boleslav (CZE) / Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC (ISR)
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4. Ilves Tampere (FIN) / Djurgården (SWE)
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5. Molde FK (NOR) / Cercle Brugge KSV (BEL)
Unseeded
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6. NK Maribor (SVN) / FK Vojvodina (SRB)
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7. SC Braga (POR) / Servette FC (SUI)
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8. FC Spartak Trnava (SVK) / Wisła Kraków (POL)
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9. Paksi FC (HUN) / FK Mornar (MNE)
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10. St Patrick’s Athletic (IRL) / FC Sabah (AZE)
09:42 , Karl Matchett
Chelsea will discover their Europa Conference League play-off opponents on Monday when the draw is made in Nyon, Switzerland.
The Blues have endured a tough start to pre-season, with defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. And there is an early test in their 2024/25 campaign as qualifying for the Europa Conference League begins.
After Manchester United’s victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May secured Erik ten Hag’s side a place in the Europa League, the Blues dropped into the Europa Conference League.
And their first match in the competition starts later this month, handing new boss Enzo Maresca, who was recruited from Leicester to replace Mauricio Pochettino, an early challenge.
Chelsea will be in the Main Path of the play-off round and will sit as one of the seeds, meaning a tie against one of the unseeded sides over two legs. Uefa will release full seedings, any groupings and the procedure for the draw on Monday morning.
Here’s everything you need to know:
When is Europa Conference League play-off draw? Chelsea set to learn opponents
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