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Albion are back in Europe - here's our guide to the UEFA Conference League
We will enter the competition at the play-off stage in August.
Nick Szczepanik
2026-05-25T11:00+01:00
Albion fans celebrate at the Amex on Sunday after the club secured a second season of European football.
Save the date, Albion fans: Monday 3 August. That is when the draw will be made for the club's first matches in the 2026-27 UEFA Conference League.
And if you are feeling confident, you might also want to keep Wednesday 2 June 2027 free for the final, which will be played at the Besiktas Stadium in Istanbul.
The Conference League is a mammoth competition involving 167 teams and various knockout rounds that will whittle the numbers down to 48 clubs before Albion join the fun in a final play-off round prior to the start of the league phase.
So that draw on 3 August is for a two-legged tie in the play-off round, to be played on 20 and 27 August, with the winners advancing to the league phase.
Albion are expected to be seeded in the draw along with Atalanta, Freiburg, Monaco and Getafe, who will also join the competition at the same stage as Albion.
Our unseeded opponents will have advanced through previous rounds or been eliminated from the Champions League or Europa League qualifying rounds.
Already confirmed as joining the draw in the previous round will be big names such as Ajax, Braga, FC Copenhagen, IFK Goteborg and Panathinaikos, as well as Hibernian and Motherwell from north of the border.
If Albion progress the draw for the league phase will take place on Friday 28 August, and the six matchdays will be Thursdays 15 and 22 October, 5 and 26 November, and 10 and 17 December.
Further knockout rounds will take place on 11 and 18 March, 8 and 15 April, and 29 April and 6 May before the final in June. The winners will play in the Europa League in 2027-28.
DATES:
Play-off round: Draw 3 August; first leg 20 August; second leg 27 August.
League phase: Draw 28 August; matchdays 15 October, 22 October, 5 November, 26 November, 10 December, 17 December.
Knockout phase playoffs: Draw 15 January; first leg 18 February; second leg 25 February.
Round of 16: Draw 26 February (and for all subsequent rounds); first leg 11 March; second leg 18 March.
Quarter-finals: first leg 8 April; second leg 15 April.
Semi-finals: first leg 29 April; second leg 6 May.
Final: 2 June.
THE FORMAT EXPLAINED...
From the 2024/25 season, UEFA introduced a new “league phase” format, replacing the old group stage. Here is how it works.
Instead of traditional groups, the competition now uses one large league table.
How does it work?
• 36 teams in a single league
• Each team plays 6 matches
• 3 at home, 3 away
• Opponents are drawn from different seeding pots
• Teams do not play every other club, only six selected opponents
How does the league table work?
All 36 teams are ranked together based on:
• Points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw)
• Goal difference
• Goals scored
• Other UEFA tie-break rules
What happens after the league phase?
After all matches are completed:
• Top 8 teams qualify automatically for the round of 16
• Teams finishing 9th to 24th enter a knockout play-off round, where two-legged ties determine who reaches the round of 16
• Higher-placed teams are seeded
• Teams finishing 25th to 36th are eliminated from the competition
What comes next?
From that point onward, the format is a standard knockout competition:
• Round of 16
• Quarter-finals
• Semi-finals
• Final (single match at a neutral venue)
All rounds except the final are played over two legs, home and away, with the aggregate score deciding the winner.
Author
Nick Szczepanik
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