Europa League and Conference League: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace to learn last-16 opponents in Friday's draw

The Europa League and Conference League knockout draws take place on Friday with 16 teams left in each competition, including three Premier League clubs.

How do the draws work?

Both draws will take place on Friday, with the Europa League from 12pm and the Conference League from 1pm.

Follow live coverage of the draw on Friday on the Sky Sports website and app.

Every team's potential opponents for the next round has already been narrowed down to two possibilities.

Teams can play opponents from their own country and opponents they have already faced in the competition.

However, the sides that did not require a play-off will be seeded, meaning they get to play the second leg of their last-16 ties at home.

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Which teams will be in the draw?

Europa League

Seeded (finished top eight in the league phase)

• Lyon
• Aston Villa
• Midtjylland
• Real Betis
• Porto
• Braga
• Freiburg
• Roma

Unseeded (knockout play-off winners)

• Nottingham Forest
• Lille
• Panathinaikos
• Ferencvaros
• Stuttgart
• Bologna
• Celta Vigo
• Genk

Conference League

Seeded (finished top eight in the league phase)

• Strasbourg
• Rakow
• AEK Athens
• Sparta Prague
• Rayo Vallecano
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Mainz
• AEK Larnaca

Unseeded (knockout play-off winners)

• Crystal Palace
• Fiorentina
• NK Celje
• Rijeka
• Samsunspor
• AZ Alkmaar
• Sigma Olomouc
• Lech Poznan

Who the English sides could face next

Aston Villa: Celta Vigo or PAOK
Nottingham Forest: Real Betis or Midtjylland
Crystal Palace: Mainz or AEK Larnaca

When English sides could meet

With the midweek play-offs concluding, English teams know they will face one of two opponents but do not know their individual pathways until the draw is made.

The earliest two English teams could face each other is the quarter-finals of the Europa League between Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

Crystal Palace do not have any potential English opponents in the Conference League.

When will fixture dates be announced?

The round-of-16 match schedule will be available on Friday evening.

The quarter-final match schedule will be confirmed on March 19, while the semi-final schedule will be communicated on April 16.

What happened in the knockout play-offs?

Celta Vigo beat PAOK 3-1 on aggregate, winning 1-0 in their Europa League play-off second leg, while Lille bounced back from losing the first leg to win 2-0 at Red Star Belgrade.

Robbie Keane's Ferencvaros also overturned a one-goal first-leg deficit to win 2-0 at home and knock out Ludogorets Razgrad. Despite losing 1-0 at home to Celtic, Stuttgart also went through 4-2 on aggregate.

Panathinaikos beat Viktoria Plzen 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the second leg made it 3-3 on aggregate.

Nottingham Forest lost 2-1 at home to Fenerbahce but progressed 4-2 on aggregate with Callum Hudson-Odoi's second-half goal proving crucial.

Bologna beat 10-man Brann 1-0 on the night and 2-0 on aggregate. Genk survived a fightback from Dinamo Zagreb who, having scored three times to make it 3-1 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate, then had Luka Stojkovic sent off in extra-time either side of the home side scoring twice.

When are the 2025/26 knockout stages?

Europa League

Round of 16 draw: February 27
Round of 16: March 12 and 19
Quarter-finals: April 9 and 16
Semi-finals: April 30 and May 7
Final: May 20

Conference League

Round of 16 draw: February 27
Round of 16: March 12 and 19
Quarter-finals: April 9 and 16
Semi-finals: April 30 and May 7 May
Final: May 27

Where are the finals?

The Europa League final will be held at Besiktas Park in Istanbul on May 20.

The Conference League final will be one week later at the Leipzig Stadium on May 27.

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Europa League and Conference League: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace to learn last-16 opponents in Friday's draw