The start of the Europa League is (unfortunately) approaching for another season at Arsenal, with the group stage draw set for next week.

The Europa League trophy is displayed ahead of the competition's quarter-finals draw, on March 15, 2019 in Nyon. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
The Europa League trophy is displayed ahead of the competition’s quarter-finals draw, on March 15, 2019, in Nyon. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The draw will take place at 13:00 BST on Friday 30th August, with BT Sport set to televise proceedings whilst UEFA show a live stream on their website.

Here are the teams that have qualified for the draw so far:

  • 104.000 Sevilla (ESP)
  • 101.000 Arsenal (ENG)
  • 93.000 Porto (POR)
  • 81.000 Roma (ITA)
  • 78.000 Manchester United (ENG)
  • 65.000 Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
  • 62.000 Beşiktaş (TUR)
  • 54.500 Basel (SUI)
  • 50.000 Sporting CP (POR)
  • 48.000 CSKA Moskva (RUS)
  • 40.000 Wolfsburg (GER)
  • 37.000 Lazio (ITA)
  • 29.000 Mönchengladbach (GER)
  • 23.000 Saint-Étienne (FRA)
  • 20.713 Getafe (ESP)
  • 17.500 Standard Liège (BEL)
  • 11.699 Rennes (FRA)
  • 10.500 İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)
  • 7.780 Olexandriya (UKR)
  • 6.250 Wolfsberg (AUT)
  • 6.000 Lugano (SUI)

It’s impossible for teams to play against other clubs for their own association in the group stage, so Arsenal can’t draw Manchester United, and the Gunners won’t be able to draw Wolves if they make it past Torino in their qualifier.

There is also a seeding system based on club coefficients, and as you can see Arsenal have the second-highest coefficient of any qualified club so far.

That means they won’t be able to draw teams like Sevilla and Porto, but sides like Lugano and Olexandriya are certainly on the table. For the exact details of the pots, we’ll have to wait for the final qualifiers to be played.

The Europa League qualifiers take place on the 22nd and 29th August, with another 21 teams to join the 21 above. Then a further six teams join from the losers in the ongoing Champions League qualifiers, to make the final total of 48 teams in 12 groups.

Keep an eye on those two sets of qualifiers for Arsenal’s potential group stage opponents ahead of the draw next Friday.