Europa Conference League draw LIVE! West Ham learn last-16 opponents

Europa Conference League draw LIVE!

West Ham are set to resume their European journey as today they learn their first opponents for the knockout stage with the last-16 draw. The Hammers are the only English team in the competition and head into the draw as one of the seeds.

The Hammers made easy work of their group during the first half of the season, winning all six matches as expected, but their domestic form is far from convincing. Ahead of this afternoon’s draw in Nyon, West Ham find themselves in the Premier League relegation zone and facing a real prospect of relegation from the top flight as manager David Moyes fights for his job.

It means winning the Europa Conference League is likely West Ham’s only option of returning to European competition next season, though will they be tempted to concentrate on their struggles closer to home? Follow the draw LIVE below with our dedicated blog.

Europa Conference League latest news

• Start time: 12pm GMT

• How to watch: BT Sport

• Seeded teams

• Unseeded teams

• West Ham best and worst draws

12:43 , Alex Young

That’s all for today’s two draws! Thanks for following along.

Draw in full

12:26 , Alex Young

Larnaca v West Ham

Fiorentina v Sivasspor

Lazio v AZ Alkmaar

Lech Poznan v Djurgardens

Basel v Slovan Bratislava

Sheriff Tiraspol v Nice

Anderlecht v Villarreal

Gent v Ìstanbul Basaksehir

12:22 , Alex Young

That’s the draw in full!

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Gent vs Basaksehir

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Anderlecht vs Villarreal

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FC Sheriff vs Nice

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Slovan Bratislava vs Basel

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Djurgarden vs Lech

12:18 , Alex Young

Lazio vs AZ Alkmaar

12:17 , Alex Young

Fiorentina vs Sivasspor

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Larnaca vs West Ham

12:15 , Alex Young

Right, here we go.

12:14 , Alex Young

Right, here we go.

12:09 , Alex Young

Liverpool legend Vladimir Smicer is the special guest for the draw.

12:07 , Alex Young

...and here’s Giorgio Marchetti. It’s business time.

West Ham best- and worst-case draws

12:04 , Alex Young

Who would West Ham prefer? I reckon Lech Poznan is their best-case scenario today.

The worst? Lazio and then Basel, the two teams ranked above them in coefficient standings.

We’re back

12:02 , Alex Young

Heeeeere’s Pedro!

Who are the unseeded teams?

11:57 , Alex Young

A few tricky ties in store.

• Lazio

• Dnipro

• FC Sheriff

• Anderlecht

• Basel

• Fiorentina

• Gent

• Lech Poznan

To be honest, not a huge amount of difference between both sets.

Who are the seeded teams?

11:55 , Alex Young

West Ham in decent company.

• AZ Alkmaar

• Djurgardens

• Istanbul Basaksehir

• Nice

• Sivasspor

• Slovan Bratislava

• Villarreal

• West Ham

Plenty of pedigree in there.

How to watch

11:45 , Alex Young

TV channel: In the UK, the Conference League draw will be broadcast live on BT Sport 1 at 12pm GMT.

Live stream: UEFA will show the draw online via their official YouTube channel and website, while BT Sport subscribers can watch on the BT Sport website and app.

11:38 , Alex Young

It’s a short break for Pinto and pals as the Europa Conference League draw begins in 20 minutes or so.

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Arsenal will be relatively happy with that, I’d guess, having avoided the likes of Juventus, Roma and others.

Manchester United, meanwhile, won’t be as happy. Real Betis are no pushovers.

11:27 , Alex Young

The last-16 draw in full.

Union Berlin v Union SG

Sevilla v Fenerbahce

Juventus v Freiburg

Leverkusen v Ferencvaros

Sporting v Arsenal

Man Utd v Betis

Roma v Sociedad

Shakhtar v Feyenoord

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Shakhtar Donetsk vs Feyenoord

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Roma vs Real Sociedad

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Manchester United vs Real Betis

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Sporting vs Arsenal

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Bayer Leverkusen vs Ferencvaros

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Juventus vs Freiburg

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Sevilla vs Fenerbache

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Union Berlin vs Union Saint-Gilloise

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...and the seeds:

• Arsenal

• Union Saint-Gilloise

• SC Freiburg

• Ferencvaros

• Feyenoord

• Real Betis

• Real Sociedad

• Fenerbahce

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A reminder of the unseeded teams.

• Juventus

• Bayer Leverkusen

• Sporting CP

• Union Berlin

• Manchester United

• Shakhtar Donetsk

• Sevilla

• Roma

11:09 , Alex Young

Fulham legend Zoltan Gera is the special guest today to help with the draw

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Marchetti begins with the message of support for Turkey, Syria and Ukraine.

Underway

11:02 , Alex Young

Here’s Pedro Pinto!

10:56 , Alex Young

It’s almost time for the draw and Giorgio Marchetti’s time to shine.

Arsenal best- and worst-case senario

10:43 , Alex Young

Arsenal face a far tougher set of teams.

You would have to say Juventus and Roma are the teams to avoid for Mikel Arteta & Co, though Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting and perennial winners Sevilla will also prove difficult.

That leaves few else for a dream draw with Union Berlin, despite their impressive domestic form, and Bayer Leverkusen.

Man United best- and worst-case senario

10:38 , Alex Young

As detailed earlier, Manchester United are on the stronger side of the draw despite being an unseeded team.

A worst-case scenario for United would likely be Real Betis or Real Sociedad, two teams they would still expect to beat across two legs.

As for the easiest route to the quarter-finals for United, probably Union Saint-Gilloise or Ferencvaros fall into that category.

Last night: Roma and Sporting march on

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First-half goals from Andrea Belotti and Paulo Dybala saw Jose Mourinho's Roma overturn a first-leg deficit to beat Salzburg 2-1 on aggregate while Pedro Goncalves' double helped secure Sporting Lisbon a convincing 4-0 second-leg win against FC Midtjylland.

Sebastian Coates' header put Sporting ahead and Midtjylland were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when Paulinho was shown his second yellow card in two minutes.

Goncalves helped Sporting take full advantage after the interval, hitting a sweet volley from the edge of the box into the bottom corner before adding a second. The scoring was completed five minutes from time with a Stefan Gartenmann own goal sealing a 5-1 aggregate win for the Portuguese side.

Last night: Shakhtar and Bayer delight

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Shakhtar Donetsk progressed to the next round with a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win over Rennes following a dramatic finish to the match which saw a Jeanuel Belocian own goal in the 119th minute save the Ukrainian side.

Karl Toko Ekambi scored in the 52nd minute to bring the aggregate score level and send the match to extra time, where Ibrahim Salah appeared to have completed the turnaround for Rennes when he put the hosts ahead.

However, Belocian's own goal saw the game finish 3-3 on aggregate on the night and Shakhtar were able to seal victory in the shoot-out.

Meanwhile, Bayern Leverkusen are also in today’s draw after beating Monaco 5-3 on penalties following a 5-5 aggregate draw.

Breel Embolo's 84th-minute goal levelled the tie on aggregate, but Leverkusen converted all five of their penalties to seal victory.

Last night: Double Dutch despair

10:10 , Alex Young

Sevilla survived a scare at PSV Eindhoven to continue their bid for a record-extending seventh Europa League crown.

The Spanish side were leading 3-0 from the first meeting but second-leg goals from Luuk De Jong and Fabio Silva earned PSV a 2-0 win on the night, although it was not enough to deny the 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 champions.

Meanwhile, Union Berlin also reached the last 16 after easing through in an entertaining 3-1 second-leg win over Ajax.

After the first tie finished goalless, Robin Knoche's penalty put Union ahead on Thursday night and Josip Juranovic added a second before half-time.

Mohammed Kudus brought Ajax back into the game with a goal just minutes after the break, but Danilho Doekhi soon restored Union's two-goal cushion and the Eredivisie side's night was soured further when Edson Alvarez was sent off at the end.

Last night: Juve brush Nantes aside

09:58 , Alex Young

An Angel di Maria hat-trick saw Juventus ease to a 3-0 win against 10-man Nantes, the Italian giants progressing 4-1 on aggregate.

The Argentina winger opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a stunning curling shot before home defender Nicolas Pallois was dismissed for a handball on the line in the 20th minute.

Di Maria slotted home from the subsequent spot-kick and completed his treble with a 78th-minute header which just crossed the line.

Key dates

09:50 , Alex Young

The last-16 first legs will take place on March 9, 2023 — and the return fixtures will be a week later on March 16.

The winners of each tie will progress to the Europa League quarter-finals, the draw for which will take place the following day.

Unseeded teams

09:41 , Alex Young

So, here’s who Arsenal could face - bar Manchester United.

• Juventus

• Bayer Leverkusen

• Sporting CP

• Union Berlin

• Manchester United

• Shakhtar Donetsk

• Sevilla

• Roma

You would prefer to be in United’s shoes today, right?

Seeded teams

09:29 , Alex Young

Arsenal are the clear team to avoid among the seeded teams, in what looks like a relatively weak field.

• Arsenal

• Union Saint-Gilloise

• SC Freiburg

• Ferencvaros

• Feyenoord

• Real Betis

• Real Sociedad

• Fenerbahce

I would say the unseeded teams are a far bigger threat.

How does the draw work?

09:19 , Alex Young

It’s not just any draw this morning as there are still seeded and unseeded teams to contend with.

The eight unseeded teams will be drawn against the eight seeded teams, with the unseeded sides at home in the first leg of each tie.

Those who are seeded, including Arsenal, are the teams who finished top of their groups in the first half of the season.

The unseeded sides — including Manchester United — either finished second in their Europa League groups or dropped down from the Champions League.

How to watch

09:10 , Alex Young

TV channel: In the UK, the draw will be broadcast live on BT Sport 1 at 11am GMT.

Live stream: UEFA will show the draw live online via their official YouTube channel and website, while BT Sport subscribers can watch on the BT Sport website and app.

Welcome

09:00 , Alex Young

Good morning and welcome to Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of the Europa League draw.

We’ve had the play-off round, with a number of big teams being eliminated, and now welcome the group-stage winners including Arsenal.

Manchester United are the newly installed favourites to win the competition, but who will they need to beat along the way?

The draw is scheduled for 11am GMT, so stick with us.