Europa League Draw: Nottingham Forest Handed Nightmare Play-Off as Celtic Learn Fate
The draw for the 25/26 UEFA Europa League play-off round has been completed.
On Thursday night, the last round of fixtures in the first phase of the Europa League took place, with all 36 teams kicking off at the same time.
Premier League side Aston Villa secured automatic qualification to the round of 16 and also sealed a top-two finish by beating FC Salzburg 3-2 at Villa Park.
Aside from Villa, the likes of Lyon, FC Midtjylland, Real Betis, FC Porto, SC Braga, Freiburg and AS Roma are also through to the last 16 upon finishing in the top eight.
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Meanwhile, teams that finished 9th - 21st will have to take part in a play-off round in order to earn passage to the round of 16.
Teams that finished in 9th-16th will be seeded for the play-off, meaning they get the advantage of playing the second leg at home.
After beating Ferencvaros 4-0 at the City Ground, Nottingham Forest will be among the seeded teams in the draw as they finished in 13th place in the table.
Seeded Teams:
- Genk (9th)
- Bologna (10th)
- Stuttgart (11th)
- Ferencvaros (12th)
- Nottingham Forest (13th)
- Viktoria Plzen (14th)
- Red Star Belgrade (15th)
- Celta Vigo (16th)
Unseeded Teams:
- PAOK (17th)
- Lille (18th)
- Fenerbahce (19th)
- Panathinaikos (20th)
- Celtic (21st)
- Ludogorets (22nd)
- Dinamo Zagreb (23rd)
- Brann (24th)
On Friday afternoon, the draw for the play-off was made, with Premier League side Forest taking on Fenerbahce.
Meanwhile, Celtic has been drawn against Stuttgart. First-leg fixtures will take place on February 19, with return legs on February 26.
After the play-off ties are decided, the draw for the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals will be held on February 27.
Europa League Play-Off Draw in Full:
Genk vs Dinamo Zagreb
Bologna vs Brann
Stuttgart vs Celtic
Ferencvaros vs Ludogorets
Nottingham Forest vs Fenerbahce
Viktoria Plzen vs Panathinaikos
Red Star Belgrade vs Lille
Celta Vigo vs PAOK
Topics: Europa League, Football
Marcus Chan