How the new Europa League format works - and when Tottenham and Man United will play

After this year’s Champions League action kicked off recently, it’s now the turn of the next competition in the pecking order - the Europa League - to take centre stage this week. The competition, which will see Rangers, Manchester United, and Tottenham compete for the trophy, gets underway tomorrow. But there is no longer a group stage; instead there is a league stage.

Stick with us. This is really not that complicated. Basically, the Europa League and Champions League are finally actually living up to their names in a sense and becoming a league format, at least partially, rather than a straight tournament. The competition has expanded from 32 teams to 36 and rather than having eight groups of four teams compete to qualify for the knockouts, all 36 will join one huge league table.

This means that, where a team would previously have played three other teams twice in the group stage, they instead now play eight other teams once. Four of those games will be at home and four away. Each side’s opponents, in an attempt to keep things fair, will be drawn based on ‘pots’. Clubs go into one of four seeding pots and will play two opponents from each - meaning everyone should face roughly the same overall level of difficulty across their eight league fixtures.

It works just like any other league table: three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. The eight teams who record the most points will progress automatically to the knockout stages, the eight teams who get the least are eliminated.

What about the middle pack? They have slightly more work to do. The teams who finish in ninth to 24th place each have a two-legged playoff to get through to the last sixteen. Now for the complicated bit…

Wait, no. Once we reach the last sixteen, it’s just a normal straight knockout. The most complicated bit of the whole system is probably the software used for the league stage draw, and that is so irrelevant to us mere mortals that we don’t need to explain it here (plus, the draw has already taken place). The new league system itself works almost exactly the same as any other league - the difference is that not all 36 teams play each other. The top teams get a reward - progression to the next round - while the bottom get the punishment of elimination. Those in the middle have to go through a playoff. What has been made out to be a mind-boggling, bureaucratic, labyrinthine system is actually really very easy.

So who have United and Tottenham drawn? Both were in pot one and cannot face each other (teams from the same country can’t play each other in the league phase). The Red Devils face FC Twente in their competition opener - a familiar name for Erik ten Hag, who played for them previously.

Spurs’ first game is against Azerbaijani side Qarabağ FK. Both sides will face Rangers during the league phase in enticing all-British encounters. United’s other opponents include Porto and a tie against old manager Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe. Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglou’s side will encounter Serie A team Roma and Turkish team Galatasary. Those are the headline fixtures; United’s other opponents are PAOK, FK Bodo/Glimt, FC Viktoria Plzen, and FCSB, while Spurs will also face AZ Alkmaar, Elfsborg, Ferencváros, and Hoffenheim.

United’s campaign starts tomorrow night against FC Twente, while Spurs begin theirs on Thursday against Qarabağ.