Tottenham Hotspur and the Europa League Round of 32 Draw
By Aaron Coe
The Round of 32 draw for the Europa League to be played in February 18 will occur at noon GMT after the Champions League draw, so what can Tottenham expect?
With just two groups – seeded and unseeded – about all Tottenham Hotspur know coming into the Round of 32 draw for the UEFA Europa League is that they will not draw Antwerp. With any of 15 possible outcomes in the other side of the draw from Tottenham, certainly anything is possible. So here is the lowdown on the draw.
The Draw Basics
The 32-team draw occurs immediately after the 16 team Champions League draw in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday December 14 at the House of European Football. Unlike the Champions League, which has more limited possibilities almost anything can happen in the round of 32, which should start selecting teams at noon GMT.
The 32 teams have been split into two equal pots of “seeded” and “unseeded” teams. The seeded teams consist of the 12 Group Stage winners Groups A – L, of which Tottenham were one. Those 12 teams are joined by the “four best third-ranked teams in UEFA Champions League Group Stage” according to UEFA.com and create the 16 seeded teams.
This right here creates some imbalance as four teams that were good enough to make it to the Champions League are now on the “unseeded” side of the tournament making a potential matchup problem for someone. But we do not make the rules UEFA does and it is what it is, some lucky seeded team will get RB Salzburg – current Austrian Bundesliga leaders – while another team is going to get Molde who recently lost to the 15th placed team in the Premier League.
From each pot an unseeded home team, will be drawn first, then a seeded away team, will be drawn as the opponent. If the seeded team is from the same national association or came from the same Group in the previous round, the seeded team is the away team for the next matchup and another seeded side is drawn.
No English teams are unseeded, so only Royal Antwerp who Tottenham played in the Group Stage is out. Also, of note is that teams from Russia and Ukraine are not allowed to be drawn against one another. There are two Ukrainian teams Shakhtar Donestak (seeded) and Dynamo Kyiv (unseeded from Champions League) and one Russian team Krasnodar (unseeded from Champions League).
How to Watch
Both the Champions League and Europa League draws will be broadcast live on BT Sports in the UK and on CBS All Access in the US. The matches will be played in February with Champions League on February 16 & 17 and Europa League on February 18. The second leg of matches will occur February 23-25.
2020-21 Round of 32 Europa League Team List
Seeded teams
AC Milan (ITA)
Arsenal (ENG)
Ajax (NED)*
Club Brugge (BEL)*
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)
Hoffenheim (GER)
Leicester City (ENG)
Leverkusen (GER)
Manchester United (ENG)*
Napoli (ITA)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Rangers FC (SCO)
Roma (ITA)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)*
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP)
Unseeded teams
Royal Antwerp (BEL)
Benfica (POR)
S.C. Braga (POR)
Crvena zvezda (SRB)
Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)*
Granada (ESP)
Krasnodar FC (RUS)*
LOSC Lille (FRA)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)
Molde (NOR)
Olympiacos (GRE)*
Real Sociedad (ESP)
RB Salzburg (AUT)*
Slavia Praha (CZE)
Wolfsberg (AUT)
Young Boys (SUI)
*Teams that came from Champions League