UEFA Europa League group stage draw: Live stream, how to watch online, pots, qualified teams and how it works

What you need to know ahead of the Europa League draw in Switzerland

By Gabriel Fernandez

Oct 2, 2020 at 6:03 am ET • 1 min read

UEFA Europa League 2019/20 Round of 32 Draw

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Just a bit over a month after the final took place, the draw for the group stages of the 2020-21 UEFA Europa League are about to take place. The big event will happen in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday at the House of European Football and you can watch it on CBS Sports HQ at 6 a.m. ET.

CBS Sports HQ will provide Europa League group stage draw coverage as part of its programming, with studio analysis before and after the groups are announced.

How to watch

Date: Friday, Oct. 2 | Time: 6 a.m. ET
Location: UEFA headquarters -- Nyon, Switzerland
Live stream: CBS Sports HQ

How the draw works

For the competition, 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four. These groups will be decided with teams being selected from seeded pots they've been placed in. The seeding has been determined based on how the clubs performed in the Champions League and Europa League over the past five years -- this value is called the "club coefficient." In the end, one team from each of the four pots will be in a group. The exception to this is that teams will not be allowed to play a club from their own association.

This year's top clubs include Arsenal (91.000 club coefficient), Roma (80.000), Napoli (77.000), Benfica (70.000) and Bayer Leverkusen (61.000). Other notable teams include Leicester City, Villarreal, Real Sociedad, Feyenoord, Hoffenheim and Nice. The first match day is set for October 22nd. The rest of the schedule, including knockout stage dates, can be found here.