Six games, six different countries
Brighton know their autumn now. The Conference League draw, made in Monaco this afternoon, hands them Monaco themselves at the Amex, along with Universitatea Craiova and Kauno Zalgiris. The three away trips go to Panathinaikos, Getafe and Jablonec.
Athens is the one that stands out. Panathinaikos at the Leoforos is rarely a comfortable evening for a visiting side, and it arrives inside a league phase that runs only six matches rather than eight.
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Hearts pull the same French name
Hearts also drew Monaco, but at Tynecastle, alongside Borac and Nordsjaelland. Their travel takes them to Pafos, Trabzonspor and Thun. Two Scottish and English clubs therefore share a common opponent without ever meeting each other, which is exactly what the pot system is built to produce.
Monaco face the reverse: away at Brighton, away at Hearts, away at CSKA Sofia, with Freiburg, Lincoln Red Imps and Nordsjaelland coming to the Stade Louis II. Three of their six ties are on the road.
Ajax and Atalanta were paired together, the tie of the round on paper, with Atalanta travelling to Amsterdam. Ajax also host Getafe and Thun, and go to Midtjylland, Sint-Truiden and Hajduk Split.
How the pots worked
Thirty-six clubs were split into six pots of six by club coefficient, and each side drew one opponent from every pot. Pots were then paired off, one and two together, three and four, five and six, so each team plays one side from each pairing at home and the other away.
Clubs from the same association could not be drawn together, and no team faces more than two opponents from any single country.
The matches land on 15 and 22 October, 5 and 26 November, then 10 and 17 December. Besiktas Park in Istanbul stages the final on 2 June 2027.
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