Europa League Round of 16

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Albion straight through to the last-16 to be played in March 2024

By beating Olympique de Marseille at the Amex Stadium last night to top Group B, Albion avoided the play-off round in February 2024. Instead they will go straight through to the last-16 round of the competition in March.

From now on it’s a straight knock-out contest, each tie being played over two legs, home and away, before the one-off final in Dublin on Wednesday, 22 May.

Each of eight runners-up from the group stage – clubs such as Marseille – will now face a play-off against third-placed clubs from the Champions League groups. The draw for this stage is on Monday, 18 December. The winners of those eight ties, played over two legs on 15/22 February, will go forward to the Round of 16.

The draw for the Round of 16 will take place on Friday, 23 February 2024 and will be streamed live on Uefa.com. In this draw the group winners, including Albion, will be seeded. This means they will face one of the clubs emerging from the February play-offs.

It also means that the second leg will be staged at home. Thus Albion would have the advantage of any extra-time and penalty shootout required being held at the Amex Stadium. Note that ties are decided purely on goals scored over two legs – there is no “away goals” rule any more.

Those Round of 16 ties will be played on 07 March and 14 March. Albion will therefore have an away game on Thursday, 07 March, and a home game on Thursday, 14 March.

Note that there is no provision to prevent clubs from the same group meeting each other again, so Albion could play Marseille in March over two legs should the latter qualify.

So, which clubs might Albion be drawn against? Here are the possibilities. Remember, half of these clubs will be eliminated in February:

  • Azerbaijan
    • Qarabağ (Baku)
  • Czech Republic
    • Sparta Prague
  • France
    • Lens
    • Marseille
    • Rennes
    • Toulouse
  • Germany
    • Freiburg
  • Italy
    • AC Milan
    • Roma
  • Netherlands
    • Feyenoord (Rotterdam)
  • Portugal
    • Benfica (Lisbon)
    • Braga
    • Sporting Lisbon
  • Switzerland
    • Young Boys (Bern)
  • Turkey
    • Galatasaray (Istanbul)
  • Ukraine
    • Shakhtar Donetsk (played their Champions League matches in Hamburg, Germany)

There will be just 13 days between the draw on 23 February and the first (away) leg against one of the above clubs on 07 March.

Tim Carder