The UEFA Europa Conference League draw takes place on Friday, 28 August at 12:00 BST in Monaco, with 36 clubs split into six pots for a league phase that now runs to six matches. Kelty Hearts are the only club to have so far qualified for the league phase, while Rangers are guaranteed pot one if they qualify.
Hearts in and Rangers waiting on qualification
BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team put the Scottish angle plainly: Hearts are the only club already through, and Rangers' reward for making it would be a place in the top seedings. That leaves the draw with a genuine split for Scottish fans, because one side of the picture is settled and the other still depends on qualification.
Rangers' recent European level has not been flattering. They finished 32nd in the UEFA Europa League league phase last season with 4 points from 8 games, and they were 11th in the current Premiership standings at the time of the draw build-up. Pot one would still be a clear seeding lift if they get there.
The other names already in the pot-one conversation are Benfica, Atalanta and SC Braga. Benfica finished 3rd in the 2025 Primeira Liga, Atalanta ended 7th in Serie A and Braga were 4th in the 2025 Primeira Liga, which gives a decent sense of the level Rangers would be trying to join.
How the new league phase works
The draw is smaller and tighter than the Champions League and Europa League versions. Each club plays 6 league phase matches instead of 8, and only the top 8 go straight to the round of 16.
Places 9 to 24 enter the knockout play-off round, while the bottom 12, from 25th to 36th, go out immediately. In a 36-club format, that makes the seeding more than a decorative detail, because the route after the draw is set very quickly.
BBC Sport's feature team called the 2026-27 draw for Friday, 28 August at 12:00 BST in Monaco, and that is when the pots finally get sorted. Hearts are already on the board, Rangers are not, and the first real test of the new format comes when the names are pulled together in Monaco.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
