A guide to the Europa League 3QR draw

Wolves and Crusaders will find out today who they could be facing in the Europa League third qualifying round this afternoon – if they get through the upcoming second round tie.

The draw for the penultimate stage of qualifying takes place at 1pm this afternoon in Nyon, Switzerland, but how will it work?

The winner of the match between Wolves and Crusaders will be one of the 72 entrants into the third qualifying round stage. All 52 teams in the 'League Path' have been divided into four groups of ten teams and one group of 12 teams.

Within the five groups, the 52 teams are split equally as 26 seeded teams (including Wolves and Crusaders) and 26 unseeded teams.

On Sunday, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were assigned a place in group three – one of the groups of ten teams.

Draw procedure

All the clubs in group three have been ordered randomly and identified by a number – 1 to 5 for the seeded teams and 6 to 10 for the unseeded, with Wolves and Crusaders assigned number 1.

The numbers for group three are as follows:

Seeded

1. Wolves / Crusaders 
2. Legia Warszawa (POL) / KuPS (FIN) 
3. Gent (BEL) / Viitorul (ROU) 
4. Midtjylland (DEN) 
5. AZ Alkmaar (NED) / Häcken (SWE)

Unseeded

6. AEK Larnaca (CYP) / Levski Sofia (BUL) 
7. Pyunik (ARM) / Jablonec (CZE) 
8. Dunajská Streda (SVK) / Atromitos (GRE) 
9. Rangers (SCO) / Progrès Niederkorn (LUX) 
10. Mariupol (UKR)

During the draw, two bowls will be prepared, one containing balls with slips of paper numbered 1–5 for the seeded teams and the other containing balls with slips of paper numbered 6–10 for the unseeded.

A ball will be taken from each bowl and placed in an empty bowl in the middle, where they will be shuffled. One of the two balls is drawn at random, then opened to display the number it contains. The second ball is drawn to complete the pairing.

For example, if the first ball drawn contains the number 2 and the second the number 8, The winner of the second qualifying round match between Legia Warsaw and KuPS will play the winner of the game between Connor Ronan’s DAC and Atromitos.

In addition, the first ball drawn, here containing the number 2, designates the home team for the first leg on Thursday 8th August, while the second ball drawn will be the home team for the second leg on Thursday 15th August.

Please remember, the dates of the fixtures, as well as possible fixture reversals regarding home and away teams for each leg, are still subject to change.

Any fixture changes will be announced on wolves.co.uk and across the club’s social media channels as soon as they are confirmed. With this in mind, supporters are urged to avoid making any travel or accommodation arrangements until that time.