The Europa Conference League draw for the play-off round of the 2022/23 tournament has been confirmed, with Lazio, Braga and Anderlecht all hoping to reach the knockout stages.
The draw was made up of eight teams who finished third in their Europa League group and then dropped out in the Europa Conference League, with those teams being drawn against the eight teams to finish second in their group in that competition .
West Ham finished top of their group and therefore received a bye to the round of 16, but teams such as Fiorentina, Trabzonspor and Basel failed to finish first and were therefore pitted against the one of the teams to qualify for the Europa Conference League. two-way draw in the play-off round.
Lazio are arguably the biggest side looking to qualify for the Europa Conference League Round of 16, with the Italian side set to face Cluj in their play-off. Lazio are currently third in Serie A, but finished third in the Europa League group stages, and thus fell.
Braga against Fiorentina also looks like an interesting game. Both regularly feature in European competitions, with the Portuguese outfit perhaps more inclined to come out of this clash.
Elsewhere, Ghent will travel to Azerbaijan to face Qarabag, a side who only played in the Champions League in the 2017/18 season. Bodo/Glimt will face Lech Poznan in another of the play-offs, with the Norwegians much stronger in their respective domestic league than their Polish counterparts.
Turkish champions Trabzonspor play against Basel and will be keen on their chances against the Swiss despite starting the Super Lig season somewhat inconsistently.
Cyprus’ AEK Larnaca take on Ukrainian side Dnipro-1, a club competing in Europe for the first time in their history. Founded only in 2017, Dnipro-1 quickly rose to the Ukrainian top flight before finishing third in the league last season. Fittingly, the two sides actually faced each other in a play-off to make the Europa League in August – AEK Larnaca won 5-1 on aggregate but they will face off again to try to retain their European journey.
Sheriff Tiraspol will face Partizan Belgrade over two legs with the aim of reaching the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League as well.
Finally, the Bulgarian Ludogorets face Anderlecht.
Full Europa Conference League play-off draw:
Qarabag vs Ghent
Trabzonspor vs Basel
Lazio vs Cluj
Bodo/Glimt vs Lech Poznan
Braga against Fiorentina
AEK Larnaca vs Dnipro-1
Sheriff Tiraspol vs. Partizan
Ludogorets vs Anderlecht
