Crystal Palace Set for Conference League Knockout Phase Draw
Crystal Palace will learn their opponents for the knockout stage of the Conference League during the draw scheduled for Friday, November 16, at 12:00 GMT.
Having finished 10th in the league phase, the Eagles missed direct qualification for the round of 16 but will be seeded for the play-off round.
This seeding ensures that Palace will host the second leg of their match at Selhurst Park.
Oliver Glasner's team is already aware that they will face either Sigma Olomouc from the Czech Republic or Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the play-offs.
If Palace progresses, they will be matched against either Mainz from Germany or AEK Larnaca from Cyprus in the round of 16, scheduled for March.
Teams in the Knockout Phase Play-Off Draw
Sixteen teams will find out their fates in the upcoming draw, with Crystal Palace among the eight seeded teams.
The unseeded teams will play the first leg of the play-off at home.
Seeded Teams:
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Celje (Slovenia)
Crystal Palace (England)
Fiorentina (Italy)
Lausanne-Sport (Switzerland)
Lech Poznan (Poland)
Rijeka (Croatia)
Samsunspor (Turkey)
Unseeded Teams:
Drita (Kosovo)
Jagiellonia (Poland)
KuPS (Finland)
FC Noah (Armenia)
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus)
Shkendija (North Macedonia)
Sigma Olomouc (Czech Republic)
Zrinjski (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Understanding Palace's Matchups
Teams are paired based on their standings at the conclusion of the league phase, resulting in four seeded pairs. This means that clubs finishing in positions nine and ten, eleven and twelve, thirteen and fourteen, and fifteen and sixteen are grouped together and seeded.
The clubs ranked from 17th to 24th form the four unseeded pairs.
Each seeded pair enters the same knockout phase bracket, where they will compete against the clubs in the corresponding unseeded pairs.
Thus, ninth-seeded Lausanne-Sport and tenth-seeded Crystal Palace will be drawn against the unseeded teams Zrinjski Mostar and Sigma Olomouc, who finished 23rd and 24th, respectively.
Since Mainz finished seventh and AEK Larnaca eighth in the league phase, they have been placed in the same bracket for the round of 16, where they could face either Crystal Palace, Zrinjski Mostar, Sigma Olomouc, or Lausanne-Sport.
While clubs can face teams from the same national association in the knockout phase play-offs, there are currently no other English clubs competing in the tournament. Additionally, teams may encounter opponents they faced during the league phase.
This article is part of BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything series.
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