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The new domestic season is just around the corner after a summer of international football at the Olympics, Euro 2024 and the Copa America – and for one Premier League team in Chelsea, a new start under a new boss also means a new competition.
They’ll be taking part in the newly rebranded Uefa Conference League – formerly the Europa Conference League – after finishing sixth in the top flight last season. That would have seen them sneak into the Europa League, but Manchester United’s FA Cup victory instead bumped them down into the third Uefa competition.
Enzo Maresca has had a tricky start to life as boss after switching from Leicester in summer and he’s still yet to take charge of a top-flight game, but he’ll find out this afternoon what task lies before him and his team to make it through the Conference League play-off round.
Follow the live blog below for the full play-off round draw in the Europa League at 12pm BST and Conference League at 1pm BST.
After Manchester United’s victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May secured Erik ten Hag’s side a place in the Europa League, the Blues dropped into the Europa Conference League.
And their first match in the competition starts later this month, handing new boss Enzo Maresca, who was recruited from Leicester to replace Mauricio Pochettino, an early challenge.
Chelsea will be in the Main Path of the play-off round and will sit as one of the seeds, meaning a tie against one of the unseeded sides over two legs. Uefa will release full seedings, any groupings and the procedure for the draw on Monday morning.
Here’s everything you need to know:
Karl Matchett5 August 2024 09:42