It’s not necessarily the competition Tottenham fans want to be participating in when it comes to European football, but it’s a tournament nonetheless, and presents an opportunity for Spurs to end their 13-year trophy drought.
The inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League will ensure that at least 34 UEFA national associations are represented in the group stage of one or more competitions. Unfortunately for Tottenham, no team qualifies directly into the group stage, meaning they will have to firstly qualify for the tournament.
Where do Spurs enter the competition?
Well, thirty-two teams enter the Conference League group stages after three qualifying rounds and a final play-off round. However, fortunately for Spurs fans, as one of the top seeds, they only need to worry about the latter.
Thus, the new manager, expected to be Paulo Fonseca, will take his side into the play-off round, facing a two-legged encounter to reach the group stages of the new competition.
The play-off round draw will take place on August 2, with the games scheduled to go ahead on August 19 and 26. If Spurs do go through as expected, they will begin their Conference League campaign in the Group Stage on Thursday September 16.
What happens next?
Group stage games will then take place roughly every fortnight – apart from a slightly longer break in October – and will continue through until 9 December.
There will be eight groups of four teams, followed by knockout round play-offs, the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
The eight group winners automatically go through to the last 16. Additional knockout round play-offs will then be played before the round of 16 between the eight group runners-up and the third-ranked teams of the UEFA Europa League groups.
Group Stage Fixtures:
16 & 30 September, 21 October, 4 & 25 November, 9 December
