Europa League and Conference League draws: British teams learn opponents

Celtic, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace will compete in the Europa League; Brighton and Hearts are in the Conference League; Europa League league phase begins on September 15 with Conference League on October 15

Sunderland will travel to AC Milan in the Europa League while Bournemouth will host the Serie A giants as Brighton and Hearts discovered their Conference League opponents.

The league phase draws for both competitions were made on Friday, with Europa League clubs set to play eight matches while Conference League sides will play six, an equal number home and away, between September 2026 and January 2027.

Sunderland reached Europe for the first time in 53 years and will travel to the San Siro to face AC Milan, while Bournemouth , in their first-ever European competition, will host the Italian club.

Celtic will host Marseille and travel to Marco Silva's Benfica among their eight matches, while Crystal Palace, last season's Conference League winners, will host LaLiga side Real Sociedad and visit France's Lyon .

Celtic: Marseille (H), Benfica (A), Ferencvaros (H), Union SG (A), Celta Vigo (H), Omonia (A), Besiktas (H), Torreense (A).

Sunderland: AZ Alkmaar (H), AC Milan (A), GNK Dinamo (H), Anderlecht (A), Jagiellonia (H), Lech Poznan (A), Levski Sofia (H), Torreense (A).

Bournemouth: AC Milan (H), Real Sociedad (A), Viktoria Plzen (H), Sparta Prague (A), Sturm Graz (H), Celta (A), Hapoel Be'er Sheva (H), Lillestrom (A).

Crystal Palace: Real Sociedad (H), Lyon (A), Sparta Prague (H), Salzburg (A), Lech Poznan (H), Jagiellonia (A), Hoffenheim (H), Besiktas (A).

Matchday 1: September 16/17 Matchday 2: October 15 Matchday 3: October 22 Matchday 4: November 5 Matchday 5: November 26 Matchday 6: December 10 Matchday 7: January 21, 2027 Matchday 8: January 28, 2027

Knockout phase play-offs: February 18 & 25, 2027 Round of 16: March 11 & 18, 2027 Quarter-finals: April 8 & 15, 2027 Semi-finals: April 29 & May 6, 2027 Final: May 26, 2027 (Stadion Frankfurt, Germany)

Brighton are competing in Europe for the second time in their history after beating Tromso in qualifying to reach the Conference League group stage.

Fabian Hurzeler's side will face their toughest test of the league phase at home against Ligue 1 side Monaco, and also have tricky away matches against Greek side Panathinaikos and LaLiga's Getafe .

Scottish Premiership side Hearts , owned by Brighton chief Tony Bloom, will host Monaco as well and take on Mohamed Salah's Trabzonspor , who also have Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana on loan.