The 37 play-off winners are joined by holders Club Atlético de Madrid and the ten losing teams from the UEFA Champions League play-offs to make up the 48 clubs that go into the group-stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum.

The 48 sides are split into four seeding pots based on UEFA's coefficient system, with one from each drawn into the 12 groups. No team can meet another from the same association. Once the draw has been completed a computer draw will determine the final position of the sides within their group and therefore the order of the home and away matches.

Ten play-off winners join the 22 automatic entrants in the group-stage draw at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, with the 32 sides split into four seeding pots and one from each drawn into the eight groups. Seeds are based on UEFA's coefficient system and no team can meet another from the same association.

Where two sides from the same association have qualified, they will be paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of associations with three representatives, only two teams have been paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings have been made based on the TV audience.

To ensure sides from the same country play on separate days, the eight groups will be distinguished by colour: Groups A-D will be red and Groups E-H blue. When a paired club is drawn, for example, into one of the red groups, the other paired club – once it has been drawn – will automatically be assigned to one of the four blue groups.

Teams from Pot 1 will be provisionally placed in the first position within their groups, teams from Pot 2 will provisionally take the second spot in their sections, and so on. Once the draw has been completed, a computer draw will determine the final position of the sides within their group and therefore the order of the home and away matches.