Two-time European champion Chelsea got home games against teams from Armenia, Ireland and Belgium in the draw Friday for the new Conference League format.
Chelsea’s slate of six opponents included home games against Noah, Shamrock Rovers and Gent, plus trips to face German debutant Heidenheim, Panathinaikos and Astana, four time zones away in Kazakhstan.
Chelsea’s Champions League title in 2021 is among four European finals it won in the past 12 years, and victory in the third-tier Conference League would complete the club’s set.
Qualifying for the Conference League by finishing sixth in the Premier League last season, also obliges big-spending Chelsea to have its accounts analyzed again by UEFA. A UEFA-appointed expert panel studies the spending and revenue of hundreds of teams in European competition for compliance with its financial rules.
All three of UEFA’s season-long club competitions have a new format, with traditional group stages replaced by an expanded league phase. All 36 teams compete in a single standings.
Each Conference League team will play six games against six different opponents through Dec. 19. There are eight games for teams in the Champions League and Europa League.
Teams were ranked in six seeding pots based on their recent record in European competitions and the draw software allocated one opponent from each.
Northern Ireland and Wales have teams playing in the group stage of a European competition for the first time.
Larne will have an Irish derby at home against Shamrock Rovers, and The New Saints’ games include away to Fiorentina, the 2023 beaten finalist.
The top eight in the standings in December go direct to the round of 16 in March. Teams ranked ninth to 24th go into the knockout playoffs in February. The bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
The final is played May 28 in Wroclaw, Poland.
The tournament prize money fund is 285 million euros ($315 million) . Each team is paid a starting fee of 3.17 million euros ($3.5 million) with bonus payments for wins and draws in the league phase and for advancing through each knockout round.
