Europa Conference League draw LIVE: Aston Villa will play Ajax in huge tie

First out of the hat… it's Sparta Prague

Liverpool draw Sparta. Tough draw for the Czech side.

Marseille out next.

Marseille will be facing Villarreal.

Some European heritage in both clubs, there.

Next out – it's Daniele De Rossi's Roma. 

Roma are going to play Brighton & Hove Albion.

Tricky tie for the Seagulls, as Roberto De Zerbi returns to Italy.

Benfica out next.

Benfica play Rangers.

Tough draw for the Gers.

Freiburg up next.

Freiburg will face off against West Ham United. 

Again. After facing them in the group stage. 

Sporting, now.

Sporting vs Atalanta.

Another same-group match-up.

Milan, out next. 

AC Milan will be playing Slavia Prague, avoiding Bayer Leverkusen.

John O'Shea confirms Qarabag will play Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen 

That lineup in full:

Sparta Prague vs Liverpool
Marseille vs Villarreal
Roma vs Brighton
Benfica vs Rangers
Freiburg vs West Ham
Sporting vs Atalanta
Milan vs Slavia Prague
Qarabag vs Bayer Leverkusen

Some huge ties for the next round – and from a neutral perspective, perhaps the most exciting is Brighton facing off against Roma.

Jose Mourinho isn't there anymore but the Seagulls will be playing against Daniele De Rossi for a place in the quarter-finals. This is after having to play European royalty in the form of Marseille and Ajax in the groups.

It's Celtic who are more commonly associated with Lisbon – but now Rangers are heading there.

Benfica will face Philippe Clement's side in the next round, in what should be a difficult test for the Glaswegians. The Eagles were Champions League quarter-finalists last season. 

With the Conference League places secured last night, check out this Legia Warsaw banner from the play-off round…

On the subject of the Europa Conference League, Chelsea could qualify for it this weekend… and turn down the place

It's all explained here by Joe Mewis.

Five minutes until the Conference League draw.

The seeded teams:

Lille
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Viktoria Plzen
Fiorentina
PAOK
Fenerbahce
Club Brugge
and… Aston Villa

The unseeded teams:

Sturm Graz
Maccabi Haifa
Dinamo Zagreb
Ajax
Molde
Olympiacos
Union Saint-Gilloise
Servette

Kostas Katsouranis is here to present the draw. When asked by Pedro Pinto what he's been impressed with thus far, he simply replies that he hopes a Greek team makes the final. Fair enough. 

Servette are out first from the hat (well, the bowl).

Servette plays Viktoria Plzen, the only team to have won all six group stage games. A dark horse, there?

Now for Ajax.

Ajax will play Aston Villa.

Oh, boy. What a tie.

Molde out now.

Club Brugge drawn against Molde. 

Union Saint-Gilloise, out next. 

Union SG play Fenerbahce. 

Dinamo Zagreb, next. 

Dinamo Zagreb plays against PAOK of Greece. 

Sturm Graz, now. Five teams left in the draw.

Sturm Graz plays Lille.

Maccabi Haifa is out next – but because Maccabi Tel Aviv are in the draw, they'll play Fiorentina.

That means Olympiacos will play Maccabi Tel Aviv. 

The draw in full:

Servette vs Viktoria Plzen
Ajax vs Aston Vill
Molde vs Club Brugge
Union Saint-Gilloise vs Fenerbahce
Dinamo Zagreb vs PAOK
Sturm Graz vs Lille
Maccabi Haifa vs Fiorentina
Olympiacos vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv

That's all – thanks for joining us!