West Ham United will be playing in Europe for a third consecutive term next season after winning the Europa Conference League title on Wednesday night.
Jarrod Bowen’s 90th minute winner against Fiorentina at the Fortuna Arena in Prague meant that West Ham won their first major honour since 1980, their first major European honour since 1965 and a place in next season’s Europa League.
When entering the Europa League’s group stages next season, their third straight season in Europe, West Ham have been handed a major advantage going into the group stage, which will be draw on September 1.
READ MORE: Every word David Moyes said on West Ham's Fiorentina final, Declan Rice's future and trophy dreams
As winners of the Europa Conference League, UEFA rules mean that West Ham enter next season’s Europa League not only in Pot 1 of the group stage draw, but also, as the top seed, with Europa Conference League winners given the top seed automatically, regardless of their UEFA club coefficient rankings.
For this season’s Europa League, Roma were given the top spot in Pot 1, having beaten Feyenoord in the final of the 2021/22 Europa Conference League.
For David Moyes’ side, this will be a huge boost, having been in Pot 3 of the draw in their previous Europa League bow last season, ending up in the same group as Dinamo Zagreb, Rapid Wien and Genk.
However, as well as avoiding Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion due to being from the same nation, West Ham entering Pot 1 means that they will avoid a number of European heavyweights in next season’s group stage.
Of the six teams guaranteed in Pot 1, West Ham will be avoiding Liverpool, Roma (Italy), Villarreal (Spain), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) and Atalanta in the competition.'s group stage.
From the other six teams so far guaranteed in the 32-team group stages, West Ham can only face five of them, with Brighton being exempt. Sporting CP (Portugal) and Stade Rennais (France) will enter Pot 1 or 2, meaning West Ham could face either if they drop down into Pot 2. Spanish side Real Betis are a potential opponent as they enter the competition’s group stage via either Pot 2 or Pot 3. Brighton (England), Freiburg (Germany) and Toulouse (France) could enter either Pots 2, 3 or 4 at the current stage, guaranteeing West Ham could face the latter two.
The rest of the 20 teams in the competition’s group stage are yet to be determined, with multiple rounds of qualifying to take place at the start of next season. Ajax (Netherlands), Aberdeen (Scotland), Olympiacos (Greece) and Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) all among those to feature in the qualifying rounds.
Here are the latest on the pot allocations for the Europa League draw, as well as a look at who else could qualify via the qualifying rounds.
Pot 1
West Ham United (England)
Liverpool (England)
Roma (Italy)
Villarreal (Spain)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Atalanta (Italy)
Pot 1 or 2
Sporting CP (Portugal)
Stade Rennais (France)
Pot 2 or 3
Real Betis (Spain)
Pot 2, 3 or 4
Brighton and Hove Albion (England)
Freiburg (Germany)
Toulouse (France)
Pot 1, 2, 3 or 4
4 losers of Champions League third qualifying round (league path)
4 losers of the Champions League play-off round (Champions Path)
2 losers of the Champions League play-off round (Champions Path)
10 winners of the play-off qualifying round
READ NEXT
