Who Can United Face In The Europa League?

Manchester United will find out on Monday 14 December who the opponents will be for the last 32 tie in the Europa League, with the final qualification places to be decided on Thursday evening.

The group stages for the competition end this week with 20 teams chasing the nine remaining places in the round of 32; indeed, 14 of the matches to be played on Thursday night have qualification at stake as a number of sides bid to join the 15 confirmed qualifers, which include Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, and the eight clubs ending third in UEFA Champions League sections. Four of those eight spots are already confirmed - United will be joined by Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray and Sevilla. The remaining four places will be decided on Wednesday when the final round of Champions League group games takes place.

There are a number of factors that will affect who the Reds can face in the next round and we will not know for definite who our possible opponents for the two-legged tie will be until the conclusion of the Europa League group stages on Thursday. The UEFA rules dictate that the 12 Europa League group winners and the four best third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage - one of which looks likely to be United - will be drawn against the 12 Europa League group runners-up and the remaining third-placed teams from the Champions League.

Clubs from the same country cannot face each other so the Reds will avoid playing Liverpool or Tottenham at this stage (the same rule will apply in the last 16 as well), while the Europa League group winners and the four best third-placed teams from the Champions League will play the return leg at home. The first leg will be played on Thursday 18 February 2016, with the second leg scheduled for a week later on Thursday 25 February 2016.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - LAST 32 POSSIBILITIES

• Round of 32 draw date: 12:00 GMT, Monday 14 December 2015

• Already qualified: United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Sevilla (all from Champions League), Molde, Liverpool, Krasnodar, Dortmund, Napoli (confirmed group winners), Villarreal, Rapid Vienna, Braga, Lazio (group winners), St-Etienne (group runners-up), Basel (group winners), Tottenham, Schalke, Sparta Prague, Athletic Club (group winners).

• Can qualify: Fenerbahce, Ajax, Sion, Rubin, Midtjylland, Club Brugge, Legia Warsaw, Marseille, Slovan Liberec, Besiktas, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sporting, Fiorentina, Lech Poznan, Belenenses, Anderlecht, Monaco, Qarabag, Partizan, Augsburg.

• Round of 32 match dates: first leg - Thursday 18 February 2016, second leg - Thursday 25 February 2016.