Chelsea handed tough draw for Europa Conference League play-offs

Chelsea have discovered their route to the Europa Conference League group stage after Monday’s play-off draw.

The Blues were seeded in the ‘main path’ of the draw and will face either Braga or Servette, neither of which they have ever played before.

Portuguese club Braga finished fourth in the Primeira Liga last season while finishing third, above Union Berlin, in a Champions League group containing Napoli and Real Madrid.

They defeated Israel’s Maccabi Petah Tikva 7-0 on aggregate to reach the third qualifying round.

Braga will face Servette later this month for the right to play Chelsea. The Geneva outfit recently finished third in the Swiss Super League and reached the Conference League last-16 having come third in their Europa League group.

The pedigree of the duo represents a tough draw for Chelsea, given the teams they could have been pitted against in the play-off round. Fiorentina were also seeded and they will play Ararat-Armenia of Armenia or Hungary’s Puskas Akademia while Germany’s Heidenheim are due to face either BK Hacken of Sweden or Estonian minnows Paide Linnameeskond.

They have also been drawn to play the first leg at home, which will take place at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, August 22 with the return leg at either Estadio Municipal de Braga or Stade de Geneve a week later.

After a first year out of European football in five seasons, Chelsea sealed their return by finishing sixth in the Premier League to qualify for their first attempt at UEFA’s third-tier competition.

Enzo Maresca’s side face Real Madrid in a friendly this week before rounding off their pre-season schedule against Inter Milan on August 11. This tie will take place either side of their second league game, away to Wolves on August 25.