Uefa Conference League draw LIVE: Chelsea discover play-off round opponents plus Hearts in Europa

So TNS are off to Macedonia first and if they win, it’s off to Azerbaijan or Bulgaria in the first leg of the play-off.

In Group 2 we’ve got Shamrock Rovers from Ireland involved. On we go.

Europa League play-offs Group 1

FC Dinamo Minsk (BLR) / Lincoln Red Imps FC (GIB) v RSC Anderlecht (BEL)

Jagiellonia Bialystok (POL) / FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR) v Panathinaikos FC (GRE) / AFC Ajax (NED)

Qarabag FK (AZE) / PFC Ludogorets 1945 (BUL) v FC Petrocub (MDA) / The New Saints FC (WAL)

FK Partizan (SRB) / FC Lugano (SUI) v Besiktas JK (TUR)

Group 1 coming up: Ajax, Besiktas and Anderlecht are among the bigger names here. The New Saints FC are the Welsh representatives awaiting their fate.

Tom Barlow, the Uefa senior competitions manager is speaking now ahead of the draw:

First legs on 22 August, second legs on 29.

We then embark on a ludicrous coefficient-based explanation of why there are so many teams, where they come from and why they are already split into draws. Not sure too many care any more, these get longer and longer.

Anyway, the seeded and unseeded sides from each Group are in separate bowls, one from each is plucked and dropped into a new bowl, then they are shuffled and picked again to determine home and away in each leg.

Not that it affects today’s draw too much but a reminder of the national pairings who are kept apart by Uefa:

Armenia – Azerbaijan Gibraltar – Spain Kosovo – Bosnia-Herzegovina Kosovo – Serbia Kosovo – Russia* Ukraine – Russia* Ukraine – Belarus

Russia, in any case, remain prohibited from competing from Uefa competitions, including Russian club outfits.

So the Europa League draw is up first of course, starting in around 10-15 minutes. Chelsea’s Conference League draw will follow that from 1pm.

The last time they were in a third-tier European competition was 1998/99, when they were in the old Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and reached the semi-finals, losing to Mallorca before Lazio in turn beat the Spanish side in the final.

Since then they’ve won the 2012 Champions League, the 2013 Europa League, the same competition again in 2019 and the 2021 Champions League.

Bit of a fall over the last couple of years since then, highlighting the job Maresca has on his hands.

New Chelsea signing Marc Guiu reveals reasons behind Barcelona exit

Chelsea’s new striker Marc Guiu says his move to England was all about playing in the Premier League and not about money. The 18-year-old joined from Barcelona after the Blues triggered a £5m release clause in his contract, a move he described as a dream.

“I’ve always dreamt of playing in the Premier League and Chelsea is a great club with a lot of history,” he said.

“It was a tough decision but it was an amazing opportunity, so I had to go for it.”

The Spaniard has made four appearances for Chelsea during their preseason tour of the USA, scoring once in the 3-0 win over Club America - and he believes he is ready to make a name for himself in the Premier League.

Enzo Maresca hasn’t had an easy start to what is not an easy job, clearly.

Chelsea drew with Wrexham and lost to Celtic as well as Man City, though they have beaten Club America. Here’s what the head coach has said about his team’s summer form:

“I have no doubts about the progress this team is making in this moment. Mistakes are part of the process.

“I have known City for many years and even in friendly games, they don’t concede possession to the opposition, don’t concede many chances and they have long [spells of] possession. Thinking about the first half, I don’t remember them making six or seven passes in a row, so that was good from us off the ball.

“On the ball, we had many long [spells of] possession, some good chances and – I don’t know but I think – we had about 60 per cent possession in the first half.

“It doesn’t matter that it was a friendly game and they didn’t have six or seven of their starting players missing, this is the analysis of this moment.

“In any game, if you concede two goals [early on], it is not good.”

So this is one the more long-winded and quite absurd Uefa processes for these draws, involving teams from different paths and indeed different competitions, some of which are not yet known.

But the Groups are already set and seeded teams from each group therefore know they’ll be facing one of the unseeded options from that collection, meaning Chelsea’s options are thus:

Maribor (Slovenia) or FK Vojvodina (Serbia)

Spartak Trnava (Slovakia) or Wisla Krakow (Poland)

Paksi FC (Hungary) or Mornar (Montenegro)

St Patrick's Athletic (Ireland) or Sabah (Azerbaijan)

Braga (Portugal) or Servette (Switzerland)*

Now, while that’s fairly straightforward for the most part, the top four fixtures listed there are Conference qualifying ties, so it would be Chelsea vs the winner of whichever they are drawn against.

If they are drawn against Braga or Servette, however, they will play the loser of that tie - as it’s a Europa League qualifier, so the loser drops down into the Conference play-off instead.

Chelsea are the big British club involved of course, but not the only one today. Also featuring from the UK and Ireland in the two draws will be...

Europa League:

The New Saints FC (WAL) - unseeded Group 1

Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL) - unseeded Group 2

Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO) - unseeded Group 3

Conference League:

Kilmarnock FC (SCO) - unseeded Group 1

St Mirren FC (SCO) - unseeded Group 2

Chelsea FC (ENG) - seeded Group 3

St Patrick’s Athletic (IRL) - unseeded Group 3