Chelsea, Real Betis, Fiorentina - Who can Larne face in the UEFA Conference League, how does the draw work and when are the matches?

The Inver Reds support will have their passports at the ready with at least three away games in Europe guaranteed while Tiernan Lynch’s men will also welcome three sides to Northern Ireland over the coming months.

Here’s all you need to know ahead of the draw, including potential opponents, how the new Conference League system works and more.

When is the draw and where can I watch it?

Just like Thursday’s Champions League draw, the Conference League draw will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and is scheduled to begin at 1:30pm BST.

The draw is set to be shown for free on UEFA.com and the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

How does the new Conference League draw work?

There have been changes to how European competitions operate for the new season with 36 teams divided into six pots (more on that later).

Each club will be manually drawn and then automated software will digitally draw their six different opponents at random, determining which of their matches will be at home and which ones away – each team will face one opponent from each of the six pots.

Rather than a traditional group stage, the Conference League is now a league format with the top eight ranked teams receiving a bye to the round of 16, teams ranked from 9th to 24th contesting the knockout phase play-offs and those ranked from 25th to 36th eliminated.

Which pot are Larne in and who are their potential opponents?

Larne have been placed in pot six, but with the Inver Reds drawing one team from each pot, there could be a good mix of dream match-ups and competitive fixtures which help generate even more money – how many have thought about a trip to Stamford Bridge in the last 12 hours?!

Here are the pots in full:

Pot One: Chelsea (ENG), Copenhagen (DEN), Gent (BEL), Fiorentina (ITA), LASK (AUT), Real Betis (ESP).

Pot Two: Başakşehir (TUR), Molde (NOR), Legia Warszawa (POL), Heidenheim (GER), Djurgården (SWE), APOEL (CYP).

Pot Three: SK Rapid (AUT), Omonoia (CYP), Helsinki (FIN), Vitória SC (POR), Astana (KAZ), Olimpija (SVN).

Pot Four: Cercle Brugge (BEL), Shamrock Rovers (IRL), The New Saints (WAL), Lugano (SUI), Hearts (SCO), Mladá Boleslav (CZE).

Pot Five: Petrocub (MDA), St. Gallen (SUI), Panathinaikos (GRE), TSC (SRB), Borac (BIH), Jagiellonia (POL).

Pot Six: Celje (SVN), Larne (NIR), Dinamo-Minsk (BLR), Pafos (CYP), Víkingur (ISL), Noah (ARM).

When will the matches be played?

Larne’s defence of their Gibson Cup title has been impacted already with a number of matches rearranged due to European progression – Linfield will have played five games before Lynch’s men start their campaign on Sunday against Coleraine.

They’ll now have to adjust to a Thursday-Sunday schedule for parts of the next three months, with the Conference League dates set as:

Matchday 1: October 3

Matchday 2: October 24

Matchday 3: November 7

Matchday 4: November 28

Matchday 5: December 12

Matchday 6: December 19

It means Premiership matches against Dungannon Swifts (October 5), Portadown (October 26), Coleraine (November 9), Cliftonville (November 30), Glenavon (December 14) and Dungannon (December 21) will likely all be pushed back by at least one day, although confirmation around Larne’s league schedule is still awaited.

What did Tiernan Lynch say about the draw?

"I think we'd love to get Chelsea.

"No-one is going to expect us now to go and win the Conference League so give us the bigger names and let us go and get as many good nights out and generate as much money into this league as we possibly can."​​​​​​​