Lech Poznań and Jagiellonia Białystok draw Premier League and European rivals in Europa League

The draw in Monaco and mid-flight announcements

On Friday, 28 August 2026, UEFA held the draw in Monaco for the 36-team league phase of the 2026/2027 Europa League. Polish champions Lech Poznań and fellow Ekstraklasa side Jagiellonia Białystok both secured places in the tournament, marking the first time in 11 years that Poland has two clubs in the main stage of the competition. Both squads learned the identity of their eight opponents while flying back to Poland following European playoff matches in Switzerland and Georgia. Airline pilots received the draw results via radio communication systems from ground control and relayed the matchups to team officials on board. Lech club president Piotr Rutkowski took the plane's public address handset mid-flight to announce the pairings to the players and staff.

Hello, hello? Ladies and gentlemen, this is the president speaking. We have the draw results.

Opponents for Lech Poznań and Jagiellonia Białystok

Both Polish clubs were placed in Pot 3 for the draw, receiving two opponents from each of the four seeding pots. Lech Poznań will host German side Bayer Leverkusen, Hungarian club Ferencváros, English side Sunderland, and Portuguese team SCU Torreense at home. Away from Poznań, Lech will travel to face Benfica in Lisbon, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, Crystal Palace in London, and OFI Crete in Greece. Jagiellonia Białystok will play four home fixtures against French side Olympique Lyon, Belgian team RSC Anderlecht, Crystal Palace, and Armenian side Ararat-Armenia Yerevan. Jagiellonia's four away encounters will take them to Greece against Olympiacos Piraeus, the Czech Republic against Viktoria Plzeň, England against Sunderland, and Bulgaria against Levski Sofia.

Format rules and tournament schedule

Under the 36-team single-table format, each club plays eight distinct opponents across four home and four away fixtures rather than six group games. The top eight clubs in the final league table advance directly to the round of 16, while clubs finishing in positions 9 through 24 enter a two-legged playoff round to reach the last 16. Teams ranked 25th through 36th will be eliminated from European competition for the remainder of the season. UEFA scheduled the eight matchdays between mid-September 2026 and late January 2027, with the opening fixtures set for 16 and 17 September. The final two rounds of the league phase will take place in late January following a compressed winter break.

Ekstraklasa calendar adjustments and qualifying routes

The progression of both teams into the Europa League necessitated calendar adjustments for domestic league fixtures in Poland. Ekstraklasa logistics officials rescheduled postponed fourth-round league matches to mid-December, slotting Jagiellonia against Pogoń Szczecin on Wednesday, 16 December, and Wisła Płock against Lech on Thursday, 17 December. Lech advanced to the league phase after defeating FC Thun 7-0 at home and drawing 2-2 in Switzerland, having previously eliminated KI Klaksvik 1-0 and 5-0 following an earlier exit from Champions League qualifying against Aarhus. Jagiellonia reached the tournament by defeating Iberia Tbilisi 4-0 at home and 2-1 away, after earlier eliminating Scottish side Rangers FC with a 2-1 home victory and a 1-1 draw in Glasgow. Domestic rivals Górnik Zabrze and Raków Częstochowa failed to advance from qualifying, leaving Poland without any participants in the Conference League.

Due to the participation of Jagiellonia Białystok and Lech Poznań in the Europa League, the first available date falls after the conclusion of round 18. It is worth emphasizing that both clubs will have an extremely short winter break, as they will play matchday 7 of the Europa League as early as 21 January. With such a tight schedule, every additional day of rest matters, so we wanted to play the matches before the next December weekend.