Salah to Face Trabzonspor's Conference League Draw in Monaco

Salah playing in the Conference League. It sounds odd, but it's true. The league-phase draw, held in Monaco, threw up that kind of quirky detail alongside the day's most eye-catching pairing: Atalanta will host Ajax, two clubs that were still competing in the Champions League just last season.

The draw brought together the 36 teams in the competition's league format, with each club playing six matches before the knockout rounds begin. And as usual with these draws, there's a bit of everything: big names touring unexpected opponents and a few outright newcomers.

The Trabzonspor case stands out for its symbolism. The Turkish club, now with Mohamed Salah on its roster following his departure from Liverpool, will host Freiburg, Heart of Midlothian and Jablonec, and will travel to Red Star Belgrade, Finland's KuPS and CSKA Sofia. It's a schedule that will take the Egyptian across half the continent, a far cry from the Champions League nights he's grown used to in recent years.

Atalanta at home against a familiar European face

Atalanta arrives as the reigning 2024 Europa League champion, having dropped down a tier this time around. Besides hosting Ajax in the draw's marquee matchup, the Italians will travel to Cyprus's Pafos, Sweden's Mjällby and Kazakhstan's Kairat Almaty, an itinerary that mixes soccer with serious mileage.

Monaco, meanwhile, will have a schedule with a double British stop: the French side will visit Brighton and Heart of Midlothian, and will also host Freiburg, last season's Europa League finalist, at home. The Monégasques thus round out a group of opponents with recent European pedigree.

There's a detail about Brighton worth explaining. The club's owner, Tony Bloom, also holds a 29 percent minority stake in Heart of Midlothian, which is why the draw kept the two clubs apart. UEFA has long enforced multi-club ownership rules that bar a single owner from having so-called "decisive influence" over two teams in the same competition, so that pairing simply couldn't happen. Brighton, for its part, will make away trips to Getafe and Panathinaikos among its road fixtures.

Andorra debuts its first European team

There's a notable first-timer in this edition: Inter Escaldes became the first Andorran club to compete in a UEFA competition. It drew a demanding debut, hosting none other than Copenhagen, a team that was also in the Champions League mix last season. Inter Escaldes will also travel to Red Star Belgrade (European champion in 1991), Getafe and Mjällby.

The league phase kicks off on October 15 and runs through December 17, the date of the sixth and final matchday. The final is set for June 2 in Istanbul, at Besiktas's stadium, capping off a season that already promises some of the most varied soccer journeys across the European map.