So, 126 days after playing our sixth and final Group B tie, West Ham United's UEFA Europa Conference League challenge resumes with the round of 16...
It does! West Ham United topped Group B with a record six wins out of six back in November, defeating Silkeborg of Denmark, RSC Anderlecht of Belgium and FSCB of Romania home and away to collect 18 perfect points – becoming the first club in the competition’s two-year history to do so.
Having topped their group, David Moyes' side was spared the need to contest the knockout play-off round, which saw the eight teams which finished second in their Europa Conference League groups paired with the eight who finished third in their UEFA Europe League groups, and went straight into the round of 16.
The second legs of those knockout play-off round ties were completed on Thursday evening, with the eight victors to be paired with the eight Europa Conference League group winners in Friday's round of 16 draw.
So, how does the tournament work from now on?
It is pretty simple, to be honest!
The eight seeded teams who topped their UEFA Conference League groups will be paired with the eight play-off round winners, and will then face each other over two legs on consecutive Thursdays 9 and 16 March, barring any city clashes which can see fixtures moved.
Ties level after 180 minutes will go to extra time irrespective of the number of goals each team has scored at home and away. If the teams still cannot be separated after the additional 30 minutes, the tie goes to a penalty shootout.
The 16 teams will now be whittled down to two, who will contest the final at Prague’s Eden Aréna on 7 June 2023. It is the most modern stadium in Czechia and the home of Slavia Prague.
The ground is no stranger to hosting major club and international level matches and was the venue for the 2013 UEFA Super Cup thriller between Bayern Munich and Chelsea, the German club winning 5-4 on penalties following a 2-2 draw.
When will the round of 16 draw take place?
The draw for the UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 will take place at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, on Friday 24 February 2023. The draw is scheduled to start at 12noon GMT (1pm CET).
Sporting director Mark Noble and Club secretary Andrew Pincher will represent the Club at the draw, while manager David Moyes and his staff prepare the squad for Saturday's Premier League home game with Nottingham Forest.
How can I follow the draw?
We will be blogging the draw on whufc.com and our app, and also providing live updates on our social media channels.
You can also watch a live stream via the UEFA website here.
We will then be providing exclusive reaction across our channels too, including live coverage of David Moyes' press conference on whufc.com from 1.30pm.
How will the draw work?
West Ham United and the seven other UEFA Europa Conference League group winners are seeded and will be drawn against the winners of the knockout round play-offs.
The Hammers and our fellow group winners play the second leg at home, meaning we are due to play away from home on Thursday 9 March, before hosting the second leg at London Stadium on Thursday 16 March. Tickets for the second leg can be bought here!
Clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other, but that is not relevant to us as we're the only English club in the Europa Conference League.
There is nothing in place to prevent us facing Anderlecht again, even though we were in the same group.
So, who could we play against?
West Ham United are seeded, as we have just established, so we can only be drawn against one of the eight unseeded teams.
However, the unseeded teams include three who have dropped into the UEFA Europa Conference League and triumphed in the knockout play-off round after finishing third in their UEFA Europa League group.
When it comes to UEFA coefficients, the highest-ranked team left in the competition is Villarreal of Spain (78.000), but we cannot face them in the round of 16 as they are seeded. The same is true of AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands (28.500) and İstanbul Başakşehir of Turkey (25.000)
Of the non-seeds we could face, Swiss side FC Basel (55.000), Lazio of Italy (53.000), and Moldva’s Sheriff Tiraspol (22.500) all have higher coefficients than West Ham.
Unlike last season’s Europa League round of 16, a number of teams have lower coefficients than the Hammers.
Anyway, here are the 16 teams who will be in the hat on Friday:
| Seeded Teams | Unseeded Teams |
| AZ Alkmaar (NED) | Anderlecht (BEL) |
| Djurgården (SWE) | Basel (SUI) |
| İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR) | Lazio (ITA) |
| Nice (FRA) | AEK Larnaca (CYP) |
| Sivasspor (TUR) | Fiorentina (ITA) |
| Slovan Bratislava (SVK) | Gent (BEL) |
| Villarreal (ESP) | Lech (POL) |
| West Ham United (ENG) | Sheriff (MDA) |
When will our round of 16 ties take place?
We are due to travel to the first leg on Thursday 9 March and welcome our opponents to London Stadium a week later on Thursday 16 March. Kick-off times will be confirmed for both ties in due course.
Without getting ahead of ourselves, when will the later rounds be played?
13 & 20 April 2023: Quarter-finals
11 & 18 May 2023: Semi-finals
7 June 2023: Final (Eden Aréna, Prague, Czechia)
