Chelsea have learned that they face the possibility of playing a potential Europa Conference League dark horse ahead of Monday's playoff draw.
When finishing in sixth place in the Premier League standings, the Blues had hoped that they had earned an automatic spot in the Europa League main stages.
Instead, Manchester United upset rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final, ensuring that Chelsea were demoted to European football's third-tier competition.
As a result, Enzo Maresca's side have the task of negotiating a playoff tie in order to qualify for the new-look 36-team league phase, which begins in September.
Despite missing out on continental action in 2023-24, Chelsea remain as a seeded club, largely due to their Champions League triumph in 2021.
Nevertheless, the West Londoners could still have to face a club that would be regarded as one of the genuine outsiders to win the competition alongside Chelsea should they play Conference League football later this month.
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The team that Chelsea will want to avoid
Braga - a regular top-four side in the Portuguese Primeira Liga - have been allotted to the same group as Chelsea ahead of Monday's draw, which takes place at 1pm BST.
Daniel Sousa's side will play Swiss outfit Servette across two legs in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, the loser of that fixture dropping into the Conference League.
Chelsea will naturally be hoping for Braga to progress, yet Servette are currently joint-top of the Swiss Super League and would still offer a tricky test should that tie come to fruition.
Four other pairings have also been allotted to Group 3 of the draw, with the winner of the Conference League third qualifying round tie between Slovakia's Spartak Trnava and Poland's Wisla Krakow perhaps the next toughest outcome for Chelsea.
A meeting with Slovenia's Maribor or Serbia's FK Vojvodina could also await Maresca's side, as could a trip to Hungary or North Macedonia to play either Paksi SE or Mornar.
There also remains the possibility of a showdown with Irish side St Patrick's Athletic, providing they can get the better of Azerbaijani outfit Sabah who have already edged out Maccabi Haifa.
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When will the playoff matches take place?
Chelsea will not learn their opponent until August 15, just a week before the first leg of the respective tie takes place on August 22, with the reverse fixture scheduled for August 29.
Before then, Chelsea only have two more friendlies on their schedule - against Real Madrid and Inter Milan respectively - ahead of their Premier League opener against Manchester City on August 18.
Maresca will also have to juggle a trip to Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers on August 25 between the two European encounters.
Darren Plant
