Dundee United in Europa Conference League: Draw dates, potential opponents and prize money on offer

The Courier

26-05-2025

Dundee United will begin their continental adventure in the Europa Conference League second qualifying round.
Many onlookers assumed that the Tangerines were destined for the Europa League – even United's own social media team – but Aberdeen's stunning Scottish Cup triumph over Celtic effectively knocked the Terrors down a competition.
Nevertheless, that will do nothing to lessen the anticipation as eager Arabs dust off their passports and start looking ahead to what next season will bring.
Courier Sport has all the details from draw and fixture dates, to seedings and prize money.
Europa League second qualifying round draw: June 18.
Before the draw takes place, the teams will be divided into groups – further narrowing down United's list of potential opponents.
Europa Conference League third qualifying round draw: July 21.
Europa Conference League playoff round draw: August 4.
Europa Conference League second qualifying round: July 24/July 31.
Europa Conference League third qualifying round: August 7/August 14.
Europa Conference League playoff round: August 21/August 28.
United will be seeded for the second qualifying round, affording – in theory – a decent opportunity to continue their European journey.
Should they progress to the third qualifying round, they will be unseeded.
If the Tangerines upset the odds and reach the playoff round, they are likely to be seeded (having assumed the seeding of the team they beat in the prior round), however that is not certain.
It depends on how that coefficient stacks up against the other teams in the draw and – without knowing the make-up of that draw – it is impossible to say for sure.
There is no safety net for Jim Goodwin's charges. Once they lose a tie, they are out of Europe altogether.
Regardless of their European success, or lack thereof, qualification will see United earn a decent windfall.
If United exit continental competition after just one tie, then United will still bank around £440,000.
Elimination at the third qualifying round will see them earn £750,000.
If they exit at the playoff stage, the run will have been worth slightly more than £1 million.
A remarkable qualification for the Europa Conference League group phase – which Aberdeen now have as a guaranteed fall-back – would be worth £4 million.
These figures do not factor in the potential money earned from a packed Tannadice, hospitality and TV rights for each match, which could comfortably add another six figures to the club coffers.
As it stands, there are so many variable and live issues within other nations across the continent that it is impossible to provide a definitive list of teams that will be on the unseeded side of the draw.
Even when all the qualifiers are locked in, there will be 44 potential opponents to consider (until Uefa split the clubs into smaller groups ahead of the draw on June 18).
However, for a taster, teams that have confirmed their spot already span the globe, from Dungannon Swifts of Northern Ireland to Araz Nakhchivan of Azerbaijan.
Banga Gargzdai (Lithuania), Ordabasy Shymkent (Kazakhstan), Zimbru Chisinau (Moldova) and La Fiorita (San Marino) are also among a sprawling list of destinations, far and wide.
But while there is no official regionalisation at this stage of the draw (that has been the case since 2009), several sources do reference Uefa informally considering geography when arranging the final groupings of potential opponents.
As a reference point, St Mirren's potential foes at the same stage of the same competition last season were limited to Brann Bergen (Norway), Hacken (Sweden), Bruno's Magpies (Gibraltar), Valur (Iceland) and Cliftonville (Ireland).
Should that be the case, an opponent from the British Isles, Scandanavia, the Balkans, the Netherlands or Belgium would be most likely.