2015-16 Uefa Europa League group stage draw: Pots and possible opponents for Liverpool and Tottenham

Follow live coverage of the 2015/16 Europa League group stage draw here

It may not be as prestigious as it's big brother the Champions League, but the Europa League represents the best opportunity for a lot of teams in Friday's group stage draw to secure a place in next season's Champions League. Just ask Sevilla.

The incentive is there for Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Celtic but they first must navigate their way through the group stages of the competition alongside 45 other teams.

Tottenham take a spot in Pot 1, boasting the fifth best Uefa coefficient of all the teams in the draw. That will see them avoid the top seeded teams in the draw but Mauricio Pochettino's side are still faced with the prospect of being drawn alongside Fiorentina or Lazio from Pot 2. La Viola dismissed the north Londoners from this competition last season at the first knock out stage.

Liverpool's failure to progress past the last 16 of any European competition in the last five years means their coefficient is only good enough for a spot in Pot 2. That means Brendan Rodgers' side face the prospect of being drawn alongside one of Borussia Dortmund, Schalke, Marseille, Napoli, Villarreal and the Swiss champions Basel, who ended their Champions League campaign last season. Celtic face the same fate.

Monaco may have eliminated Arsenal at the last 16 stage of last season's Champions League but after their mid-week defeat to Valencia, they find themselves in Pot 3 of this competition and will represent a tricky tie should Liverpool, Tottenham or Celtic be drawn alongside them.

Europa League Pots

Pot 1: Schalke, Borussia Dortmund, FC Basel, Napoli, Tottenham Hotspur, Ajax, Villarreal, Rubin Kazan, Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Lisbon, Marseille, Dnipro

Pot 2: Braga, Fiorentina, Lazio, Anderlecht, Liverpool, AZ Alkmaar, Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, PAOK, Celtic, Besiktas, APOEL

Pot 3: AS Monaco, Sparta Prague, Fenerbahce, Leiga Warsaw, Bordeaux, Lokomotiv Moscow, Lech Poznan, Saint-Etienne, Slovan Liberec, FC Ausburg, Rapid Vienna, FC Kransnodar

Pot 4: Partizan Belgrade, Asberas Tripolis, Rosenborg, FK Qarabag, Molde, Dinamo Minsk, FC Gronigen, FC Sion, FC Midtjylland, Skenderbeu Korce, FK Qabala, Belenenses

12 groups of four will be drawn from Nyon in Monaco on Friday 28 August.