There's nothing quite like a cup draw to raise excitement and expectation levels among supporters and players.
And there are few more anticipated such occasions then when teams discover who they will be playing in the group stages of European competition.
For Liverpool, the last six years that has meant the Champions League. This time, though, they will have to wait an extra 24 hours with the draw for the group stages of the Europa League taking place on September 1.
READ MORE: Liverpool close to completing Alexis Mac Allister transfer as release clause details emerge
READ MORE: Alexis Mac Allister is about to prove FSG and John Henry right with Liverpool transfer
They would also usually have a pretty good idea of who they may be drawn against, with 26 of the 32 teams in the Champions League having already qualified with many already knowing which of the four pots - each containing eight teams - they would be placed in.
That, though, isn't the case for the Europa League, the majority of entrants for which are not even close to being determined.
Only 11 teams have so far qualified for the group stages, which will become 12 on Wednesday evening with the winners of the Europa Conference League final between West Ham United and Fiorentina.
Liverpool will be joined by fellow Premier League side Brighton, Italian duo Roma and Atalanta, Bundesliga sides Freiburg and Bayer Leverkusen, French pair Rennes and Toulouse, along with Villarreal and Real Betis from Spain and Sporting Lisbon of Portugal.
The Reds are by some distance the top-ranked team in terms of UEFA coefficient - which is based on performance in Europe over the previous five seasons - and are in fact behind only Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Chelsea - who won't be in Europe next season - in the full rankings.
It means Liverpool know they will be in the Pot 1, along with Roma, Villarreal, Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta and whoever wins the Europa Conference League. However, the other six teams already in the group stage must wait to discover who else qualifies before their pot is finalised.
And the route for the remaining 20 places is, well, complicated.
Ten will come from the Europa League qualifying rounds. First there is a qualifying round which consists of 14 teams - 12 losers from the Champions League second qualifying round (possible teams include Qarabag, Sheriff Tiraspol, Maccabi Haifa and Dinamo Tbilisi) - along with Slavia Prague and Olympiacos. The two legs take place on August 10 and August 17.
Then the seven winners of those ties go to the play-off round of 20 teams. Here they are joined by Ajax, LASK of Austria, Aberdeen, FK Cukaricki of Serbia, Zorya Luhansk of Ukraine, Belgium's Union SG and Lugano of Switzerland, along with six losers of the Champions League third qualifying round champions path - essentially the Champions League qualifying rounds for teams who won their respective leagues. The 10 winners go through to the Europa League group stage.
The other 10 qualifiers will come directly from the Champions League play-offs. Six will be the losers from the final play-off round, with the remaining four coming from the four teams who lost in the third qualifying round league path, which consists of those teams who didn't win their domestic championship.
Clear as mud, then. And with the Europa League play-off ties taking place on August 24 and August 31, Liverpool will only discover their potential opponents less than 24 hours before the draw in Nyon, Switzerland.
One thing is for certain, however. Jurgen Klopp's side will be the one to beat for every team in the competition next season.
READ NEXT:
