The Pittodrie outfit exited the Europa League on Thursday following a 3-1 second-leg defeat in the play-offs by BK Hacken at Pittodrie. However, they are guaranteed European football until at least Christmas by the parachute into UEFA’s third-tier competition and they will find out their opponents when the draw is made from 1.30pm BST, following on from the Europa League draw.

With a coefficient of 8.000, Aberdeen are the third team in pot four and will therefore face some of the tournament’s big guns, with PAOK and Aston Villa – the conquerors of Hearts and Hibs respectively – among their potential opponents. They will not, however, be able to face Zrinjski Mostar, Klaksvik, Čukarički, Lugano, Breiðablik, Nordsjælland or Ballkani, who are also pot four teams.

Here are the teams potentially lying in wait for the Dons when European football resumes in mid-September:

Pot one: Eintracht Frankfurt, Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge, AZ Alkmaar, Gent, Fenerbahce, Lille, Ferencvaros.

Pot two: PAOK, Slovan Bratislava, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Viktoria Plzen, Aston Villa, Ludogorets Razgrad, Fiorentina, Bodo/Glimt.

Pot three: Genk, Zorya Luhansk, Astana, Besiktas, HJK, Legia Warsaw, Spartak Trnava, Olimpija Llubjana.