Mainz go straight to Conference League last 16, Palace in play-offs

Mainz won to seal an automatic last-16 place but play-off bound Crystal Palace could only draw as the league phase of the Conference League wrapped up on Thursday.

Raków, Sparta Prague, Rayo Vallecano, Shakhtar Donetsk, AEK Larnaca and AEK Athens - thanks to two goals deep into stoppage time - also joined already qualified Strasbourg in the top eight, who go straight to the last 16 in March.

Palace, and Fiorentina, bottom of Serie A but twice Conference League runners-up, are seeds among the teams from ninth to 24th who will play off in February for a last-16 berth, with a draw to determine the exact pairings on January 16.

Palace lay in ninth ahead of the final league matchday and Oliver Glasner played a second-string side in the 2-2 home draw with Finland's KuPS Kuopio to end up 10th.

The Londoners, fifth domestically, went ahead through Christantus Uche. But the Finns stormed back courtesy of Piotr Parzyszek and Ibrahim Cissé to head into the play-offs with Palace, who levelled through Justin Devenny after the visitors were reduced to 10.

Germany's Mainz, who started the day eighth, beat Samsunspor 2-0 at home thanks to Silvan Widmer and Nadiem Amiri's penalty to secure a first ever European knock-out berth in seventh.

Unlucky U. Craiova, Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps and Iceland's Breiðablik finished among the bottom 12 teams who have been eliminated, which already included Slovan Bratislava, Häcken, Legia Warsaw, Dynamo Kiev, Aberdeen, Shamrock Rovers, Hamrun Spartans, Shelbourne and Rapid Vienna.

The league phase of the Conference League, UEFA's third-tier competition, only included six matchdays so has come to an end before the equivalent phases for the Champions League and Europa League, which will be completed in January.