The draw for the Europa League has been completed with Bournemouth, Sunderland and Conference League winners Crystal Palace all finding out their opening stage fixtures
The draw for the Europa League has been completed with Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace learning their opponents.
Following the draw for the Champions League on Thursday, this season’s fixtures for the opening phase of the Europa League has been concluded. Bournemouth and Sunderland qualified for Europe through their league position, with the former set for their first year in continental football.
While the Eagles eventually reached the league stage of the Europa League after winning the Conference League in May following a bitter relegation from the Europa League to the third-tier competition after breaching UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
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All three teams were placed in pot three due to their ranking in UEFA’s five-year coefficient. The likes of Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Juventus and Milan were in pot one, with Celtic in pot two, who were humiliatingly knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by LASK despite leading 4-0 on aggregate half an hour into the second leg.
Just like the Champions League draw, each of those teams was represented by a physical ball, and when that ball was drawn, a computer assigned them opponents for their eight matches – two from each pot.
British clubs’ Europa League opponents:
Bournemouth: AC Milan (H), Real Sociedad (A), Viktoria Plzen (H), Sparta Prague (A), Sturm Graz (H), Celta Vigo (A), Hapoel Be’er Sheva (H), Lillestrom (A)
Sunderland: AZ Alkmaar (H), AC Milan (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Anderlecht (A), Jagiellonia (H), Lech Poznan (A), Levski Sofia (H), Torreense (A)
Crystal Palace: Real Sociedad (H), Lyon (A), Sparta Prague (H), RB Salzburg (A), Lech Poznan (H), Jagiellonia (A), Hoffenheim (H), Besiktas (A)
Celtic: Marseille (H), Benfica (A), Ferencvaros (H), Union SG (A), Celta Vigo (H), Omonia Nicosia (A), Besiktas (H), Torreense (A)
Europa League league phase matchdays:
Matchday 1: September 16-17
Matchday 2: October 15
Matchday 3: October 22
Matchday 4: November 5
Matchday 5: November 26
Matchday 6: December 10
Matchday 7: January 21
Matchday 8: January 28