Thrilling Europa League Draw: Brighton Faces Off Against Mighty Ajax, Liverpool Set to Clash with LASK | West Ham Tackles Olympiacos
Europa League group stage draw: Exciting matchups revealed! Brighton faces tough challenge against Ajax, while Liverpool takes on LASK West Ham paired with Olympiacos Aston Villa to battle AZ Alkmaar in Europa Conference League Stay tuned for thrilling games ahead!
Brighton, making their debut in the Europa League, were pitted against the formidable opponents of Ajax, former winners of the Champions League, and Marseille, who clinched the European Cup in 1993. Roberto De Zerbi's team earned their place in continental football by finishing sixth in the Premier League last season.
The Seagulls' remaining group rivals include the current Greek champions, AEK Athens. The first set of group matches is scheduled for Thursday, September 21st.
Liverpool, who have won the competition three times when it was known as the UEFA Cup, have been drawn with LASK from Austria, Union St Gilloise from Belgium, and Toulouse from France.
West Ham earned their spot in Friday's draw for the Premier League representatives thanks to their triumph in the Europa Conference League final last season.
In the upcoming matches, the Hammers will face off against Olympiacos, the 47-time champions of Greece, German club Freiburg, and TSC Backa Topola from Serbia, who will be making their first appearance in European competition.
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Rangers, who dropped into the Europa League after suffering a Champions League play-off defeat to PSV Eindhoven earlier this week, will take on Real Betis from Spain.
This means that the Glasgow club will be making another trip to Seville, where they had previously lost the 2022 Europa League final to Eintracht Frankfurt. As for Rangers, they have been paired with Sparta Prague from the Czech Republic and Aris Limassol, the champions of Cyprus.
The winners of each of the eight groups will advance directly to the last 16, while the second-place teams will compete against the third-place teams from the Champions League group stage in the knockout round play-offs.
This season's final takes place in Dublin on May 22.
Europa League group stage draw in full
Europa Conference League: Villa to face AZ
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Aston Villa have been drawn with AZ Alkmaar
Aston Villa have been drawn to face AZ Alkmaar, Legia Warsaw and Zrinjski in Group E of the Europa Conference League.
The Premier League club held their inaugural European match in over a decade on Thursday evening, solidifying their position in the group-stage draw after a comprehensive 8-0 victory over Hibernian in the qualifying play-off. Aberdeen, the sole British club participating in the group stage of Europe's third-tier football competition, have been placed in Group G alongside Eintracht Frankfurt, PAOK Athens, and Helsinki.
The Scottish Premiership side dropped into the Europa Conference League after losing to Swedish champions Hacken 5-3 on aggregate in their Europa League qualifier.
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Villa's Group E adversaries, Zrinjski, have become the inaugural team from Bosnia and Herzegovina to advance to the group stages of a UEFA club tournament.
The 32 teams participating in the draw consist of the 22 victors from the ECL play-off round, alongside the 10 contenders who were unsuccessful in the Europa League play-off round.
The teams were divided into four pots based on UEFA's club coefficients. Villa was placed in pot two, while Aberdeen was placed in pot four.
