The draw for the Europa League group stage decided the 12 pools of four teams on Friday afternoon to raise the curtain on the second tier of European competition, with both Manchester United and Arsenal learning their opposition for this season’s tournament.
United will clock up the miles on their Europa travels this season after being drawn against Kazakhstan's FC Astana - posing fans with a 7,400-mile round trip - that will take a nine-hour flight just to reach. To makes matters worse, United will also meet Partizan Belgrade, giving them another long-distance trip to Serbia, though the final team out of the hat came in the form of AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.
Arsenal received a more generous draw travel-wise, but they will face last season's runners-up in Eintracht Frankfurt as well Belgian side Standard Liege and Portuguese outfit Vitoria SC.
The same could not be said for Celtic, who face a difficult ask against Serie A side Lazio, Ligue 1 side Rennes and Romanian club CFR Cluf, while Rangers face a similar challenge after being drawn with Porto, Feyenoord and Young Boys.
In their first season in European competition since 1981, Wolverhampton Wanderers were handed an interesing draw against Besiktas, Braga and SK Slovan Bratislava, taking their fans to Turkey, Portugal and Slovakia respectively.
Here’s all you need to know about the group-stage fixtures.
Europa League groups
Group A: Sevilla, APOEL, Qarabag, F91 Dudelange
Group B: Dynamo Kiev, FC Copenhagen, Malmo, FC Lugano
Group C: FC Basel, Krasnodar, Getafe, Trabzonspor
Group D: Sporting, PSV Eindhoven, Rosenborg, LASK
Group E: Lazio, Celtic, Stade Rennais, CFR Cluj,
Group F: Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege, Vitoria SC
Group G: Porto, Young Boys, Feyenoord, Rangers
Group H: CSKA Moscow, Ludogorets, Espanyol, Ferencvaros
Group I: Wolfsburg, Gent, Saint-Etienne, FC Olexandriya
Group J: Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Wolfsberger AC
Group K: Besiktas, Braga, Wolverhampton Wanderers, SK Slovan Bratislava
Group L: Manchester United, FC Astana, Partizan Belgrade, AZ Alkmaar
Europa League group-stage dates
19 September: Group stage, matchday one
3 October: Group stage, matchday two
24 October: Group stage, matchday three
7 November: Group stage, matchday four
28 November: Group stage, matchday five
12 December: Group stage, matchday six
When are the fixtures announced?
Following the conclusion of the draw, Uefa will meet with all 48 clubs to structure the full group stage. An announcement of confirmed fixtures is expected on Friday afternoon a few hours after the draw has been completed.
How are they determined?
Teams in the same league will be paired together to ensure they play at different kick-off times on the same matchdays, meaning that if one team is drawn into one half of the draw, the other must be drawn into the other half.
The paired teams are:
- Sevilla & Espanyol
- Arsenal & Manchester United
- Porto & Sporting CP
- Roma & Lazio
- Dynamo Kyiv & Olexandriya
- Beşiktaş & Trabzonspor
- Basel & Young Boys
- CSKA Moskva & Krasnodar
- PSV & Feyenoord
- Celtic & Rangers
- Braga & Vitória SC
- Gent & Standard
- Mönchengladbach & Eintracht
- St-Étienne & Rennes
- LASK & Wolfsberg
Pot 1
101.000 Arsenal (ENG)
93.000 Porto (POR)
81.000 Roma (ITA)
78.000 Manchester United (ENG)
65.000 Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
62.000 Beşiktaş (TUR)
54.500 Basel (SUI)
50.000 Sporting CP (POR)
48.000 CSKA Moskva (RUS)
40.000 Wolfsburg (GER)
37.000 Lazio (ITA)
Pot 2
34.500 Krasnodar (RUS)
31.000 Celtic (SCO)
31.000 København (DEN)
31.000 Braga (POR)
29.500 Gent (BEL)
29.000 Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER)
27.500 Young Boys (SUI)
27.500 Astana (KAZ)
27.000 Ludogorets (BUL)
25.500 APOEL (CYP)
24.000 Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
Pot 3
23.000 St-Étienne (FRA)
22.000 Qarabağ (AZE)
22.000 Feyenoord (NED)
20.713 Getafe (ESP)
20.713 Espanyol (ESP)
20.000 Malmö (SWE)
18.000 Partizan (SRB)
17.500 Standard Liège (BEL)
17.092 Wolves (ENG)
11.699 Rennes (FRA)
11.500 Rosenborg (NOR)
10.500 İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)
Wolves slot into pot three after their impressive win over Torino, which also includes Baku-based Qarabag, who Arsenal will be looking to avoid after the Henrikh Mkhitaryan socio-political kerfuffle of last season.
Pot 4
10.500 AZ Alkmaar (NED)
9.646 Vitória SC (POR)
8.000 Trabzonspor (TUR)
7.780 Olexandriya (UKR)
6.250 Dudelange (LUX)
6.250 LASK (AUT)
6.250 Wolfsberg (AUT)
6.000 Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
6.000 Lugano (SUI)
5.250 Rangers (SCO)
3.500 CFR Cluj (ROU)
3.500 Ferencváros (HUN)
Pot Four covers the depth and breadth of Europe, and includes Rangers after Alfredo Morelos' last minute winner took them past Legia Warsaw. A trip to Olexandriya in the Ukraine or Trabzonspor in Turkey does not look particcularly attractive.
In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs have been paired so that they play with different kick-off times (18.55 CET and 21:00 CET) for the benefit of TV audiences. The pairings are:
Sevilla & Espanyol
Arsenal & Manchester United
Porto & Sporting CP
Roma & Lazio
Dynamo Kyiv & Olexandriya
Beşiktaş & Trabzonspor
Basel & Young Boys
CSKA Moskva & Krasnodar
PSV & Feyenoord
Celtic & Rangers
Braga & Vitória SC
Gent & Standard
Mönchengladbach & Eintracht
St-Étienne & Rennes
LASK & Wolfsberg
If a paired club is drawn, for example, in groups A, B, C, D, E or F the other paired club – once drawn – will automatically be assigned to the first available group of G, H, I, J, K or L.
Feyenoord (winners in 1974, 2002)
Mönchengladbach (1975, 1979)
PSV (1978)
Frankfurt (1980)
Porto (2003, 2011)
CSKA Moskva (2005)
Sevilla (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Manchester United (2017)
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