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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tom Clark

West Ham discover Europa League Group H opponents with Hammers set for European tour

West Ham have discovered their opponents for the group stage of the Europa League, which gets underway on September 16.

David Moyes' side will face trips to Croatia, Belgium and Austria as they enter the Europa League group stage for the first time in their history.

The Hammers were placed in Pot Three for the draw and were the final team out of the pot and were drawn into Group H.

From Pot One, West Ham were drawn against Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb. Genk of Belgium were the Pot Two opponents for the Hammers and Group H was completed with Rapid Vienna of Austria from Pot Four.

The first Europa League match takes place on September 16, with confirmation of the fixture schedule to be determined shortly.

The Hammers will be keen to win the group and avoid a tricky last-32 clash with one of the third-place Champions League teams after a tweak to the Europa League format this season.

Group H winners will progress straight to the last-16 with the runners-up facing an extra knockout playoff round.

The third-place team in Group H will drop into the new UEFA tournament the Europa Conference League for a play-off match. The fourth-placed team will exit European competition.

Europa League groups (OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

West Ham's opponents have more recent experience in European competition than the Hammers with Dinamo Zagreb a vastly experienced Champions League / European Cup side, albeit their best run in the tournament came in 1960-61 when they reached the semi-final stage.

The Croatian side won a domestic double last season but were shocked in the Champions League qualifiers when they lost to Moldovan outfit Sheriff Tiraspol.

Genk were last in the Champions League proper in the 2019-20 season but failed to progress from their group. The Belgian team were defeated 4-2 on aggregate by Shakhtar Donetsk in this season's Champions League third qualifying round.

The Hammers' group is completed by Austrian outfit Rapid Vienna who defeated Zorya Luhansk 6-2 on aggregate in the Europa League play-offs to book their spot in the Group stages.

West Ham's European adventure gets underway on September 16 with fixtures to follow on September 30, October 21, November 4, November 25 and finally December 9.

The schedule is yet to be confirmed for the Hammers and fans have been reminded by the club not to book any travel until UEFA has confirmed the availability of tickets for away supporters.

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