By Babatunde Solanke
The group-stage draw of the second tier European football competition known as Europa League is scheduled to take place today Friday at Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, France at 12 noon Nigerian time .
The UEFA Europa League is set to start next month, with Liverpool, West Ham and Brighton among the teams in the competition.
Sevilla, the current holder of the cup, will not be competing in this year tournament as they will be in the elite Champions League once again after lifting the trophy back in June – the seventh in the club’s history. But should they drop of the completion, they may find themselves in their familiar terrain bidding for another honour.
But as at now,, teams such as West Ham – the Europa Conference League winners – and Roma, Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen are some of the bigger entrants into the second tier European football club competitions
As well as those four, there are places for Brighton, Atalanta and Sporting, bidding to lift a trophy that guarantees Champions League football the following season.
The 2023/24 campaign will be the final season of Europa League football as we know it, with a new format set to be introduced next year.
The qualification play-off round was completed the day before the draw takes place – with the likes of Ajax, Olympiacos, Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague advancing.
The 32 teams have been placed in four seeding pots based on UEFA’s club coefficient rankings.
Clubs from the same country cannot play each other in the group stage.
The winners of each group qualify for the round of 16, while the runners-up go into the knockout round play-offs and will face the teams who finish third in their Champions League group.
The third-placed teams in each Europa League group will go into the Europa Conference League knockout round play-offs, where they will face the Europa Conference League group runners-up for spots in the last 16.
EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW POT 1
West Ham
Liverpool
Roma
Ajax
Villarreal
Bayer Leverkusen
Atalanta
Rangers
EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW POT 2
Sporting CP
Slavia Prague
Rennes
Olympiakos
Real Betis
LASK
Marseille
Qarabag
EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW POT 3
Molde
Brighton
FC Sheriff
Union Saint-Gilloise
Freiburg
Sparta Prague
Maccabi Haifa
Sturm Graz
EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW POT 4
Toulouse
AEK Athens
Backa Topola
Servette
Panathinaikos
Rakow Czestochowa
Aris Limassol
BK Hacken
The group-stage draw will see 32 teams drawn out into eight four-team groups.
Following the conclusion of the group stage, the last-16 draw will be held on February 23, 2024 and the draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be on March 15, 2024.
KNOCKOUT PHASE
Knockout round play-offs: February 15 and 22, 2024
Round of 16: March 7 and 14, 2024
Quarter-finals: April 11 and 18, 2024
Semi-finals: May 2 and 9, 2024
Final: May 22, 2024
The UEFA Europa League group stage kicks off in September.
It will commence shortly after the first international break of the season which runs from September 4-12.
The group-stage dates are:
Matchday 1: September 21 2023
Matchday 2: October 5 2023
Matchday 3: October 26 2023
Matchday 4: November 9 2023
Matchday 5: November 30 2023
Matchday 6: December 14 2023
There are 20 six group-stage places up for grabs through qualifying: 10 eliminated teams from the Champions League play-off rounds, and 10 from the Europa League play-off round.
The Europa Conference League title holders, and 11 other clubs qualify through domestic achievements.
The confirmed teams so far are:
England: West Ham, Liverpool, Brighton & Hove Albion
Spain: Real Betis, Villarreal,
Germany: SC Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen
Belgium: Genk
Italy: Atalanta, Roma
Swizterland: Servette
Austria: Sturm Graz
Portugal: Sporting CP
France: Toulouse, Rennes, Marseille
Serbia: TSC
Teams in Play-off round
Scotland: Aberdeen
Belgium: Union Saint-Gilloise
Sweden: BK Hacken
Netherlands: Ajax
Serbia: Cukaricki
Ukraine: Zorya Luhansk
Austria: LASK
Switzerland: Lugano
Czech Republic: Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague
Croatia: Dinamo Zagreb
Cyprus: Aris Limassol
Slovakia: Slovan Bratislava
Slovenia: Olimpija Ljubljana
Faroe Islands: KI
Hungary: Ludogorets
Azerbaijan: Qarabag
Moldova: Sheriff Tiraspol
Bosnia: Zrinjski Mostar
Greece: Olympiacos