EL/ECL draw: Brighton face Ajax, Liverpool with LASK, Villa handed AZ
Europa League debutants Brighton were drawn to take on former Champions League winners Ajax and Marseille in Friday’s group stage draw.
Roberto De Zerbi’s men secured a first season in continental football with a sixth-place finish in last season’s Premier League table, and their reward is matches against four-time European champions Ajax and the 1993 European Cup winners Marseille.
The Seagulls’ other group opponents are reigning Greek champions AEK Athens, with the first round of group games to be played on Thursday September 21.
Liverpool, three-time winners of the competition in its former guise of the UEFA Cup, were placed alongside LASK of Austria, Belgian club Union St Gilloise and Toulouse from France.
The third Premier League representatives in Friday’s draw were West Ham by virtue of their victory in last season’s Europa Conference League final.
The Hammers go up against 47-time Greek champions Olympiacos, German club Freiburg and European debutants TSC Backa Topola from Serbia.
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.
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It means another trip to Seville for the Glasgow club, where they lost the 2022 Europa League final to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Also paired with Rangers are Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic and Cypriot champions Aris Limassol.
The winners of the eight groups progress straight to the last 16, while the eight runners-up will take on the eight third-placed sides 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
- Group A: West Ham, Olympiacos, Freiburg, TSC Backa Topola
- Group B: Ajax, Marseille, Brighton, AEK Athens
- Group C: Rangers, Real Betis, Sparta Prague, Aris Limassol
- Group D: Atalanta, Sporting CP, Sturm Graz, Raków Czestochowa
- Group E: Liverpool, LASK, Union SG, Toulouse
- Group F: Villarreal, Rennes, Maccabi Haifa, Panathinaikos
- Group G: AS Roma, Slavia Prague, Sheriff Tiraspol, Servette
- Group H: Leverkusen, Qarabag, Molde, Häcken
Europa Conference League: Villa to face AZ
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 hosted their first European game in 13 years on Thursday night, sealing their place in the group-stage draw with an 8-0 aggregate win over Hibernian in their qualifying play-off.
Aberdeen, the only other British club in the group stage of European football’s third-tier competition, have been drawn 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.
Villa’s Group E opponents Zrinjski are the first team from Bosnia and Herzegovina to reach the group stages of a UEFA club competition.
The 32 teams who featured in the draw are comprised of the 22 winners in the ECL play-off round along with the 10 losers in the Europa League play-off round.
The clubs were seeded in four pots of eight teams, in accordance with UEFA’s club coefficient rankings. Villa were in pot two, Aberdeen in pot four.
Europa Conference League group-stage draw in full
- Group A: LOSC Lille, Slovan Bratislava, Olimpija Ljubljana, KÍ Klaksvík
- Group B: Gent, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Zorya Luhansk, Breidablik
- Group C: Dinamo Zagreb, Viktoria Plzen, Astana, Ballkani
- Group D: Club Brugge, Bodø/Glimt, Beşiktas, Lugano
- Group E: AZ Alkmaar, Aston Villa, Legia Warsaw, Zrinjski
- Group F: Ferencváros, Fiorentina, Genk, Cukaricki
- Group G: Frankfurt, PAOK, HJK Helsinki, Aberdeen
- Group H: Fenerbahçe, Ludogorets, Spartak Trnava, Nordsjælland
When are the Europa League/ Europa Conference group stage games?
The full fixture list for the group stage will be revealed after the draw but UEFA has confirmed the matchday dates.
- Matchday 1: September 21
- Matchday 2: October 5
- Matchday 3: October 26
- Matchday 4: November 9
- Matchday 5: November 30
- Matchday 6: December 14