BEVERLY HILLS, October 02, (THEWILL) –Â In a ceremony at the UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, the draws for the 2020/2021 Europa League group stages were made today.
As usual, the 48 competing clubs were divided into 12 groups of four each. The seedings that ranked the teams were determined by their UEFA ranking and country protection normally in use at this stage of the competition.
AC Milan and Celtic, in Group H, present football fans with one of the high profile draws and what may be the toughest group in the competition this season. They were latched onto the same group alongside Czech club Sparta Prague and Lille from the French Ligue 1. In Group D, Steven Gerard’s Rangers will contend against the Portuguese side Benfica, Standard Liege and Lech Poznan, from Poland.
As one of the highest ranked football clubs in the competition this season, Arsenal from the English Premier League, was placed in the same group with Rapid Vienna, Molde from Norway and the Irish club Dundalk in Group B. The North London outfit is among early favourites to clinch the trophy.
Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur faces off against teams like Bulgarian side Ludogorets, LASK from Austria and Antwerp in Group J. The Portuguese manager has experience in this competition having won it at different times, first with Porto in 2003 and then while at Manchester United three years ago.
The English club Leicester’s return to European competition since reaching the quarter-finals stage in the 2016/2017 UEFA Champions League season sees them come face to face with 2011 finalists Braga from Portugal, the Greek side AEK Athens and the Ukrainian club Zorya Luhansk in Group G.
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2020/2021 EUROPA LEAGUE GROUP DRAW
GROUP A
Roma
Young Boys
Cluj
CSKA Sofia
GROUP B
Arsenal
Rapid Vienna
Molde
Dundalk
GROUP C
Bayer Leverkusen
Slavia Prague
Hapel Beer-Sheva
Nice
GROUP D
Benfica
Standard Liege
Rangers
Lech Poznan
GROUP E
PSV Eindhoven
PAOK
Granada
Omonia
GROUP F
Napoli
Real Sociedad
AZ Alkmaar
HNK Rijeka
GROUP G
Braga
Leicester
AEK Athens
Zorya Luhansk
GROUP H
Celtic
Sparta Prague
AC Milan
Lille
GROUP I
Villareal
Qarabag
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Sivasspor
GROUP J
Tottenham
Ludogorets
LASK
Antwerp
GROUP K
CSKA Moscow
Dinamo Zagreb
Feyenoord
Wolfsberger
GROUP L
Gent
Red Star Belgrade
Hoffenheim
Slovan Liberec
The group stages begin on Thursday, the 22nd of October and conclude on Thursday, the 10th of December. The 2021 final will be at the Stadion Energa Gdansk in Gdansk in the north coast of Poland. It was supposed to host the 2020 final until circumstances changed with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
As has always been the case, THEWILL notes that the overall winner is guaranteed a place in next season’s UEFA Champion’s League.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
