The draw for the Europa League was held on Friday, August 30 with the new format, having Manchester United’s former coach, José Mourinho, whose new club, Fenerbahce will be preparing to face the Red Devils among its eight opponents.
Going memory lane in 2017, Mourinho led Man United to win the Europa League in 2017 during his 2½ years at Old Trafford and took the Fenerbahce job in the offseason.
As the tournament prepares to kick off, the inaugural league phase draw revealed the opponents of the 36 teams ready to battle it out for European glory with an exciting new UEFA format.
The draw prepares the stage for a thrilling campaign featuring some of the continent’s most formidable clubs was held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Friday, August 30,
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur will represent England in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League, both eyeing success.
They’ll face tough competition from Italian clubs Lazio and Roma, Spain’s Real Sociedad and Athletic Club, and Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt and Hoffenheim, among others.
The revamped format promises an exciting and unpredictable group stage.
The number of clubs in the competition proper is now 36, all of whom are placed into one league but split into four pots of seeds.
Each participant plays eight games, facing two clubs from each pot, one at home and one away.
The top eight at the end of the league phase, which runs until the end of January, will advance to the last 16, while the teams finishing from ninth to 24th will advance to a play-off round to decide the remaining last-16 spots.
The bottom 12 in the league phase will be eliminated, with no clubs dropping down into the Conference League ahead of the knockouts, and no teams parachuting down from the Champions League as in the past.
UEFA has said that dates for all fixtures will be announced on Saturday. The first group games will be played on September 25 and 26, a week after the opening matchday of the Champions League.
This season’s Europa League final will be played in Bilbao on May 21 next year. Atalanta won the trophy last season, beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final in Dublin.
Below are the 36 competing teams:
The 36 teams competing in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League league phase are Qarabağ (AZE), Anderlecht, Union Saint-Gilloise (BEL), Ludogorets (BUL), Slavia Praha, Viktoria Plzeň (CZE), Midtjylland (DEN), Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Athletic Club, Real Sociedad (ESP), Nice, Lyon (FRA), Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim (GER), Olympiacos, PAOK (GRE), Ferencváros (HUN), M. Tel-Aviv (ISR), Lazio, Roma (ITA), RFS (LVA), Ajax, AZ, Twente (NED), Bodø/Glimt (NOR), Braga, Porto (POR), FCSB (ROU), Rangers (SCO), Elfsborg, Malmö (SWE), Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray (TUR), and Dynamo Kyiv (UKR).
