The draw for the group stage of the Uefa Europa League was made in Monaco on Friday 26 August 2011. There were 48 teams in the draw, comprising the 38 play-off winners and the ten teams that lost in the last round of the Champions League play-offs.
The teams have been drawn into 12 groups of four teams each on a seeded basis. Matches will start on 15 September 2011 and finish on 15 December 2011, during which time each team will play each of the other teams in the group home and away.
The winner and runner-up in each group will go forward to the knock-out stage where they will be joined by the eight teams that finish third in each Champions League group to form the Round of 32. The bottom two teams of each group will be eliminated.
Europa League Draw in Full
Group A: Tottenham Hotspur, Rubin Kazan, Paok and Shamrock Rovers.
Group B: Copenhagen, Standard Liege, Hannover 96 and Vorskla Poltava.
Group C: PSV Eindhoven, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Rapid Bucharest and Legia Warsaw.
Group D: Sporting Club Portugal, Lazio, Zurich and Vaslui.
Group E: Dynamo Kyiv, Besiktas, Stoke City and Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
Group F: Paris St Germain, Athletic Club Bilbao, Salzburg and Slovan Bratislava.
Group G: Alkmaar, Metalist Kharkiv, Austria Wien and Malmo.
Group H: Braga, Brugge, Birmingham City and NK Maribor.
Group I: Atletico Madrid, Udinese Calcio, Stade Rennais and Sion.
Group J: Schalke, Steaua Bucharest, Maccabi Haifa and AEK Larnaca.
Group K: Twente, Fulham, Odense and Wisla Krakow.
Group L: Anderlecht, AEK Athens, Locomotiv Moscow and Sturm Graz.
Teams to Watch
There are some big names mixed up in the groups, such as Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Schalke and PSV Eindhoven. Other top teams include Dynamo Kyiv, Twente and Paris St Germain.
Unusually, there are no Scottish teams this year as all three – Celtic, Rangers and Hearts – lost their play-off matches. However, Celtic may yet be reinstated as a complaint has been lodged against their play-off opponents Sion for fielding ineligible players.
Highlights of the Draw
Udinese, after fighting a tough battle to lose to Arsenal in the Champions League play-offs, find life is still difficult in the Europa League with Atletico Madrid in the same group. The commentator’s nightmare group is H with Braga, Brugge and Birmingham City up against each other.
Twente versus Fulham promises to be a good tie as does Copenhagen versus Standard Liege. And Dynamo Kyiv will find life tough when they travel to Stoke City to play in front of the noisiest fans in the English Premiership.
See also Champions League Group Draw in Full.
Steve Rogerson - Steve Rogerson is a UK-based writer specialising in television, technology, sports and beer.
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