Rangers and five others added to list of West Ham’s potential opponents on this season’s Europa League adventure ahead of draw
Rangers and five others have been added to the list of West Ham’s potential opponents on this season’s Europa League adventure ahead of the draw.
Tomorrow promises to be a busy and exciting day for West Ham, perhaps more than any other club.
Because not only do the Hammers have all the fun and drama of the Europa League draw and transfer deadline day, there is the small matter of a big game at Luton in the evening too.
First comes the excitement of the Europa League group stage draw for West Ham which takes place from 12pm UK time on Friday.
As of yesterday there were 16 teams who had automatically qualified for the group stages including West Ham and Premier League rivals Liverpool and Brighton.
Now Rangers and five others have been added to list of West Ham’s potential opponents on this season’s Europa League adventure ahead of the draw.
The draw will feature 32 teams – the 16 automatic qualifiers including the Hammers, as well as the 10 play-off round winners set to be confirmed on Thursday night along with the six losers of the UEFA Champions League play-off round.
Scottish giants Rangers – who West Ham would have faced in the Europa League final two seasons ago had they made it past Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-final – are the big name among them.
That’s after Rangers were beaten 7-3 on aggregate by Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. The Gers went into the second leg of the tie drawing 2-2 but suffered a 5-1 defeat over in Holland.
And other possible opponents for the Hammers at some stage in the competition now include Greek sides AEK Athens and Panathinaikos, Israel’s Maccabi Haifa, Norway’s Molde and Polish outfit Raków Częstochowa.
The list of 22 teams (which you can see in full at the bottom of this article) will become 32 when the 10 qualifiers are settled on Thursday night.
The 32 teams will then be split into four seeding pots based on the club coefficient rankings.
The four seeding pots will be confirmed on the morning of the draw.
No team can play a side from their own association. Pairings and any other restrictions will be announced ahead of the draw.
Europa League group stage fixture dates:
Matchday 1: 21 September
Matchday 2: 5 October
Matchday 3: 26 October
Matchday 4: 9 November
Matchday 5: 30 November
Matchday 6: 14 December
22 teams who have qualified for Europa League group stages:
AUT: Sturm Graz
ENG: Brighton, Liverpool, West Ham
ESP: Real Betis, Villarreal
FRA: Marseille, Rennes, Toulouse
ITA: Atalanta, Roma
GER: Freiburg, Leverkusen
GRE: AEK Athens, Panathinaikos
ISR: Maccabi Haifa
NOR:Molde
POL:Raków Częstochowa
POR: Sporting CP
SCO: Rangers
SRB: TSC
SUI: Servette
