Europa League Group-Stage Draw

The draw for the group stage of the Europa League took place on Friday in Monaco.

GROUP A:

Valencia

Swansea City

FC Kuban Krasnodar

St. Gallen



GROUP B:

PSV Eindhoven

Dinamo Zagreb

Chornomorets Odessa

Ludogorets Razgrad



GROUP C:

Standard Liege

FC Red Bull Salzburg

IF Elfsborg

Esbjerg Fb



GROUP D:

FC Rubin Kazan

Wigan Athletic

NK Maribor

SV Zulte Waregem



GROUP E:

Fiorentina

FC Dnipor Dnipropetrovsk

Pacos de Fereirra

Pandurii Targu Jiu



GROUP F:

Bordeaux

APOEL FC

Eintracht Frankfurt

Maccabi Tel Aviv



GROUP G:

Dynamo Kiev

KRC Genk

Rapid Vienna

FC Thun



GROUP H:

Sevilla

Freiburg

GD Estoril Praia

FC Slovan Liberec



GROUP I:

Lyon

Real Betis

Vitoria de Guimaraes

HNK Rijeka



GROUP J:

Lazio

Trabzonspor

Legia Warsaw

Apollon Limassol



GROUP K:

Tottenham Hotspur

FC Anzhi Makhachkala

FC Sheriff

Tromso IL



GROUP L:

AZ Alkmaar

PAOK FC

Maccabi Haifa

Shakhter Karagandy

The fun begins on September 19.  Each team would play six games, two (one at home, one on the road) against each of the other teams in each group.  The top two finishers in each group would advance to the knockout stage, joined by the third place club from each of the Champions League's eight groups.

NOTE:  Besiktas, who defeated Tromso IL in the Europa League's playoff round, were banished from the tournament due to match-fixing charges.  After Fenerbahce, who lost their Champions League playoff-round series to Arsenal, also were banned from this tournament due to the same charges.  With the Yellow Canaries' bannishment, a spot in the group stage that would have belonged to a Champions League playoff-round loser, instead went to a Europa League playoff-round loser, with APOEL FC being selected.  Maccabi Tel Aviv got a pass to the Europa League's group stage after their scheduled playoff-round opponents PAOK FC (who had been eliminated in the Champions League's third qualifying round) were promoted to the Champions League's playoff round after FC Metalist Kharkiv were banned (same reason as was the case with the Black Eagles and Yellow Canaries).  PAOK lost their Champions League playoff-round series to FC Schalke 04 and wound up in the Europa League's group stage.