Europa League 2019 fixtures: When are games released and announced for Arsenal, Manchester United, Wolves, Celtic and Rangers?

Fans will have to wait until Friday afternoon before finding out when and where their club will be heading in the Europa League group stage

Champions League group stage draw

The draw for the Europa League group stage decided the 12 pools of four teams on Friday afternoon to raise the curtain on the second tier of European competition, with both Manchester United and Arsenal learning their opposition for this season’s tournament.

United will clock up the miles on their Europa travels this season after being drawn against Kazakhstan's FC Astana - posing fans with a 7,400-mile round trip - that will take a nine-hour flight just to reach. To makes matters worse, United will also meet Partizan Belgrade, giving them another long-distance trip to Serbia, though the final team out of the hat came in the form of AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.

Arsenal received a more generous draw travel-wise, but they will face last season's runners-up in Eintracht Frankfurt as well Belgian side Standard Liege and Portuguese outfit Vitoria SC.

The same could not be said for Celtic, who face a difficult ask against Serie A side Lazio, Ligue 1 side Rennes and Romanian club CFR Cluf, while Rangers face a similar challenge after being drawn with Porto, Feyenoord and Young Boys.

In their first season in European competition since 1981, Wolverhampton Wanderers were handed an interesing draw against Besiktas, Braga and SK Slovan Bratislava, taking their fans to Turkey, Portugal and Slovakia respectively.

Here’s all you need to know about the group-stage fixtures.

Europa League groups

Group A: Sevilla, APOEL, Qarabag, F91 Dudelange

Group B: Dynamo Kiev, FC Copenhagen, Malmo, FC Lugano

Group C: FC Basel, Krasnodar, Getafe, Trabzonspor

Group D: Sporting, PSV Eindhoven, Rosenborg, LASK

Group E: Lazio, Celtic, Stade Rennais, CFR Cluj,

Group F: Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege, Vitoria SC

Group G: Porto, Young Boys, Feyenoord, Rangers

Group H: CSKA Moscow, Ludogorets, Espanyol, Ferencvaros

Group I: Wolfsburg, Gent, Saint-Etienne, FC Olexandriya

Group J: Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Wolfsberger AC

Group K: Besiktas, Braga, Wolverhampton Wanderers, SK Slovan Bratislava

Group L: Manchester United, FC Astana, Partizan Belgrade, AZ Alkmaar

Europa League group-stage dates

19 September: Group stage, matchday one

3 October: Group stage, matchday two

24 October: Group stage, matchday three

7 November: Group stage, matchday four

28 November: Group stage, matchday five

12 December: Group stage, matchday six

When are the fixtures announced?

Following the conclusion of the draw, Uefa will meet with all 48 clubs to structure the full group stage. An announcement of confirmed fixtures is expected on Friday afternoon a few hours after the draw has been completed.

How are they determined?

Teams in the same league will be paired together to ensure they play at different kick-off times on the same matchdays, meaning that if one team is drawn into one half of the draw, the other must be drawn into the other half.

The paired teams are:

• Sevilla & Espanyol
• Arsenal & Manchester United
• Porto & Sporting CP
• Roma & Lazio
• Dynamo Kyiv & Olexandriya
• Beşiktaş & Trabzonspor
• Basel & Young Boys
• CSKA Moskva & Krasnodar
• PSV & Feyenoord
• Celtic & Rangers
• Braga & Vitória SC
• Gent & Standard
• Mönchengladbach & Eintracht
• St-Étienne & Rennes
• LASK & Wolfsberg

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[30 August 2019 09:43 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Hello and welcome along to live coverage of the Europa League draw! We'll have all the build-up to the main event, which will kick-off at around midday UK time, as Manchester United, Arsenal, Wolves, Celtic and Rangers are among those sides in the hat...

[30 August 2019 09:56 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Pot 1

104.000 Sevilla (ESP)

101.000 Arsenal (ENG)

93.000 Porto (POR)

81.000 Roma (ITA)

78.000 Manchester United (ENG)

65.000 Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)

62.000 Beşiktaş (TUR)

54.500 Basel (SUI)

50.000 Sporting CP (POR)

48.000 CSKA Moskva (RUS)

40.000 Wolfsburg (GER)

37.000 Lazio (ITA)

Sevilla are the highest ranked side in the competition, according to Uefa's coefficients, and as serial winners of this competition they are one to avoid. Manchester United and Arsenal won't need to worry about that, given their positions in pot one, and they will have the benefit of avoiding other heavy-hitters like Wolfsburg, Besiktas, Sporting, Porto and Roma. For Celtic, Rangers and Wolves, Lazio might be the softest of the lot but the reality is there is no easy draw here. 

[30 August 2019 10:06 · Lawrence Ostlere]

Pot 2

37.000 PSV Eindhoven (NED)

34.500 Krasnodar (RUS)

31.000 Celtic (SCO)

31.000 København (DEN)

31.000 Braga (POR)

29.500 Gent (BEL)

29.000 Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER)

27.500 Young Boys (SUI)

27.500 Astana (KAZ)

27.000 Ludogorets (BUL)

25.500 APOEL (CYP)

24.000 Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)

Celtic's place in pot two means they will avoid tricky opponents like Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Monchengladbach and PSV Eindhoven. For the rest of the home nation clubs, long away trips to Cyprus, Russia and Kazakhstan all lurk here. 

[30 August 2019 10:26 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

Pot 3

23.000 St-Étienne (FRA)

22.000 Qarabağ (AZE)

22.000 Feyenoord (NED)

20.713 Getafe (ESP)

20.713 Espanyol (ESP)

20.000 Malmö (SWE)

18.000 Partizan (SRB)

17.500 Standard Liège (BEL)

17.092 Wolves (ENG)

11.699 Rennes (FRA)

11.500 Rosenborg (NOR)

10.500 İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)

Wolves slot into pot three after their impressive win over Torino, which also includes Baku-based Qarabag, who Arsenal will be looking to avoid after the Henrikh Mkhitaryan socio-political kerfuffle of last season. 

[30 August 2019 10:33 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

Pot 4

10.500 AZ Alkmaar (NED)

9.646 Vitória SC (POR)

8.000 Trabzonspor (TUR)

7.780 Olexandriya (UKR)

6.250 Dudelange (LUX)

6.250 LASK (AUT)

6.250 Wolfsberg (AUT)

6.000 Slovan Bratislava (SVK)

6.000 Lugano (SUI)

5.250 Rangers (SCO)

3.500 CFR Cluj (ROU)

3.500 Ferencváros (HUN)

Pot Four covers the depth and breadth of Europe, and includes Rangers after Alfredo Morelos' last minute winner took them past Legia Warsaw. A trip to Olexandriya in the Ukraine or Trabzonspor in Turkey does not look particcularly attractive.

[30 August 2019 10:46 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

Wolves are into the Europa League group stage with six wins from six games after victory over Torino at Molineux last night:

[30 August 2019 10:49 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

Need catching up on all the ins and outs from yesterday's Champions League drawing festivities?

[30 August 2019 10:54 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

And a reminder of how things will work today:

[30 August 2019 11:00 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

Uefa have very handily explained their pairing system that ensures that clubs play at different times, and listed the clubs in question:

In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs have been paired so that they play with different kick-off times (18.55 CET and 21:00 CET) for the benefit of TV audiences. The pairings are:

Sevilla & Espanyol Arsenal & Manchester United Porto & Sporting CP Roma & Lazio Dynamo Kyiv & Olexandriya Beşiktaş & Trabzonspor Basel & Young Boys CSKA Moskva & Krasnodar PSV & Feyenoord Celtic & Rangers Braga & Vitória SC Gent & Standard Mönchengladbach & Eintracht St-Étienne & Rennes LASK & Wolfsberg

If a paired club is drawn, for example, in groups A, B, C, D, E or F the other paired club – once drawn – will automatically be assigned to the first available group of G, H, I, J, K or L.

[30 August 2019 11:30 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

Doppelgangers!

A curious quirk of this group stage draw - Wolfsburg coud face Wolfsberg.

Yes, the more prominent German club (in Pot One) have a real chance of a trip to Wolfsberg, an Austrian side in Pot Four. 

Like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito in Twins. But with the Austrians considerably smaller.

In fact, I believe we could have Wolfsburg, Wolfsberg AND Wolves all drawn together in the same group. Loopy lupis looping...