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
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
Please allow a moment for the blog to load.
Group F: Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt, STANDARD LIEGE
Group J: Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir,
Group A: Sevilla, APOEL, Qarabag, Group B: Dynamo Kiev, FC Copenhagen, Malmo, Group C: FC Basel, Krasnodar, Getafe, Group D : Sporting, PSV Eindhoven, Rosenborg, Group E: Lazio, Celtic, Stade Rennais, Group F: Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege, Group G: Porto, Young Boys, Feyenoord, Group H: CSKA Moscow, Ludogorets, Espanyol, Group I: Wolfsburg, Gent, Saint-Etienne, Group J: Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Group K: Besiktas, Braga, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Group L: Manchester United, FC Astana, Partizan Belgrade,
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments