Similar to the Champions League, this year's Europa League also has a major change in format, which is eliminating the traditional group stage when the number of teams increases to 36.
MU will face coach Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce in the first round of Europa League
Under the new format, UEFA will combine technology (from a computer-generated software) with a small amount of manual work to determine the group stage matches. To do this, UEFA will divide the 36 teams into four seeding pots, based on each team's coefficient in the 2024 European Club Rankings.
This year's Europa League promises to be exciting with the participation of many big teams. They are MU and Tottenham of England, both in group 1 with AS Roma, Porto, Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio, Slavia Prague and Real Sociedad.
Former MU coach Jose Mourinho is aiming for success with Fenerbahce
Pot 2 has formidable names such as AZ Alkmaar, Lyon, Fenerbahce, Olympiacos, Qarabag, Galatasaray, Bodo/Glimt, Union Saint-Gilloise and Dynamo Kyiv. Pot 3 also has strong teams including Qarabag, Galatasaray, Viktoria Plzen, Bodo/Glimt, Union SG, Dynamo Kyiv, Ludogorets, Midtjylland, Malmo. Pot 4 has Athletic, Hoffenheim, Nice, Anderlecht, Twente, Besiktas, FK RFS, Steaua Bucharest and Elfsborg.
When a team from a seeding group is drawn manually, the computer will immediately determine the opponents it will face based on the criteria set in the software. Each team will play eight group stage matches (previously six), including four home and four away matches, starting on 25 September. Rankings are based on points, and goal difference is the first criterion to determine the position of teams if they are level on points. After eight matches, the top eight teams will advance to the round of 16. The teams ranked 9 to 16 will be paired with the teams ranked 17 to 24 in a play-off round to determine the remaining eight teams. Teams ranked 25 and above will be eliminated.
Opponents of Group 1 teams
Opponents of Group 2 teams
With the draw results, MU will face opponents Rangers, Porto, PAOK, Bodo/Glimt, Viktoria Plzen, Twente, Steaua Bucharest and Fenerbahce coached by Jose Mourinho, who used to lead the team at Old Trafford. According to the schedule, the "Red Devils" will travel to Türkiye to play as guests at Fenerbahce's field.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will face many heavyweights in the group of opponents including AS Roma, Rangers, AZ Alkmaar, Ferncvaros, Qarabag, Galatasaray, Elfsborg and Hoffenheim.
Opponents of Group 3 Teams
Opponents of Group 4 Teams
Other strong teams like Porto and AS Roma will also not have it easy in this round. Portuguese representative Porto, in addition to facing MU, will also face Lazio, current runner-up Olympiacos, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Midtjylland, Bodo/Glimt, Hoffenheim and Anderlecht. Meanwhile, in addition to meeting Tottenham, AS Roma will face Frankfurt, Braga, AZ Alkmaar, Dynamo Kyiv, Union SG, Athletic Bilbao and Elfsborg...
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/boc-tham-europa-league-mu-tai-ngo-hlv-mourinho-185240830141121454.htm
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