The draw for the inaugural Europa Conference League group stage was made this afternoon in Istanbul, Turkey. Former Turkey international player Nihat Kaveci was assisting the draw.
The Conference League is UEFA’s new third-tier European competition, consisting of 32 teams who successfully qualified from previous rounds.
Europa Conference League Draw
Key Draws
Tottenham Hotspur have become the first English side to feature in the group stages of this competition. They got past Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira in their qualifying match.
Despite an initial scare in the first leg, where their weakened team went down 1-0 in Portugal, the returning Harry Kane struck twice in the second leg and that was added to by Giovanni Lo Celso to give Spurs a 3-1 victory on aggregate.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have come out in one of the more difficult groups, facing Rennes and Vitesse, who have both had experience of playing in the Europa League, while Rennes also featured in the group stages of last season’s Champions League.
Meanwhile, Lincoln Red Imps have become the first side from Gibraltar to qualify for any European competition. They overcame Latvian side Riga FC 4-2 on aggregate to set up ties against Copenhagen, PAOK and Slovan Bratislava.
Draw in Full
Group A
LASK (Austria)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel)
Alashkert (Armenia)
HJK Helsinki (Finland)
Group B
Gent (Belgium)
Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Flora Tallinn (Estonia)
Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus)
Group C
Roma (Italy)
Zorya Luhansk (Ukraine)
CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Bodo/Glimt (Norway)
Group D
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
CFR Cluj (Romania)
Jablonec (Czech Republic)
Randers (Denmark)
Group E
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Feyenoord (Netherlands)
Union Berlin (Germany)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel)
Group F
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
PAOK (Greece)
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar)
Group G
Tottenham Hotspur (England)
Rennes (France)
Vitesse (Netherlands)
Mura (Slovenia)
Group H
Basel (Switzerland)
Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
Kairat Almaty (Kazakhstan)
Omonoia (Cyprus)
Main Photo