
The UEFA Europa League group stage draw is over and now, we have the results. Today, all the 32 teams were sorted into their respective groups. These teams will play other teams in their groups.
Usually, the rules for the draw are (i) Teams from the same country won’t be drawn into the same group (ii) Clubs from the same countries won’t be drawn into groups which have the same matchdays, for example, Groups A, B, C and D will have the same match day and E, F, G and H will have the same match day and hence for broadcasting reasons, Clubs from the same country would be in separate half of the groups (iii) Teams were kept in 4 pots and they were divided based on the club’s UEFA coefficient. Each group will have teams from all 4 pots. By those rules, the draw was set. Let’s look at the groups now:
Group A consists of Scottish champions Rangers, Lyon, Slavia Prahia and Brøndby. The rangers and Lyon are the favourites in this group. Group B consists of Monaco, PSV, Real Sociedad and SK Sturm. PSV and Monaco, are for sure favourites in this group.
Group C has Leicester City, Napoli, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw. Leicester and Napoli are sure-fire favourites. Group D has Olympiacos, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahçe and Antwerp. Frankfurt and Fenerbahçe look to be the favourites to go into the knockout round.
Group E consists of Lazio, Lokomotiv Moskva, Marseille and Galatasaray. Lazio and Marseille are the teams to watch out for. Group F has Braga, Ludogrets, Midtjylland and Crvena Zvezda. Ludogrets and Midtjylland are the favourites to get out of this group.
Group G has Bayer Leverkusen, Real Betis, Celtic and Ferencváros which is a tough group to predict but Leverkusen and Celtic look to be the favourites to get into the knockout rounds. The last group H consists of Dinamo Zagreb, Genk, West Ham and Rapid Wien. West Ham and Zagreb are probable contenders for the knockout rounds.
The group stages will start from the 16th of September and every football fan will look forward to the competitive nature of this tournament.
The 2021/22 Europa League group stage is set! 🤩
🤔 Most exciting group?#UELdraw pic.twitter.com/X5gEpxegzp
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) August 27, 2021