Get ready for another warm winter with Maccabi after Zarko Lazetic’s side secured a second consecutive qualification to the Europa League phase. Tomorrow (Friday, 14:00), the draw for the League phase will take place in Monaco, and Maccabi, placed in Pot 2 out of the four pots, will discover the identity of their eight opponents.
The Europa League fixtures are scheduled to kick off on September 24th and 25th and will run until January 29th next year. The final dates and venues will be announced later by UEFA.
The Europa League will continue to be played under the new format which I’m introduced last season. The 36 teams will compete in a league format, divided into four pots. Each team will be drawn to play eight matches against eight different opponents (two opponents from each pot, including their own). The draw will determine four home games and four away games via a computer program.
The Four Pots in the Draw
Pot 1: Roma, Porto, Feyenoord, Lille, Dinamo Zagreb, Real Betis, Red Bull Salzburg, Aston Villa, Glasgow Rangers.
Pot 2: Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fenerbahçe, Red Star Belgrade, Ferencváros, Lyon, PAOK Thessaloniki, Viktoria Plzeň, Celtic, Braga.
Pot 3: Young boys, Basel, Midtjylland, Freiburg, Ludogorets, Nottingham Forest, Sturm Graz, Nice. FCSB.
Pot 4: Celta Vigo, Stuttgart, Panathinaikos, Malmö, Go Ahead Eagles, Utrecht, Genk, Brann, Bologna.
League Format
The top 8 teams at the end of the league phase will qualify directly to the Round of 16.
Teams finishing 9th–24th will play a knockout playoff (home and away, with cross-matching: 9 vs 24, 10 vs 23, etc.). The winners will complete the Round of 16 lineup.
Teams finishing 25th–36th will end their European campaign and will not drop down to the Conference League, as was the case in previous seasons.