Europe League Groups

Groep A
Ajax
Anderlecht
Dinamo Zagreb
Timisoara

Groep B
Valencia
Lille
Slavia Praag
Genoa

Groep C
Hamburger SV
Celtic
H. Tel-Aviv
Rapid Wien

Groep D
Sporting
Heerenveen
Hertha BSC
Ventspils

Groep E
AS Roma
Basel
Fulham
CSKA Sofia

Groep F
Panathinaikos
Galatasaray
Dinamo Boekarest
Sturm Graz

Groep G
Villarreal
Lazio Roma
Levski Sofia
Salzburg

Groep H
Steaua Boekarest
Fenerbahce
FC Twente
Sheriff

Groep I
Benfica
Everton
AEK Athene
BATE

Groep J
Shakhtar Donetsk
Club Brugge
Partizan Belgrado
Toulouse

Groep K
PSV
FC Kopenhagen
Sparta Praag
CFR Cluj

Groep L
Werder Bremen
Austria Wien
Athletic
Nacional

Ajax-Dinamo Zagreb again....and Rikard vs Ten Cate

Some interesting groups in there, should make for some great matchups.

But 48 teams
Fantasy football will be a nightmare!

Stupid competition. Fuck off.

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

It's better than the championship

Looks good. How the CL should be - not 4 from each of the big nations.

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

It's better than the championship

It's better than Serie A aswell, that doesn't stop it being stupid.

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

This look your Man City jealousy, it's shite if you aint in it or cant do it?

L r dd wrote:

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

This look your Man City jealousy, it's shite if you aint in it or cant do it?

Learn how to construct proper sentences lerd. In an attempt to make the waffa cup better they have made it worse, this is my opinion, it has nothing to do with jealousy. Too many teams, too many games. They need to rethink it again.

Kimbo wrote:

BoBo Vieri 32 wrote:

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

It's better than the championship

It's better than Serie A aswell, that doesn't stop it being stupid.

Kinder. Kinder. Play nice.

Suarez vs Suarez!! Another epic battle!

Kimbo wrote:

L r dd wrote:

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

This look your Man City jealousy, it's shite if you aint in it or cant do it?

Learn how to construct proper sentences lerd. In an attempt to make the waffa cup better they have made it worse, this is my opinion, it has nothing to do with jealousy. Too many teams, too many games. They need to rethink it again.

Change like for look.

Groups B & I look really interesting... I am liking this new Europa format!!

L r dd wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

L r dd wrote:

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

This look your Man City jealousy, it's shite if you aint in it or cant do it?

Learn how to construct proper sentences lerd. In an attempt to make the waffa cup better they have made it worse, this is my opinion, it has nothing to do with jealousy. Too many teams, too many games. They need to rethink it again.

Change like for look.

Even then it would be missing a word.

bluenine wrote:Groups B & I look really interesting... I am liking this new Europa format!!

I have to agree with this, I aint a fan of UEFA at all, but some of these groups can rival a CL group imo.

It would be far better if only the group winners went through.

Good groups, good matches to be expected in the group stages already (usually, you had to wait for the knock-out stages in the UEFA Cup, although the UEFA Cup group stages tend to be more interesting than the CL ones at least (less predictable). Quite a few 'big names' in the competition, should they all advance to the knock-out stages, in addition to the 8 CL dropouts, it's going to be interesting.

Still too many teams / matches, but the smaller groups / CL like format are a step in the right direction.

How many teams go through out of each group?

The first two teams, 24 teams in total. The 8 CL dropouts will join them in the 1/16 finals (-> 32 teams), the beginning of the knock-out stages.

The Europa League basically has an additional knock-out stage compared to the CL (-> 1/8 finals = first knock-out stage in the CL).

Does this have a CL type TV deal or can clubs sell their own TV rights like in the old Uefa cup?

Unfortunately for clubs from the bigger nations, it's a centralised, CL type of TV deal.

At least for now that is. In the long run, this model should generate more money for all.

They need to get rid of the CL dropouts, and only have 32 teams in the group stages though, exactly like the CL.

Yep it demans the competition to get a whole bunch of new teams in the later stages that have not been good enough for another competition. There should be no get 3rd place consolation at all in the cl.

L r dd wrote:Yep it demans the competition to get a whole bunch of new teams in the later stages that have not been good enough for another competition. There should be no get 3rd place consolation at all in the cl.

That's one thing I thought they'd scrap with the new format. Why do CL teams get this second chance? They've already made big money from reaching CL group stage & had their shot at it.

Kimbo wrote:Stupid competition. Fuck off.

Kimbo, we agree on something

What was wrong with the old UEFA Cup?

This is just far too many games for a lot of teams who just aren't equipped to play them and be competitive in their leagues.

It just looks like a poor man's Champions League.

Love the variety of teams, but then the old format had just as many.

The new UEFA Cup is officially GAY

So you liked the old 5 teams groups UEFA Cup?

The straight 2 legged knockout format was the best.

Then why not have that for the CL also? Why only the UEFA Cup is too long?

Kimbo wrote:The straight 2 legged knockout format was the best.

Champions League teams tend to have the resources to cope with the demanding schedule of Europe.

Not so the clubs in the Europa League. How on earth is a team like Everton ,for example, going to try and better last year's 5th place in the league whilst also aspiring to play the 17 (?) games necessary to win the Uefa Cup?

At least the old knock out UEFA cup didn't overburden and overplay the competition. Too many games devalues the competition considering drop out CL teams will also enter later on

Edin Dzeko wrote:Then why not have that for the CL also? Why only the UEFA Cup is too long?

There's too many teams in the CL aswell, we have a bunch of bloody 4th places finishers in the competition, it's a joke.

Spider Crouch wrote:

Kimbo wrote:The straight 2 legged knockout format was the best.

Champions League teams tend to have the resources to cope with the demanding schedule of Europe.

Not so the clubs in the Europa League. How on earth is a team like Everton ,for example, going to try and better last year's 5th place in the league whilst also aspiring to play the 17 (?) games necessary to win the Uefa Cup?

At least the old knock out UEFA cup didn't overburden and overplay the competition. Too many games devalues the competition considering drop out CL teams will also enter later on

And what will Everton do if they get that 4th place and are "forced" to play CL AND PL?

The old UEFA Cup made ~0 money for the teams while the CL made huge amounts. Do that and the UEFA Cup teams while be poor while the CL team will get rich. And then wonder why a UEFA Cup team that get into the CL gets out in the first round.