The Europa League league phase starts this week: 18 matches across Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September, 36 clubs, and eight rounds to decide who goes straight to the last 16. Here is what stands out before a ball is kicked.
1. Sunderland’s first European match at the Stadium of Light
Sunderland host AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday night (8pm UK). It is the club’s first European campaign in 53 years — the last was the 1973-74 Cup Winners’ Cup — and the first competitive European match ever played at the Stadium of Light, which opened in 1997. Four seasons ago Sunderland were in League One. AZ arrive in good form, with five wins and a draw from their first six Eredivisie games.
2. Six clubs are here for the first time
Ararat-Armenia, Bournemouth, Lillestrøm, OFI Crete, Sunderland and Torreense have never played in a UEFA group or league phase before. Bournemouth and Torreense are in Europe for the first time in their history. Ararat-Armenia, founded only in 2017, are the first Armenian club to reach this stage; they open against Sparta Prague in Yerevan.
3. A second-division team from Portugal
Torreense play in Portugal’s second tier. They are here because they won the Taça de Portugal, beating Sporting 2-1 after extra time in the final. They are the first club from outside a top flight to reach the Europa League proper since Zürich in 2016-17, and their first match is in Norway on Thursday against Lillestrøm — themselves a second-tier side last year, who won the Norwegian Cup while going unbeaten to promotion.
4. Milan v Benfica: two new managers, one old rivalry
The tie of the round is at San Siro. Milan are led by Rúben Amorim, appointed in June after his spell at Manchester United ended in January. Benfica have Marco Silva, formerly of Fulham, who replaced José Mourinho when Mourinho left for Real Madrid. The two clubs have met competitively only twice, in the 2007-08 Champions League group stage (Milan won 2-1 in Milan; 1-1 in Lisbon). Milan spent a club-record fee, reported above €70m, on Gonçalo Ramos from PSG this summer. Benfica arrive on a seven-match winning run; Milan are unbeaten in Serie A.
5. The holders are not here, and neither are the record winners
Aston Villa won last season’s final, 3-0 against Freiburg in Istanbul, and are in the Champions League, so there is no defending champion. Sevilla, with a record seven titles, did not qualify. The most decorated club in the field is Juventus, three-time winners, who host NEC Nijmegen on Thursday under Luciano Spalletti — fresh from a 3-2 home defeat to Sassuolo.
6. Crystal Palace arrive as Conference League champions
Palace beat Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in Leipzig in May to win the Conference League. Manager Oliver Glasner then left, and Pierre Sage — Ligue 1’s manager of the season with Lens — took over. The start has been bumpy: two home league defeats and 16th place. They host Lech Poznań in their first ever Europa League match.
7. Eleven clubs fell out of the Champions League
Nearly a third of the field wanted to be somewhere else. Lyon, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Celje, Levski Sofia and NEC all lost Champions League play-offs; Olympiacos, Union Saint-Gilloise, Sturm Graz and Sparta went out a round earlier. Celtic’s exit was the cruellest — they won the first leg against LASK 3-0 and lost the tie 5-4. Martin O’Neill, back as permanent manager at 74, takes them into Ferencváros on Thursday three days after a 3-0 League Cup defeat to Rangers.
8. Odd venues and late changes
- Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s “home” match against Dinamo Zagreb is in Bucharest, at the Giulești Stadium, so neither side has home advantage.
- Celje sacked their manager on Tuesday and appointed Zoran Zeljković the day before facing Bayer Leverkusen — the 1988 winners, now under Carles Martínez Novell.
- OFI Crete’s home game against Hoffenheim comes days after they beat Olympiacos away for the first time since 1990.
- Bournemouth’s first ever European fixture is at Real Sociedad, with Marco Rose in charge after Andoni Iraola left for Liverpool.
9. What the market says
Outright prices from UK bookmakers this week put Juventus as narrow favourites at around 7/1 (decimal 8.00), with Milan close behind at 15/2, Leverkusen 9/1, then Bournemouth and Marseille at 10/1. Crystal Palace are about 14/1 and Sunderland 18/1. Prices vary between bookmakers and will move all week.
Read those numbers as probabilities and something interesting appears. Juventus at 8.00 implies a 12.5% chance; add up the implied chances of the top ten and you get about 86%, leaving little room for the other 26 clubs. In a 36-team competition with a knockout finish, the market is saying the winner will almost certainly come from a short list. Whether it is right is what the next eight months will tell us. If that arithmetic is new to you, start with how betting odds work.
Matchday 1 fixtures
All times UK.
Wednesday 16 September
- 17:45 — Ararat-Armenia v Sparta Prague · Omonia v Celta Vigo
- 20:00 — Milan v Benfica · Bayer Leverkusen v Celje · Anderlecht v Lyon · Olympiacos v Jagiellonia · Sturm Graz v Rennes · Sunderland v AZ Alkmaar · Hapoel Be’er Sheva v Dinamo Zagreb (in Bucharest)
Thursday 17 September
- 17:45 — OFI Crete v Hoffenheim · Levski Sofia v Salzburg
- 20:00 — Beşiktaş v Marseille · Celtic v Ferencváros · Crystal Palace v Lech Poznań · Juventus v NEC Nijmegen · Real Sociedad v Bournemouth · Viktoria Plzeň v Union Saint-Gilloise · Lillestrøm v Torreense