The draw for the Europa League league phase takes place on Friday August 29 in Monaco from 1 p.m. OL appear in hat 1, OM and ASSE fear formidable posters.Sports, UEFA Champions League, ASSE, Europa, Football, Ligue, Monaco, OL, ABOUT, league stage, Europa League draw, UEFA, AFE PACKAGE, newsThe draw for the Europa League league phase takes place on Friday August 29 in Monaco from 1 p.m. OL appear in hat 1, OM and ASSE fear formidable posters.
OL enters the big leagues. Olympique Lyonnais is in pot 1 of the draw for the Europa League league phase, scheduled for Friday August 29 in Monaco from 1 p.m., AFP learned from sources close to UEFA on Thursday evening.
Seven French clubs appear in the main hat, including AS Saint-Étienne, which marks its return to the European scene after a long journey through the desert. The ceremony will take place at the headquarters of the European body, in the principality, and will be broadcast live on UEFA.tv.
Lyon owes its status to the calendar. Eliminated in the Champions League play-offs by Fenerbahçe (2-1 defeat at Décines after a 1-1 draw in Turkey), OL moved to the Europa for the fourth time in five seasons. A still solid UEFA coefficient places the Rhone club among the eight seeds.
Marseille inherits a tricky course. Present in hat 2 according to projections from the daily Football.fr, OM could cross paths with Real Betis, Ajax Amsterdam or AS Roma during the eight days of the initial phase. The Marseille club has not reached the quarter-finals of the competition since 2018.
The league phase adopts a new format. Thirty-six clubs – and no longer thirty-two – compete in a single classification, over eight days contested between September and January. Each team faces four different opponents, including two home and two away matches. The first eight qualify directly for the round of 16, the clubs ranked 9th to 24th go through a play-off.
Manchester United, Bilbao, Lazio and Eintracht Frankfurt are also among the top seeds. Aston Villa, unfortunate finalist of the previous edition, will start from pot 3. The draw promises shocks between regular residents of the European Cup.
Saint-Étienne has measured ambitions. The Greens discover the Europa League thirty years after their last major European campaign, recalls Ouest-France. The Ligue 1 club is banking on the defensive solidarity and fitness of its 19-year-old Pakistani striker to survive in a tough group.
Nice and Lille will complete the French delegation. OGCN, winners of Benfica in the previous round, enters hat 3 due to an average UEFA index. LOSC, surprise finalist in 2024, starts from hat 2 with real room for progress towards the top 8.
The first day of the league phase will be played on September 24 and 25, 2025. The full schedule will be communicated by UEFA in the hours following the Monaco draw.
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