Europa League Group Stage Draw: Who are Manchester United and Arsenal's opponents?

The 2022-23 UEFA Europa League group stage draw got completed on Friday, August 26. The draw ceremony was held in Istanbul, Turkey. English Premier League sides Manchester United and Arsenal are among the big clubs who will compete in the second-tier competition of European club football. The group stage of the 2022-23 Europa League is scheduled to get underway on September 8. 

Manchester United, Real Sociedad, Sheriff, and Omonoia have been drawn in the same Group E, while Arsenal, PSV, Bodo/Glimt, and Zurich have been drawn in Group A. The last time Manchester United won the Europa League was back in 2016-17. United, however, failed to win the continental cup in 2020-21 after being beaten by Villa Real. Arsenal, on the other hand, reached the final of the Europa League in 2019 where they lost to Chelsea. 

Eintracht Frankfurt, which won the previous edition of the Europa League has not been drawn this year as it will get an opportunity to ply its trade with big clubs of Europe in the UEFA Champions League. 

Europa League Group Stage Draw

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Arsenal	Dynamo Kyiv	Roma	Braga
PSV	Rennes	Ludogorets	Malmo
Bodo/Glimt	Fenerbahce	Betis	Union Berlin
Zurich	AEK Larnaca	HJK	St Gilloise

 

Group E	Group F	Group G	Group H
Man United	Lazio	Olympiacos	Crvena zvezda
Real Sociedad	Feyenoord	Qarabag	Monaco
Sheriff	Midtjylland	Freiburg	Ferencvaros
Omonoia	Sturm	Nantes	Trabzonspor

The draw brings United face-to-face again with long-time Manchester City favorite David Silva, who returned to Spain to play for Sociedad, and involves two of the longest journeys to away games in the draw  to Moldova and Cyprus.

The Russian war on Ukraine has affected Man United's trip to face Sheriff, which has been playing European home games in Chisinau instead of its home city Tiraspol. Tiraspol is in the Russian-supporting breakaway region of Transnistria which borders Ukraine.

UEFA decided in June to block Sheriff playing in Tiraspol citing the large-scale military escalation resulting in the invasion of the Ukrainian territory by the Russian army. Russian teams are also currently banned from all UEFA competitions.

Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine  which will play its home games in neighboring Poland  will face Rennes, Fenerbahe and AEK Larnaca.

Arsenal's fifth Europa League campaign in six seasons will be in a group with PSV Eindhoven  coached by former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy  Bod/Glimt and Zrich.

Roma coach Jose Mourinho is back in the competition he won with Man United five years ago. The Europa Conference League title holder was drawn in a group with Ludogorets, Real Betis and HJK Helsinki. 

The group-stage draw in the third-tier Europa Conference League was being made later Friday at the same venue in Istanbul, which also staged the Champions League draw Thursday.

Lazio was among the top-seeded teams and was grouped with Feyenoord, Midtjylland and Sturm Graz.

The Europa League starts early this season on Sept. 8 and ends more than one month sooner than usual on Nov. 3. That is because of the World Cup in Qatar, which starts Nov. 20.

The six rounds of group-stage games span just eight full weeks before a midwinter break until the knockout playoffs round starts Feb. 16.

Group winners advance direct to the round of 16 in March and runners-up go to the knockout playoffs with the eight teams switching across from the Champions League after finishing third in a group there.

The Europa League final is on May 31 at the 65,000-capacity Pusks Arna in Budapest, Hungary.

Third-place teams in Europa League groups in November move to the knockout playoffs in the third-tier Europa Conference League.

Europa League teams share about 465 million euros ($466 million) in UEFA prize money.

Each team gets a basic fee of 3.63 million euros ($3.63 million), plus 630,000 euros per win and 210,000 euros for each draw in the group stage. Payments increase for advancing through each knockout round.

A team starting in the Europa group stage and eventually winning the title can earn about 40 million euros ($40 million) in UEFA prize money. That's about one-third of expected earnings in Champions League prize money.

(with AP inputs)

Image: AP