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Manchester United are set to discover who they will face in the 2024/25 Europa League later this week.
After an extremely underwhelming 2023/24 Premier League season in which United finished in eighth position, Erik ten Hag’s men still somehow managed to sneak into the Europa League.
The Red Devils beat Manchester City 2-1 in the FA Cup final to book their spot in the continental competition.
Playoff matches for the Europa League are currently taking place to decide the final set of 36 teams that will compete in the new-look tournament.
Considering that teams knocked out of the Champions League will no longer be demoted to the Europa League, United will certainly be fancying their chances of going all the way and lifting the trophy at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.
United are in Pot 1 courtesy of their high UEFA coefficient of 92.000. They’re the second-highest ranked team in the Europa League, only behind Serie A giants AS Roma.
However, due to the change in the competition’s format, pot placement now means much less as participating teams will be drawn against two clubs from all four pots to make up an eight-game league phase. This will see the Reds face eight games – four at home and four away, against a mixture of well-known teams and others that are relatively less known in comparison.
It’s important to note that United cannot face English opponents – in this case, Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur. United can only play a maximum of two teams from one other nation.
United’s possible opponents
Pot 1: Roma, Porto, Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio
Pot 2: Olympiacos, Lyon
Pot 1 or 2: Real Sociedad, AZ
Pot to be determined: Fenerbahce, Galatasaray, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dynamo Kyiv, Red Star Belgrade or Bodo/Glimt, Lille or Slavia Prague, Dinamo Zagreb or Qarabag, Midtjylland or Slovan Bratislava, Ajax or Jagiellonia Bialystok, LASK or FCSB, Maccabi Tel Aviv or TSC, Shamrock Rovers or PAOK, Ferencvaros or Borac Banja Luka, Molde or Elfsborg, Braga or Rapid Wien, Hearts or Viktoria Plzen
Athletic Club, Hoffenheim, Nice and FC Twente are the remaining confirmed participants and they will enter Friday’s draw in either Pot 3 or 4
United’s eight opponents will be randomly determined by AI software.
The first games of the Europa League league phase are scheduled to take place next month between September 25th and September 26th.
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