Friday 27 August 2021

Leicester, Celtic, Rangers and West Ham were among the 32 hopefuls who learned their group stage fates.

Leicester will face Napoli while Celtic will come up against Leverkusen, Real Betis and Ferencváros following the draw for the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League group stage in Istanbul, Turkey on Friday.All the draw reaction

2021/22 Europa League group stage draw

Group A: Lyon, Rangers, Sparta Praha, Brøndby
Group B: Monaco, PSV Eindhoven, Real Sociedad, Sturm Graz
Group C: Napoli, Leicester, Spartak Moskva, Legia Warszawa
Group D: Olympiacos, Frankfurt, Fenerbahçe, Antwerp
Group E: Lazio, Lokomotiv Moskva, Marseille, Galatasaray
Group F: Braga, Crvena zvezda, Ludogorets, Midtjylland
Group G: Leverkusen, Celtic, Real Betis, Ferencváros
Group H: GNK Dinamo, Genk, West Ham, Rapid Wien

All the group stage fixtures

NOTE:Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno was named 2020/21 UEFA Europa League Player of the Season.

Match dates

Matchday 1: 16 September 
Matchday 2: 30 September 
Matchday 3: 21 October 
Matchday 4: 4 November 
Matchday 5: 25 November 
Matchday 6: 9 December2021/22 match and draw dates

How does the group stage work?

Teams in every group face each other home and away, with the same sides meeting on Matchdays 1 and 5, or Matchdays 2 and 6, or Matchdays 3 and 4.

The top three clubs will continue their European campaigns in the new year:

• Group winners progress to the round of 16.
• Group runners-up go into the new knockout round play-offs, where they will take on the third-placed UEFA Champions League teams for spots in the round of 16.
• Third-placed sides transfer to the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout round play-offs.

How did the draw work?

The draw potsUEFA via Getty Images

Teams were divided into four pots based on their UEFA club coefficients. One team from each of the pots was then drawn into the eight groups, A–H. There were a few caveats: no team could play a club from their own association, and some sides from the same association were paired to ensure they play at different kick-off times (18:45 CET and 21:00 CET) for the benefit of TV audiences.