UEFA Europa Conference League Group Stage & Matchday One Preview
UEFA Europa Conference League Group Stage & Matchday 1 Preview
19th May 1999, Villa Park, Birmingham, the home of Aston Villa FC, the scene of the very last final of the European Cup Winners Cup (CWC), Sven Goran Eriksson’s expensively assembled SS Lazio outfit defeated Hector Cuper’s Real Mallorca 2-1. Afterwards, the CWC became consigned to the history books, an unfortunate victim of the expansion of the UEFA Champions League to include runners-up and eventually, 3rd & 4th placed teams from big European leagues from 1997/98 onwards.
No third European competition in which teams had to qualify for via league or cup placing existed for 22 years as the now defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup was application only. However, the wait for a third-tier European competition which clubs can qualify for via league or cup placing is now over from 2021/22 onwards with the addition of the new UEFA Europa Conference League.
The new competition will feature teams predominantly from leagues outside of UEFA’s big five European leagues, with these five leagues allocated only one qualifying spot in the new competition. The big exception this season of course is Spain as Villarreal CF. Despite their 7th place finish in the 2020/21 La Liga qualifying them for the Conference League, their Europa League victory in the same season saw the Yellow Submarine get access to the Champions League group stages.
The 8 group winners will qualify automatically for the Round of 16 with the 8 group runners-up facing a play-off round clash with the eight 3rd placed teams from the 2021/22 Europa League group stages. Winners of the inaugural competition will not only make history as its first-ever winners but there is the prize of a Europa League group stage spot for 2022/23 and a top seeding for the group stage draw.
With all now explained, here is the preview of both the group stages and Matchday 1 of the inaugural Europa Conference League competition.
Group A: Debutants and two clubs from leagues on a UEFA co-efficient charge
The first group drawn for the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League pitted together Austrian Bundesliga outfit LASK, Israeli giants Maccabi Tel Aviv, Football Club Alashkert from the Armenian Premier League and HJK Helsinki from Finland. Already on first glance at this group, two clear favourites stand out to make the knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League.
The first of these is LASK, the Linz-based outfit have enjoyed a meteoric rise in Austrian football circles in recent seasons. After a 4th placed finish in the 2017/18 Austrian Bundesliga, LASK qualified for the 2018/19 Europa League, their first European qualification since 2000. They lost in the 2018/19 Europa League qualifiers to Besiktas on away goals.
However, LASK have qualified for European competition every season since. The most impressive performances came in a run in the 2019/20 Europa League to the Round of 16 where they eventually lost to Manchester United. This was achieved under the stewardship of now West Bromwich Albion manager Valerien Ismael. Both Ismael and Olivier Glasner, now coach of German Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt saw their coaching reputations blossom with LASK.
Now coached by Dominik Thalhammer, LASK have endured a slow start to 2021/22 in the Austrian Bundesliga, currently lying in 11th place after 8 matches. They begin their Conference League campaign on Matchday 1 away at HJK Helsinki. The Finnish outfit are not group debutants in European competition, however, this is the first time since the 2014/15 Europa League which they have reached a group stage.
Intriguingly, HJK Helsinki were the first and so far only Finnish club to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League in 1998/99, when Klubi defeated FC Yerevan and more surprisingly FC Metz in the Champions League qualification rounds to make the group stages. Despite LASK’s slow start domestically in Austria, one would expect them to be favourites against HJK.
There is a clear favourite in the other Matchday 1 clash in this group too, where Alashkert travel to Bloomfield stadium in Tel Aviv to face 2020/21 Israeli Premier League runners-up Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi have participated in European competition every season since 2012/13. Alashkert on the other hand are the first Armenian club to ever make the group stages of any European club competition
One expects LASK and Maccabi Tel Aviv to have too much for Alashkert and HJK in this group. Israeli Premier League clubs in 2020/21 scored an impressive 7.000 points in the UEFA Coefficents. In addition, the Austrian Bundesliga has seen its co-efficient rise to 8th due to impressive performances in European competitions by its clubs. Both leagues will hope for more points this season from LASK and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Group B: More debutants and some familiar faces
In much the same way as Group A, the second group drawn in the inaugural Europa Conference League pits European debutants against established continental clubs. Group B’s participants are KAA Gent, Partizan Belgrade, Flora Tallinn and Anorthosis Famagusta. Gent face a trip to Estonia’s capital to face Flora on Matchday 1. Partizan, on the other hand, have a tougher looking task on their hands with a trip to Lanarca to face Anorthosis.
Serbian Super Liga outfit Partizan Belgrade were also the first Yugoslav club to make the finals of a European club competition when they reached the final of the 1966 European Cup, losing to the great Real Madrid side of the time. Crno-Beli narrowly defeated PFC Sochi on penalties in the third qualification round after a 3-3 aggregate two-legged tie and then in the play-off round came from behind to defeat Portugal’s Santa Clara 3-2 on aggregate.
The other big name in this group is Belgian Jupiler League outfit Gent. The Buffaloes had to come through three qualification rounds to make the group stages, defeating Norway’s Valerenga Fotball, RFS from Latvia, and Polish European club competition debutants Rakow Czestochowa en route. However, it will be intriguing to see how they adapt to the loss of star striker Roman Yaremchuk who joined SL Benfica and German midfielder Niklas Dorsch who signed for FC Augsburg this summer.
The other two sides in the group look firm underdogs, Flora Tallinn are the first Estonian side to make the group stages of a European club competition with their participation in this season’s group stage of the Conference League. After dropping out of both Champions League and Europa League qualification, Flora then defeated Shamrock Rovers in the Conference League playoff round to seal a historic first qualification to a European competition group stage for both them and Estonia.
Anorthosis Famagusta made history in 2008/09 as the first Cypriot club to make the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. After losing in the third qualification round of the Europa League to Austria’s Rapid Wien, Anorthosis, coached by former Newcastle United player Temuri Ketsbaia then dropped into the Conference League play-off round. Here they defeated Hapoel Be’er Sheva 3-1 on aggregate.
It is a group with plenty of familiar faces that fans should recognise. Gent have former FC Porto and Huddersfield Town striker Laurent Depoitre in their ranks. Partizan can call on the services of former Liverpool and Benfica winger Lazar Markovic. Flora go into their debut group stage in European competition with 22-year-old midfielder Markus Poom, son of former Sunderland and Derby County goalkeeper Martin their squad. Whereas Anorthosis have veteran Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty as an attacking option to call upon.
Group C: An early Conference League favourite with a lot of travelling on their hands
One name stands above all others in Group C of the inaugural UEFA Europa League, AS Roma. Giallorossi made headlines this summer with the appointment of Jose Mourinho as their new manager, replacing his compatriot Paulo Fonseca. After a disappointing 7th placed finish in Serie A in 2020/21, Roma have backed their new managerial appointment in the transfer market with EUR 97.75 million of new transfers.
These including strikers Tammy Abraham and Eldor Shomurodov, Uruguayan left fullback Mathias Vina and Portuguese international goalkeeper Rui Patricio. The big question for Roma will be with Serie A looking very open this season and Giallorossi themselves being a side who can consider themselves contenders, will they take the Conference League seriously?
An obstacle for Roma in balancing both Europa Conference League and Serie A is that their group will involve a lot of travelling. Giallorossi’s three opponents being Zorya Luhansk from Ukraine, CSKA Sofia from Bulgaria and FK Bodo/Glimt from Norway, the latter of which will involve a likely trip to Northern Norway in late October for Matchday 3 against Bodo/Glimt.
Zorya Luhansk have firmly in recent seasons established themselves as the third force in Ukrainian football in recent times behind the “big two” of Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk, having recorded back-to-back third-place finishes in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2019/20 and 2020/21. Coached by Viktor Skrypnyk, who had a fourteen-year stint coaching stint with Werder Bremen with their youth, reserves and first team.
After a third-placed finish in the Bulgarian First Professional League in 2020/21 and a Bulgarian Cup victory, CSKA Sofia will look to be competitive in this group. Three phases of Conference League qualification were negotiated by the Reds. The most impressive of which being when CSKA showed true character to come from two goals down in the first leg to defeat Czech side Viktoria Plzen 3-0 in the second leg of the playoff qualification round to win 3-2 on aggregate after extra time.
Bodo/Glimt won their first-ever Norwegian title last season and currently lead a tight Norwegian title race ahead of Molde, Viking and Lillestrom in the 2021 Eliteserien. After a defeat in the first qualifying round of Champions League qualification to Legia Warsaw, Bodo/Glimt saw off Valur of Iceland, Prishtina of Kosovo and Zalgiris of Lithuania in the three Europa Conference League qualifiers.
Providing Roma do take the new competition seriously, they should be favourites to win this group. Expect a tight fight, however, for second place between three evenly-matched sides on paper.
Group D: One strong-looking favourite and another even-looking fight for second place
One obvious favourite stands out in Group D of the inaugural Europa Conference League draw in the shape of AZ Alkmaar. After a third placed finish in the 2020/21 Eredivisie, Kaaskoppen were defeated in the play-off round of the Europa League qualifiers by Celtic FC thus dropping into the third tier European club competition. AZ should be good enough to make the knockout rounds, however, how they will adapt to the loss of star midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, who signed for Serie A’s Atalanta late in the transfer window?
Another team with a high reputation in this group is Romanian Liga I champions CFR Cluj, coached by former Romanian playing great Dan Petrescu. After seeing off Borac Banja Luka and Lincoln Red Imps in the first two rounds of Champions League qualification, a 4-2 loss in the third qualification round dropped them down into the Europa League playoff. Here, Feroviarii lost heavily by an aggregate score of 6-1 to Red Star Belgrade which dropped them into the third tier competition.
Making up the group are Czech Republic side FK Jablonec and Danish Superliga side Randers FC. For Jablonec, this represents only their second qualification for a group stage of a European club competition after they qualified for the 2018/19 Europa League group stages. Randers on the other hand are making their debut in the group stages. One would expect CFR Cluj to finish second behind AZ in this group, however, both Jablonec and Randers could give the Romanian outfit a run for their money.
Embed from Getty Images
Group E: The First Conference League “Group of Death”
There is no doubt that of all the group draws in the inaugural Europa Conference League, Group E is the “Group of Death”. It features a side with past European pedigree in Feyenoord. A side who impressed in the last two Europa League seasons in Slavia Prague. A side from a big five league making their first European appearance in 20 years in Union Berlin and finally a side with past European pedigree in a league which is improving in Maccabi Haifa.
Slavia will feel disappointed to be in the Conference League after reaching the Quarter Finals of the 2018/19 and 2020/21 Europa Leagues. Jindrich Trpisovsky’s side surprisingly lost to Legia Warsaw in the second qualification round of the Champions League. Much of the side that reached the Europa League Quarter-Finals remains. However, the losses of Senegalese winger Abdallah Sima and young Czech central defender David Zima to Brighton & Hove Albion and Torino FC respectively are two sizeable holes to fill.
After leading Feyenoord to Conference League football at the close of the 2020/21 Eredivisie season, Dick Advocaat was replaced by Arne Slot as manager of Feyenoord. Slot previously impressed at AZ Alkmaar, who he had in 2nd place in the 2019/20 curtailed Eredivisie season. Star winger Steven Berghuis made a controversial move to fierce rivals Ajax Amsterdam. Nonetheless, Feyenoord have been active in the market, bringing in Guus Til from Spartak Moscow on a season’s loan in addition to Reiss Nelson on a season’s loan from Arsenal.
It could be argued that Swiss Urs Fischer would have been a worthy recipient of manager of the 2020/21 German Bundesliga. The Swiss led Union Berlin, a side with one of the lowest budgets in the league into Conference League qualification. With one win and three draws in their Bundesliga campaign so far, Union are having no hangover from last season’s exploits. However, how they juggle European football with domestic commitments will be a challenge.
Group F: Three sides ideally equipped for the Conference League and a big underdog
One of the intriguing factors in the introduction of the Europa Conference League for 2021/22 is that will clubs from outside the so-called “big five” European leagues be able to win European trophies. The last team to do such was FC Porto winning the Europa League in 2010/11. Three of the sides in Group F could be equipped to either do well in this competition or possibly be contenders to win it.
Top seeds in this group are FC Copenhagen, who have only missed playing in some form of European competition one year in the last 30 (2000). The club lost two big players this summer window, defender Victor Nelsson who signed for Galatasaray and winger Mohammed Daramy who signed for Ajax Amsterdam.
PAOK had some nervy moments in qualification, yet managed to overcome League of Ireland side Bohemians FC and Croatian outfit Rijeka in two qualification rounds to make the group stages of the Conference League. Slovan Bratislava come into the Conference League on the back of three straight Slovak titles. However, they have yet to win a game in Europe this season, losing in the second round of Champions League qualification to Young Boys and in the play-off round of Europa League qualification to Olympiakos.
Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar made history by being the first club from that UEFA member to qualify a team for the group stages of European competition. A 4-2 after an extra-time victory over Riga FC from Latvia in the Conference League playoff qualifying round securing a memorable and fantastic achievement for the part-timers to make it this far in European competition. However, they could find it very difficult in a tough group.
All of FC Copenhagen, PAOK and Slovan Bratislava are sides who either tend to win their domestic competition frequently or nearly every season qualify for European competition domestically in their own leagues. A bad season for all three clubs normally only gets as poor as a 4th place finish or so. With few big five league sides in the Conference League, it seems to be a perfect competition for all three as they should have sufficient squad depth to juggle both Europe and domestic commitments. Expect a tight tussle between all three for the two qualification spots.
Embed from Getty ImagesGroup G: Group of Death Number Two
If there was a secondary “group of death” in this season’s Europa Conference League it is Group G which contains Tottenham Hotspur, Stade Rennais, SBV Vitesse and NS Mura. The big guns of the group are of course the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur. Excluding the disappointing Matchday 4 loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League, Nuno Espirito Santo’s outfit have enjoyed a positive start to the domestic season with three wins from their first four matches.
Whether or not they take the Conference League seriously or not though is the question on everyone’s lips. One suspects we will get an answer soon when the calendar starts getting full of matches with no free midweeks as to how will Tottenham approach the Conference League.
Stade Rennais’ 6th place finish in Ligue 1 last season secured them a Europa Conference League spot. There is every chance Rennes may decide to take the Conference League more seriously than Tottenham, as unlike the London outfit, it may be their most likely route to a Europa League spot next season. Especially given the strength of sides like Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille and OGC Nice and given the Brittany outfit have endured a tough start to Ligue 1 in 2021/22.
Vitesse could prove to be a thorn in the side of the perceived two big teams in this group if both are not careful. The side who came 4th in last season’s Eredivisie surprised many with their play-off qualification round victory over Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht. Mura will probably prove the weakest opponent in this group as they were comfortably defeated 5-1 on aggregate by Sturm Graz in the Europa League playoff round.
The opening match of the competition between Rennes and Tottenham at the Ligue 1 outfit’s Roazhon Park could give a vital clue as to how Spurs will treat the new Conference League.
Group H: A familiar face in European football strike it lucky with the draw
The final group in the inaugural Conference League sees a familiar face to European football fans and also gives them, on paper at least a perfect tailor-made draw to help them juggle both European and domestic commitments, that name is FC Basel. After winning eight straight Swiss titles between 2009/10 and 2016/17, the last few seasons have proven barren for the side ranked 2nd in the all-time rankings for Swiss championships. Young Boys ended Basel’s brilliant run in 2017/18 and have won all the four championships since.
Basel, now seeking to reassert their dominance over Swiss football have a familiar face amongst their playing personnel in the shape of former Fulham and Olympiakos midfielder Pajtim Kasami. Other noteworthy players in their squad are young Italian striker Sebastiano Esposito, scorer of 4 goals in 5 Swiss Super League matches so far in 2021/22 and Brazilian striker Artur Cabral, joint top scorer in the league last season with 18 goals.
Who gets through with them in second place is close to call. The favourites on paper would have to be Azerbaijan’s Qarabag FK, who defeated Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen in the Conference League playoff qualification round. Qarabag’s European experience of having played in the group stages of the Europa League in every season barring the 2017/18 campaign could be crucial. Especially compared to their lesser-experienced in European competition opponents in the shape of Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty and Cyprus’ Omonia Nicosia.
