AZ Alkmaar among Aston Villa’s opponents in Europa Conference League group stage
Aberdeen have been drawn in a group with PAOK Athens, who knocked Hearts out of the competition.
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Your support makes all the difference.Aston Villa have been drawn to face AZ Alkmaar, Legia Warsaw and Zrinjski in Group E of the Europa Conference League.
The Premier League club hosted their first European game in 13 years on Thursday night, sealing their place in the group-stage draw with an 8-0 aggregate win over Hibernian in their qualifying play-off.
Aberdeen, the only other British club in the group stage of European football’s third-tier competition, have been drawn in Group G alongside Eintracht Frankfurt, PAOK Athens and Helsinki.
The cinch Premiership side dropped into the Europa Conference League after losing to Swedish champions Hacken 5-3 on aggregate in their Europa League qualifier.
Villa’s Group E opponents Zrinjski are the first team from Bosnia and Herzegovina to reach the group stages of a UEFA club competition.
AZ lost out to West Ham 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals last season and finished fourth in the Dutch Eredivisie. Legia finished second in Poland’s top flight.
Aberdeen’s top-seeded Group G opponents Eintracht Frankfurt beat fellow Scottish side Rangers on penalties in the 2021-22 Europa League final.
The 32 teams who featured in the draw, which took place in Monaco after the Europa League group-stage draw, are comprised of the 22 winners in the ECL play-off round along with the 10 losers in the Europa League play-off round.
The clubs were seeded in four pots of eight teams, in accordance with UEFA’s club coefficient rankings. Villa were in pot two, Aberdeen in pot four.