Real Sociedad learn potential Europa League opponents as 36 teams confirmed | OneFootball

Real Sociedad will discover their Europa League opponents on Friday at 13.00, when the draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

Heavyweights in the pots include Juventus, Milan, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Lyon, Besiktas and Sturm Graz, while Manchester United are absent. There are Olympiacos links to Kovacevic, Mendibilibar or Dani García, and Hoffenheim for Matarazzo. UEFA said the fixture list will be confirmed no later than 30 August.

Clubs from the same league cannot meet, so Celta are off the table. A side also cannot face three opponents from one league, which means if Lyon or Olympique de Marseille are drawn, Stade Rennais would then be excluded.

The 36 clubs are seeded into four pots of nine by UEFA coefficient. Real Sociedad’s 54,000 points place them in Pot one. Friday’s draw will hand them eight opponents, two from each pot, with four matches at Anoeta and four away.

The competition features 13 domestic qualifiers from 25/26, 12 play-off winners, 4 entrants from the Champions League third qualifying round league path and 7 losers from its play-offs. All 36 share a single table, playing eight games. The top eight reach the last 16, places nine to 24 contest two-legged play-offs, and 25th or lower go out.

The other qualified clubs are AZ Alkmaar, Ferencváros, Viktoria Plzen, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dinamo Zagreb, Salzburg, Celtic, Sparta Prague, Anderlecht, Lech Poznań, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Celje, Jagiellonia Białystok, Omonia, Torreense, Hapoel Be'er Sheva, NEC, OFI Crete, Lillestrøm, Levski Sofia and Ararat-Armenia.

Source: Diario Vasco

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