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.

Pa Sport Staff
Friday 01 September 2023 14:34 BST
Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran, right, fired his side into an early lead against Hibernian at Villa Park on Thursday night (Joe Giddens/PA)
Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran, right, fired his side into an early lead against Hibernian at Villa Park on Thursday night (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

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.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in