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The draw for this year’s Europa League was completed at lunchtime on Friday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. SC Freiburg will play against West Ham United, Olympiacos and FK TSC Backa Topola in Group A.
The fans watching on TV were made to wait for a while for the ball with SC Freiburg’s name on to be drawn out. SC were placed in Pot 3 just like last year. Initially, Pots 1 and 2 were drawn as is the norm – the teams with high coefficients were represented in these pots.
SC were drawn against last year’s Conference League winners, West Ham United, from Pot 1. The British side from London’s East End have started the season strongly and are second in the Premier League with seven points from the first three matchdays.
Additionally, SC will meet Olympiacos once again after the Greek side were the first team to be drawn from Pot 2. They were also group-stage opponents for SC last season, but crashed out of the competition following the group stages.
FK TSC Backa Topola from Serbia were confirmed as SC’s final opponent a few minutes later. The team from Backa Topola, which has a population of 16,000, finished as runners-up in their domestic league last season.
The first matchday of the group stages will be played out on 21st September, with the last one on 14th December. The exact schedule for the games has not yet been released. It is certain, however, that the games will kick-off at 18:45 CEST or 21:00 CEST on Thursdays.
Chicco Höfler: “Finally an opportunity to play in London”
Straight after its conclusion, SC midfielder Chicco Höfler said with regard to the draw: “I am pleased that we are finally going to have an opportunity to play in London and prove ourselves against a Premier League side. We already know Olympiacos from last season, so we were hoping for a different opponent. Nevertheless, we had some good experiences against them.”
Just like last year, the team wants to make sure that they are still in Europe when the new year comes: “I believe that we should be able to progress given our quality and that is also certainly our aim.”
Photo: UEFA
