Athletic and Real Sociedad Face Tougher Opponents Away Than at Home in the Europa League

Athletic Club and Real Sociedad were drawn this Friday in the Europa League with opponents who are tougher away from home than at their respective stadiums. Athletic will face Roma, Fenerbahçe, Besiktas, and Ludogorets away, while Real Sociedad will play against Lazio, Maccabi Tel Aviv (in Hungary), Viktoria Pilsen, and Nice.

Athletic faces a demanding path in their return to European competition. At San Mamés, they will host rivals such as Slavia Prague and Viktoria Pilsen, both known for their solidity in European competitions, as well as Swedish team Elfsborg and Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.

Away from Bilbao, Athletic will face significant challenges. They will travel to Turkey to play against Fenerbahçe, managed by José Mourinho, and Besiktas. They will also meet Roma in Italy and Ludogorets in Bulgaria, making the group stage a tough test for the Basque team.

Real Sociedad also drew less challenging opponents at home but with some difficult away fixtures. They will travel to Italy to play Lazio, a team with a solid reputation in Serie A, and will also face Maccabi Tel Aviv, although this match will be played in Hungary due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Additionally, they will visit Viktoria Pilsen in the Czech Republic and Nice in France, known for being tough at home.

At Anoeta Stadium, they will host notable adversaries such as historic Ajax; Paok, a strong Greek competitor; Dynamo Kyiv, one of Ukraine's top teams; and Anderlecht, a Belgian club with a rich European history.

The favorite to win the Europa League is Manchester United, boasting a prestigious history that includes three Champions League titles and one Europa League title. United had a favorable draw. At Old Trafford, they will face Rangers, a historic Scottish club; Paok, one of Greece's strongest teams; Bodo Glimt, a recent revelation in Norwegian football; and Twente, a solid competitor from Dutch football. Away from home, Manchester United will face Porto in Portugal, a team with rich European experience; Fenerbahçe in Turkey, known for its intimidating home atmosphere; Viktoria Pilsen in the Czech Republic, a competitive European rival; and Steaua Bucharest in the Romanian capital.

The innocent hands of Glenn Strömberg representing Atalanta and Aritz Aduriz, an Athletic legend, were responsible for presenting the Europa League trophy. The final will be held on May 21 at San Mamés. The complete competition schedule will be revealed this Saturday due to necessary adjustments related to television broadcasts and security measures in host cities—a process similar to that followed for the Champions League. Another significant change is that the last two matchdays of the group stage will be played in January, with the final matchday being unified on Thursday 30th.

For the first time ever, the Europa League's first matchday will be played on a Wednesday and Thursday on September 25th and 26th—one week after the start of the Champions League group stage which begins from Tuesday to Thursday. Additionally, the last matchday of the Europa League coincides with La Liga's seventh matchday, necessitating the postponement of two Spanish league matches due to Spanish teams' participation in the Europa League. The affected matches are Leganés-Athletic and Mallorca-Real Sociedad.

The Europa League has adopted a format similar to that of the Champions League where each team faces eight rivals in the new league phase with a shared goal of reaching the final which this season will be held at San Mamés on May 21st. One of this edition's main novelties is that the champion team will emerge from among the 36 teams starting the competition since unlike previous seasons there won't be any teams descending from the Champions League to the Europa League nor any relegations from Europa League to Conference League.

To advance directly to the round of 16 teams must finish among the top eight of their group stage standings while those finishing between ninth and twenty-fourth place must play a preliminary knockout round of sixteen in February.