Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- Vice champions Union will face Portugal’s Sporting Braga, Sweden’s Malmö and Germany’s Union Berlin in the group stage of the Europa League in Group D, the draw showed on Friday in Istanbul, Turkey.
For the Brussels club, which was eliminated by the Scottish Rangers in the third and penultimate preliminary round of the Champions League and could thus use the safety net of the Europa League, it is the first European participation since the 1964-1965 season and the club was therefore divided into the fourth pot, making a difficult draw on paper possible.
With Braga, Malmö and Union Berlin there was no unfeasible card. Braga was last season’s number four in Portugal and a regular in the Europa League, where they were quarter-finalists last season. In the same competition she already played against Standard, Club Brugge and AA Gent in the past, said BRUZZ.
At Malmö we find an old acquaintance with attacker Isaac Kiese Thelin (ex-Anderlecht). After 19 match days, they did not get further than fifth place in the Swedish highest division. Like Union, they come from the preliminary rounds of the Champions League, in which they were eliminated by Zalgiris. In the Europa League preliminaries, they passed Dudelange and Sivasspor towards the group stage. They played in the group stage of the Champions League last season. Union Berlin was the surprise in the Bundesliga last season, with a fifth place. It is only their fourth European campaign ever. Last season they lost in the group stage of the Conference League.
The group stage will be completed at an accelerated pace between September 8 and November 3. The World Cup kicks off in Qatar a few weeks later. Union will play its home matches in the stadium of Oud-Heverlee Leuven. The exact playing dates will be announced no later than Saturday afternoon.
