AZ knows which teams it will play against in the group stage of the Conference League. At the draw today in Istanbul, Turkey, the Alkmaarders in group C were paired with Apollon Limassol, FC Vaduz and SK Dnipro-1.
AZ was one of the 32 teams during the draw. Based on the recent European performances, AZ was in pot 1 and therefore the team of trainer Pascal Jansen is avoiding the strongest opponents on paper.
Apollon Limassol was the first to join AZ in group C. Apollon Limassol became champion of Cyprus last season and was killed in the preliminary round of the Champions League against Maccabi Haifa. The Israeli team recorded a convincing 4-0 victory at home, making the return a formality. Apollon won that match 2-0.
Subsequently, the Europa League also turned out to be unfeasible for Apollon. The Greek Olympiakos put a stop to the team. After twice 1-1, Olympiakos, which played with one man less in extra time, won the penalty shootout.
dwarf state
The next team to come out was the puny FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein. The team from the microstate has no competition of its own and therefore plays its matches in the second division of Switzerland. They have not yet been able to win this season and the team occupies the penultimate place after five matches. Nevertheless, they caused a big surprise last night by eliminating Austria’s Rapid Wien.
The third team became SK Dnipro-1. The club from Ukraine was only founded in 2017. In addition, due to the war with Russia, SK Dnipro-1 does not play its home games in Ukraine, but in Slovakia. The Ukrainians lost in the play-offs of the Europa League against AEK Larnaca (1-2 and 0-3). Dnipro has not yet played any matches in its own competition.
The full Conference League draw
Group A: Istanbul Basaksehir (Tur), Fiorentina (Ita), Heart of Midlothian (Sch), RFS (Lat)
Group B: West Ham United (Eng), FCSB (Roe), Anderlecht (Bel), Silkeborg (Den)
Group C: Villarreal (Spa), Hapoel Beer Sheva (Isr), Austria Wien (East), Lech Poznan (Pol)
Group D: FK Partizan (Ser), 1. FC Köln (Ger), OGC Nice (Fra), 1. FC Slovácko (Czech)
Group E: AZ (Dutch)Apollon Limassol (Cyp), FC Vaduz (Lie), Dnipro-1 (Uk)
Group F: KAA Gent (Bel), Molde FK (Noo), Shamrock Rovers (Irish), Djurgardens (Swe)
Group G: Slavia Prague (Ch), CFR Cluj (Roe), Sivasspor (Tur), Ballkani (Kos)
Group H: FC Basel (Zwi), Slovan Bratislava (Slo), Zalgiris Vilnius (Lit), FC Pyunik (Arm)
The first round is scheduled for Thursday, September 8, followed by games on September 15, October 6, October 13, October 27 and November 3. All games in the Conference League are played on Thursdays.
The numbers 1 and 2 of the group qualify for the knockout phase of this third European tournament.
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