Premier League Clubs Leicester City, West Ham Get Tough Draws in Europa League
- The 2021/22 UEFA Europa League group stage draw took place in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, 27 August
- The intriguing group stage draw produced a tantalising set of fixtures in the 51st season of the European football competition
- English clubs Leicester, Celtic, Rangers and West Ham were among the 32 hopefuls who learned their group stage fates
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English club Leicester City have been drawn in Group C for the Europa League alongside Napoli, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw, Sky Sports reports.
The Foxes lost 4-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur on the final matchday last season, a result that condemned Brendan Rodgers' FA Cup winners to a UEFA Europa League finish in the league alongside West Ham United who thumped Southampton 3-0.
Source: Getty Images
Fellow Premier League team West Ham United return to the continent and will take on Dinamo Zagreb, Genk and Rapid Vienna, while Celtic are drawn in Group G alongside Bayer Leverkusen, Real Betis and Ferencvaros via GOAL.
The draws in full
Group A: Lyon, Rangers, Sparta Prague, Brondby
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Group B: Monaco, PSV Eindhoven, Real Sociedad, Sturm Graz
Group C: Napoli, Leicester City, Spartak Moscow, Legia Warsaw
Group D: Olympiacos, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahce, Royal Antwerp
Group E: Lazio, Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille, Galatasaray
Group F: Braga, Red Star Belgrade, Ludogorets, Midtjylland
Group G: Bayer Leverkusen, Celtic, Real Betis, Ferencvaros
Group H: Dinamo Zagreb, Genk, West Ham, Rapid Vienna
The final of this season's Europa League is due to take place at Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in Spain on Wednesday, May 18.
Champions League draw earlier announced
Meanwhile, defending Champions Chelsea will begin their quest to retain the Champions League title with a mouthwatering clash against Juventus in Group H, Guardian reports.
The Blues will also take on Zenith St. Petersburg as well as Malmo, the most successful football team in Sweden in the preliminary stages. UEFA organised the Champions League draws on Thursday evening, August 26, and there are exciting groups already.
Lionel Messi and his Paris Saint-Germain teammates will take on Premier League winners Manchester City in Group A clash together with Leipzig and Club Brugge.
Cristiano Ronaldo closing in on Man City switch
In other news, Briefly News previously reported that reports from Italy have it that Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo has left the club’s training session on Friday morning amid rumours he has agreed to join Manchester City.
The Premier League club are in talks with the player’s representatives after his agent stated that the client no longer wants to play for Juventus.
It was gathered that Ronaldo was at the Continassa training round on Friday morning for about an hour as he cleared his locker and said goodbye to the team.
Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
Tshepiso Mametela (Head of Current Affairs Desk) Tshepiso Mametela is a seasoned journalist with eight years of experience writing for online and print publications. He is the current affairs Head of Desk at Briefly News. He was a news reporter for The Herald, a senior sports contributor at Opera News SA, and a reporter for Caxton Local Media’s Bedfordview and Edenvale News and Joburg East Express community titles. He has attended media workshops, including the crime and court reporting one by the Wits Justice Project and Wits Centre for Journalism in 2024. Email: tshepiso.mametela@briefly.co.za
