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So we are in Europe for the third season in a row?
That’s right! By winning the UEFA Europa Conference League in June, West Ham United secured a third successive European campaign for the first time in the club’s history.
The Hammers’ 2-1 win over Fiorentina in Prague guaranteed David Moyes’ squad a place in the UEFA Europa League group stage for the second time in three seasons. In 2021/22, the Irons won their first three ties en route to winning their group and reaching the semi-finals.
Having played 27 games in Europe over the past two seasons, West Ham has gained a lot of experience in the continental competition, culminating, of course, in the aforementioned Conference League victory.
With another European season on the horizon alongside the Premier League, the EFL Cup (West Ham are in the third round), and the FA Cup, the Irons could again play more than 50 first-team games in 2023/24, having played there in the last 113 matches. the previous two seasons combined!
What can you tell us about the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League?
Following the introduction of the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2021/22, the Europa League has become a more streamlined competition, with the group stage contested by 32 clubs instead of 48.
Eight clubs advance from the UEFA Champions League to the Europa League in the knockout play-off round following the group stage after finishing third in their Champions League group. They will compete against the eighth number two from the group stage of the Europa League for a place in the eighth-finals.
The first 32 teams in the group stage will consist of West Ham as Conference League champions, plus eleven other automatic qualifiers from England (Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool), Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal.
They are joined by ten winners from the Europa League Play-Off Round, six teams eliminated from the UEFA Champions League Play-Off Round, and four eliminated from the Champions League Third Qualifying Round.
They are divided into eight groups of four, with the eight group winners qualifying directly for the round of 16.
As mentioned, the eight runners-up in the group stage will compete in a preliminary knockout round against the eight clubs finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group for the right to join them.
The 16 remaining teams will then be gradually reduced to two, which will play the final at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland on Wednesday 22 May 2024.
When will the group stage draw take place?
The draw for the UEFA Europa League group stage will take place on Friday 1 September 2023 from 12 pm BST (1 pm Monaco) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
The matches will be confirmed after the draw, following discussions between competing clubs, UEFA, and other stakeholders, taking into account any city conflicts or other external factors that may affect the dates for matches to take place.
The draw will be streamed live on UEFA.com, and you can join Chris Scull, James Collins, and a special guest to watch Iron Cast live on our official website, app, and YouTube channel.
Where are we placed in our group?
As winners of the UEFA Europa Conference League, we are placed in Pot 1 alongside the seven clubs with the highest club coefficients (CC).
Teams from the same leagues cannot be in the same group, which means we certainly won’t be going up against Brighton or Liverpool in the group stage. However, Liverpool’s CC of 123,000 means they will certainly be in Pot 1 as well.
For the record, West Ham’s CC is at 50,000 following our recent Conference League win.
Clubs that have competed regularly in Europe in recent seasons have higher CCs and will therefore receive a higher placement in the draw. For example, Italian clubs Roma (97,000) and Atalanta (55,500), Spain’s Villarreal (82,000), and Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen (72,000) are all guaranteed in Pot 1.
Who could we play against then?
Okay, so we’ve established that we don’t have to play against Liverpool, Roma, Atalanta, Villarreal or Bayer Leverkusen. So apart from Brighton, we could be drawn against any of the 23 other teams in Pot 2, 3, and 4.
With ten UEFA Europa League play-off rounds to be played on Thursday, August 31, it’s still too early to confirm which clubs will play in which pots, but we can make a good guess!
Apart from the twelve automatic qualifiers, the following clubs have qualified for the group stage after being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League.
Marseille from France, Sturm Graz from Austria, TSC from Serbia, and Servette from Switzerland were eliminated in the third qualifying round, while Panathinaikos and AEK Athens from Greece, Molde from Norway, Maccabi Haifa from Israel, Raków Częstochowa from Poland and Rangers from Scotland lost in the playoff round. All nine are potential group-stage opponents for the Hammers.
Among the twenty clubs entering the Europa League play-off round are Edson Álvarez and Mohammed Kudus’ former club Ajax, but they will be in Pot 1 if they take an aggregate victory over Bulgaria’s Ludogorets on Thursday. The Dutch team led 4-1 from the first leg, largely thanks to Kudus’ hat-trick!
Of the clubs we’ve dealt with before in Europe, Greek Olympiakos, Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, and Czech team Slavia Prague, whose stadium hosted our Conference League final success, are all in a strong position following their draw in the first leg.
When do our group stage matches take place?
Our six group stage matches will be held on Thursday evenings throughout the fall as follows:
Group stage
September 21, 2023: Matchday 1
October 5, 2023: Matchday 2
October 26, 2023: Matchday 3
November 9, 2023: Matchday 4
November 30, 2023: Matchday 5
December 14, 2023: Matchday 6
If we make progress as group winners, we will not play again in the eighth-finals until March 7 and 14, 2024. Should we progress as second in the group, we will face a third-placed UEFA Champions League opponent on February 15-22. 2024.
Should we finish third in the group, we will progress to the knockout stage of the UEFA Europa Conference League. The rest of the Europa League competition schedule can be found below:
Knockout phases
February 15 and 22, 2022: Knockout round playoffs
March 7 & 14, 2022: Round of 16
April 11 & 18, 2022: Quarter Finals
May 2 & May 9, 2022: Semifinals
May 22, 2022: Final, Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
UEFA Europa League group stage draw – Everything you need to know