Arsenal’s new voyage in the UEFA Europa League will include trips to one of Serbia’s most decorated clubs, Belarus and one of Germany’s biggest cities.
Arsene Wenger’s side was drawn into Group H of the Europa League, along with FC Koln, BATE Borisov and Red Star Belgrade, all new destinations for the side that had been in the UEFA Champions League for 21 consecutive seasons.
There are some Arsenal connections among the group, however. Koln is the former club of former Arsenal forward Lucas Podolski, while former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb had four spells with BATE.
Everton, which qualified for the group stage after beating Hadjuk Split on aggregate thanks to a stunning goal from new signing Gylfi Sigurdsson, was drawn into Group E, where Wayne Rooney and co. will face Lyon, Atalanta and Apollon of Cyprus.
Elsewhere in the draw, AC Milan was drawn into Group D and U.S. Men’s National Team centerback Matt Miazga and Vitesse, by way of winning last season’s Dutch Cup, were drawn into Group K, where they’ll face the likes of Mario Balotelli and Nice as well as Lazio.
Here’s a full look below at the Europa League group stage draw.
EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
GROUP A
Villarreal (ESP)
M. Tel-Aviv (ISR)
Astana (KAZ)
Slavia Praha (CZE)
GROUP B
Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Young Boys (SUI)
Partizan (SRB)
Skënderbeu (ALB)
GROUP C
Braga (POR)
Ludogorets (BUL)
Hoffenheim (GER)
İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)
GROUP D
Milan (ITA)
Austria Wien (AUT)
Rijeka (CRO)
AEK (GRE)
GROUP E
Lyon (FRA)
Everton (ENG)
Atalanta (ITA)
Apollon (CYP)
GROUP F
København (DEN)
Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS)
Sheriff (MDA)
Zlín (CZE)
GROUP G
Plzeň (CZE)
FCSB (ROU)
H. Beer-Sheva (ISR)
Lugano (SUI)
GROUP H
Arsenal (ENG)
BATE (BLR)
Köln (GER)
Crvena zvezda (SRB)
GROUP I
Salzburg (AUT)
Marseille (FRA)
Vitória SC (POR)
Konyaspor (TUR)
GROUP J
Athletic (ESP)
Hertha (GER)
Zorya (UKR)
Östersund (SWE)
GROUP K
Lazio (ITA)
Nice (FRA)
Zulte Waregem (BEL)
Vitesse (NED)
GROUP L
Zenit (RUS)
Real Sociedad (ESP)
Rosenborg (NOR)
Vardar (MKD)