Greek clubs waiting to begin Europa League journey
If they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the UEFA Europa League Last 16 second leg, Olympiacos will face either Roma or Sevilla in the quarter-finals.
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This is the second successive year in which Aris will participate in the Europa League. Last season, they came up short against Molde after initially defeating AE Limassol, but they will hope for better this time around with the popular Michael Oenning at the helm. Just like Aris, OFI will also start their Europa League campaign in the second qualifying phase, but AEK will enter the tournament in the subsequent round.
The 2020/2021 qualifiers are scheduled to begin at the end of the month.
ARIS, OFI TO BEGIN UNSEEDED IN SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND
Having finished in fourth position, Panathinaikos would normally have qualified for the Europa League, but their punishment from UEFA for violating financial regulations ruled out their possibility of competing in Europe in the 2020/2021 season. This consequently meant that sixth-placed OFI were guaranteed of a Europa League berth before the 2019/2020 Super League playoffs even began.
Both Aris and OFI will be unseeded with 5,260 coefficient points each. As a result, the possible opponents for the Greek pair include the likes of AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, VfL Wolfsburg, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen, Partizan, Malmo and Rangers, teams which they will certainly hope to avoid in the draw. Anorthosis (5,350) of Cyprus will also be involved.
AEK TO BE SEEDED IN THIRD QUALIFICATION PHASE
Up until the concluding rounds of the playoffs, AEK were in pole position to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, but the abolishment of PAOK’s seven-point deduction dramatically altered their fortunes. The Enosi will have to be content with Europa League football for the second consecutive year.
AEK will be seeded for the third qualifying round with 16,500 coefficient points on the board, consequently meaning that the Kitrinomavri will - theoretically - have an easier opponent. Naturally, a lot will depend on the results of the first two qualifying rounds of the competition, but AEK are in line to take on clubs such as SonderjyskE, St. Gallen, Desna Chernihiv, Tasos Bakasetas’ Alanyaspor, Dinamo Minsk, Aberdeen, Hajduk Split, Anorthosis, Motherwell and Hammarby.
However, if they progress to the playoffs, reports are indicating that AEK will subsequently be unseeded.
Here are the 2020/2021 Europa League qualifying dates:
20/08/2020 Preliminary round
27/08/2020 First qualifying round
17/09/2020 Second qualifying round
24/09/2020 Third qualifying round
01/10/2020 Playoffs
