The draw was different from previous years. The European competitions have been reformed considerably. As of this season, 36 clubs will participate in the main tournament of the Europa League. The group stage will make way for a competition stage, in which Ajax will compete against eight different opponents.
You can read exactly what the new format looks like here. In Monaco, the familiar balls largely made way for a computer-controlled draw. Ajax participated in the draw from pot one. Two opponents then emerged from each of the four pots.
Our club is drawn from pot one with Lazio Roma and Slavia Prague. The Italians will visit Amsterdam, while Francesco Farioli’s team will travel to the Czech Republic.
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Real Sociedad emerged from pot two. The duel with the Israelis will be played in the Johan Cruijff Arena, while the travelling supporters can look forward to a great trip to Spain. To San Sebastian to be precise. Real Sociedad will play their home games there in Estadio Anoeta, which can accommodate over 32,000 supporters.
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Galatasaray and FK Qarabag are the opponents from pot three. The meeting with the Turks in Amsterdam may mean a reunion with Hakim Ziyech, if the technician continues to play for the club from Istanbul after the transfer deadline. After all, rumors were still circulating on Friday that Ajax is also interested in the services of the attacking midfielder.
The away match against Qarabag promises to be quite an adventure. After all, we have to travel to Azerbaijan for that. An away day that will cost a lot of money, although the football heart of many a groundhopper will immediately jump for joy.
Finally, Besiktas and Latvian RK RFS were added to the list of Ajax’s opponents. With Besiktas, a second opponent from Turkey will visit Amsterdam in the league phase. Anyone who wants to visit the match against RFS in Latvia will have to be lucky, because the LNK Sporta Parks only has room for 2,300 spectators, although there is a good chance that a larger stadium will be used.
Now that the opponents are known, it is up to the supercomputer to come up with a complete schedule. Then we know on which dates we will meet the drawn opponents. The complete schedule will be published on Saturday.
These are the opponents of #Ajax in the competitive phase of the Europa League:
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🇮🇹 SS Lazio
🇮🇱 Maccabi Tel Aviv FC
🇹🇷 Galatasaray SK
🇹🇷 Besiktas JKOut ✈️
🇨🇿 Slavia Prague
🇬🇧 Real Sociedad
🇦🇿 FK Qarabag
🇱🇻 FK RFS— Ajax Life (@ajaxlife) August 30, 2024