Thursday, 15 December 2011

Europa League last 32

This week has seen the final 32 teams that will contest the knock out phase of the Europa league decided. There were plenty of tears and and some near misses from the British clubs.

Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspurs both gained the win to keep their hopes alive but both finished a point shy of qualification. They will now be able to concentrate on winning their respective leagues.

Fulham threw away a two goal lead to draw and go out while Celtic also only managed a draw when a win was needed.

So onto the 32 teams who will be in the draw.

There were 12 groups in the Europa League stage and the winners and runners up all qualified.

Group Winners Group Runners Up
Sporting (Por) Lazio (Ita)
Besiktas (Tur) Stoke (Eng)
Athletic Bilbao (Spa) SV Salzburg (Aus)
Schalke (Ger) Steaua Bucharest (Rom)
FC Twente (Hol) Wisla Krakow (Pol)
Anderlecht (Bel) Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus)
FC Metalist Kharkiv (Ukr) AZ Alkmaar (Hol)
PSV Eindhoven (Hol) Legia Warsaw (Pol)
Standard Liege (Bel) Hannover 96 (Ger)
PAOK Solinka (Gre) Rubin Kazan (Rus)
Atletico Madrid (Spa) Udinese (Ita)
Club Brugge (Bel) Braga (Por)


The 4 best Champions League third placed teams go into the pot of Europa League group winners.

This will see the above group winners join Manchester City, Manchester United, Olympiakos and Valencia to make up the 16 teams in pot 1.

The above group runners up will join Porto, Ajax, Plen and Trabzonspor to make up the 16 teams in pot 2.

Teams from the same Europa League group stage can not draw each other. i.e Besiktas and Stoke cannot be drawn.

Teams from the same association cannot play in the round of 32. i.e Manchester United or City cannot be drawn with Stoke.

The draw for the last 16 will take place at the same time as the last 32 draw and in the last 16 there are no restrictions as to which teams you can be drawn with.

With the inclusion of some big European fish in the Europa League knock out pool, this seasons trophy will definitely be worth winning.

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