Manchester United will travel to Turkish giants Fenerbahce, now coached by Jose Mourinho, among their eight games in the league phase of the new-look Europa League, the draw for which took place in Monaco on Friday.
The Old Trafford club won the Europa League with Mourinho as coach in 2017. He recently became coach of Fenerbahce, who were knocked out of the Champions League in the third qualifying round.
📋 Our first fixtures of this season's @EuropaLeague campaign!#MUFC || #UEL pic.twitter.com/2vGD1MUrk4
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 30, 2024
Pot 1 🤤🤤🤤#UELdraw pic.twitter.com/U64ffgmNc8
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) August 30, 2024
United will also notably play at home to 2022 Europa League runners-up Rangers and go to Portugal to play Porto, another of Mourinho's old sides.
Tottenham Hotspur, the other English representative in the competition, will also take on Rangers, in their case away from home.
🏆 #UELdraw:
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 30, 2024
🏟️🆚 Roma
✈️🆚 Rangers
🏟️🆚 AZ Alkmaar
✈️🆚 Ferencváros
🏟️🆚 Qarabağ
✈️🆚 Galatasaray
🏟️🆚 Elfsborg
✈️🆚 Hoffenheim pic.twitter.com/lgJSLxB8He
Ange Postecoglou's side will also play at home to Roma and go to Istanbul to face Turkish champions Galatasaray.
The format of the Europa League has changed for this season, along the same lines of the new-look Champions League.
The number of clubs in the competition proper is now 36, all of whom are placed into one league but split into four pots of seeds.
Each participant plays eight games, facing two clubs from each pot, one at home and one away.
The pots are confirmed ✅#UELdraw pic.twitter.com/1mEmoRETrM
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) August 30, 2024
The top eight at the end of the league phase -- which runs until the end of January -- will advance to the last 16, while the teams finishing from ninth to 24th will advance to a play-off round to decide the remaining last-16 spots.
The bottom 12 in the league phase will be eliminated, with no clubs dropping down into the Conference League ahead of the knockouts, and no teams parachuting down from the Champions League as in the past.