Europa League Opponents 2009-2010

[Kowalczyk]

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Ajax start their European safari in the final play-off round for the brand new Europa League. The draw is today, startin at 13:30 CET (that's 75 minutes from now) and here's the deal. We're in one of those little 'pre-draw' pots again, with five seeded teams and five unseeded teams. The five seeded teams are:

FC Shakhtar Donetsk
AFC Ajax
Hertha BSC Berlin
Athletic Club Bilbao
CFR 1907 Cluj

So we can't be paired with those.

Our first European opponent will be one of the following:

Brøndby IF (Denmark)
Tromsø IL (Norway)
Sivasspor (Turkey)
ŠK Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
FK Serajevo (Bosnia & Herzegowina)

Let's have the Norwegians, is what I say.

K.

[jamcocteau]

Ajax get Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia

[Philippe]

piece of cake

[afcajax73]

not a bad draw that :)

[Ajaxfanuk]

Couldve been worse should claim our place in the inaugral europa league group stages...which means lots more nights than usual of European joy and pain :)

[bluedaddy19]

im very happy we dont have to go to brondby or turkey

[Jojo]

Pretty good draw, was hoping for Sarajevo but still OK.

[gordonvandekamp]

I think it's a good draw too, but honestly we still should be able to handle any of those teams. At least the European meltdown of season's past seemed to be put behind us last season. I'm hoping we can make another strong run this year.

[Blind3]

No trip to Turkey or Denmark . Glad we dodged those bullets !! Would've preferred Tromso also , but Ajax should be able to succeed. I'd feel even better if we reinforced our defense and striker positions between now and then

[Kowalczyk]

Okay, Arsenal eliminated Celtic, which means that Ajax will be one of the 'group heads' in the Europa League. We'll be in pot 1, which means we'll avoid the strongest sides.

K.

[Ajaxfanuk]

Excuse my ignorance Ko but why was us being a pot team dependent on that result?

[Rooie]

Celtic has a lower coefficient than us, Arsenal has a higher coefficient than us. If Celtic somehow would have managed to defeat Arsenal, Arsenal would have taken our position in pot 1 (because we have the lowest coefficient of pot 1).

[Ajaxfanuk]

Ahh ok thanks for clearing that up for me :D

[Kowalczyk]

Alright, here we go!

Draw is at 13:00 CET.

Here are the four pots:

Pot 1
Werder Bremen
Villarreal
AS Roma
PSV
Shaktar Donetsk
Sporting CP Lisbon
Hamburger SV
SL Benfica
Valencia
Panathinaikos
Ajax
Steaua Bucuresti

Pot 2
Fenerbahçe
FC Basel
Lille OSC
Celtic
Everton
Club Brugge
Heerenveen
Galatasaray
Anderlecht
Austria Wien
FC København
Lazio Roma

Pot 3
Hertha BSC Berlin
Sparta Praha
Dinamo Bucuresti
AEK Athens
Slavia Praha
Levski Sofia
Athletic Bilbao
Partizan Belgrade
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
FC Twente
Dinamo Zagreb
Fulham FC

Pot 4
CSKA Sofia
Toulouse FC
CFR Cluj
Genoa
Rapid Wien
FC Timisoara
BATE Borisov
Nacional Funchal
FC Salzburg
Sturm Graz
FK Ventspils
Sheriff Tiraspol

For the record: each group will consist of four teams, one team from each pot. Which means we won't be playing any teams from pot 1. Also, we won't get any Dutch teams. So yes, in theory we could get Lazio Roma, Atheltic Bilbao and Toulouse. Which would be... difficult.

We could also get Austria Wien, Hapoel Tel Aviv and FC Timisoara, which would be easier, but very boring.

We'll see.

A nice opponent in England would be cool. Everton or Fulham.

K.

[SE6Ajacied]

Al
A nice opponent in England would be cool.

K.

Yes please! And if I can get a ticket can we have Fulham but if I'm watching on TV then can we have Everton

[Cmon1983]

I'm -with many other fans i'm sure- watching the draw live... would be interesting to see the new uefa cup format..
Don't understand how can't we get Lazio for example??? and Fenerbahce direct went to Group H... couldn't get it..

Okay, we are in group A

soo we get Anderlecht from pot 2.. nice one i think!
and.. Dinamo Zagreb from pot 3... well we have had hard times against these opponents... hope it's going to be easy this time..

Aah yeah.. so FC Timisoara:))

Well its near to me, but i don't think that i will make the trip... (hungary vs romania)

Hope we win as many matches as we can , we need the uefa points aswell...

[Jojo]

Could be worse, could be better. Did not want to get Dinamo at all. Still hope we go through

[souras84]

From group 4 we got Timisoara, not Cluj. So thats a bit better.

Revenge is what I have in mind when I hear Zagreb.

[Kowalczyk]

Anderlecht: great, nice one.

Dinamo Zagreb: bollocks, don't like that at all.

Timisoara: who?

I don't think I'll make it to one of the away games. Don't really feel like a trip to Zagreb or Romania, whereas Brussels will be a day of violence, for sure (thousands of Ajax fans, grim atmosphere in town, lots of trouble). Fair chance Ajax will make that one a combi, just like Bruges at the time.

K.

[Cmon1983]

From group 4 we got Timisoara, not Cluj. So thats a bit better.

Revenge is what I have in mind when I hear Zagreb.

well yeah.. sorry for that..

We have to advance!!!!

[saddlerian]

I don't think I'll make it to one of the away games. Don't really feel like a trip to Zagreb or Romania, whereas Brussels will be a day of violence, for sure (thousands of Ajax fans, grim atmosphere in town, lots of trouble). Fair chance Ajax will make that one a combi, just like Bruges at the time.
K.

I presume that we've got 3 home matches....any idea of the provisional dates yet? Would like to catch one game....if it's in Half Term!!!

[Jojo]

I was hoping for any of the Austrian clubs, would be a chance for me to go watch an away game. We have to advance from this group

[afcajax73]

its a good draw for us :)

[Amol]

its a good draw for us :)

....only time will tell

[Orange14]

Would have been interestng to have Rikjaard's Turkish outfit pay a visit to the Arena. When we progress (no "ifs" about it!!) maybe we will meet up with them.