Europa League draw sets up rematch of 2 European Cup finals, Maccabi trips to Germany

MONACO: The Europa League draw on Friday set up two rematches of European Cup finals and two games in Germany for Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

Feyenoord, the 1970 champion of Europe, will host Celtic in one of their league phase games and Nottingham Forest will have a home game against Swedish side Malmo, which were a semi-professional team in 1979 when they lost the European Cup title match to the English club.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv got away games in Germany against Stuttgart and Freiburg, and also will travel to play Aston Villa — in Birmingham, England — and PAOK in Greece.

Israeli clubs have been playing UEFA-organized games in neutral countries for security reasons during the conflict in Gaza, and Maccabi Tel-Aviv have hosted European games this season in Backa Topola, Serbia.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv’s home games are against Dinamo Zagreb, Lyon, Midtjylland and Bologna.

Roma — whose coach Gian Piero Gasperini won the Europa League with Atalanta two season ago — will have two trips to Glasgow to play fierce Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers among their eight opponents.

The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.

Villa were one of 11 teams in Friday’s draw that played in the Champions League last season, though their coach Unai Emery is a four-time Europa League winner: three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.

Villa’s slate of opponents includes a trip to Fenerbahce, which parted ways with coach Jose Mourinho earlier Friday.

Forest are in the second-tier Europa League instead of Crystal Palace, the English FA Cup winner which was demoted by UEFA in a complex case