EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE. Placed in group D, Nice inherits from Partizan Belgrade, FC Cologne and the Czechs from FC Slovacko.
Qualified yesterday after going through extra time against Maccabi Haifa, theOGC Nice feverishly awaited the draw for the Europa League Conference, aware that his UEFA ranking offered him no protection. We have to believe that chance was not too bad with the Riviera club with an affordable opposition. Indeed, the club coached by Lucien Favre will compete for qualification for the knockout phase with Partizan Belgrade, FC Cologne and Czech unknowns FC Slovacko. It’s up to the people of Nice to show seriousness and raise their level of play to get out of this homogeneous group.
In addition to the only French representative of the competition, the favorites were also spared. Thus, Villareal, semi-finalist of the last Champions League will face the Israelis of Hapoel Beer-Sheva, the Austrians of Austria Vienna and the Poles of Lech. West Ham, his side, have been placed in the same group as Anderlecht, Romania’s FCSB and Danes Silkeborg. Dutch side AZ Alkmaar will meet Cypriot side Apollon Limassol, club Liechtenschein Vaduz and Ukrainian side Dnipro-1. In group A, a great duel in perspective between Istanbul Basaksehir and Fiorentina, refereed by the Scots of Hearts of Midlothians and the Latvians of FK RFS. Finally, FC Basel, another contender, will go to Slovakia to challenge the Slovan Bratislava, in Lithuania with Zalgiris Vilnius and in Armenia with Pyunik.
The eight Europa Conference League groups:
- Group A: Istanbul Basaksehir (TUR), Fiorentina (ITA), Hearts of Midlothians (ECO), FK RFS (LET)
- Group B: West Ham (ENG), FCSB (ROU), Anderlecht (BEL), Silkeborg IF (DAN)
- Group C: Villareal (ESP), Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR), Austria Vienna (AUT), Lech Poznan (POL)
- Group D: Partizan Belgrade (SER), FC Cologne (GER), OGC Nice (FRA)FC Slovakia (RTC)
- Group E: AZ Alkmaar (PBS), Apollon Limassol (CHY), FC Vaduz (LI), SK Dnipro-1 (UKR)
- Group F: KRC Genk (BEL), Molde FK (NOR), Shamrock Rovers (IRL), Djurgarden IF (SWE)
- Group G: Slavia Prague (RTC), CFR Cluj (ROU), Sivasspor (TUR), FC Ballkani (KOS)
- Group H: FC Basel (SUI), Slovan Bratislava (SLQ), Zalgiris Vilnius (LIT), FC Pyunik (ARM)
The group stage of the Europa League Football Conference is played from Thursday September 8, 2022 to Thursday November 3, 2022 while the knockout stage will be played from Thursday February 16, 2023 to Thursday May 18, 2023. As for the final, it is scheduled for June 7, 2023 at the Eden Arena in Prague (Czech Republic). The calendar was then drawn up as follows by UEFA:
- Groups
- Day 1: September 8, 2022
- Day 2: September 15, 2022
- Day 3: October 6, 2022
- Day 4: October 13, 2022
- Day 5: October 27, 2022
- Day 6: November 3, 2022
- Direct elimination
- Knockout stage play-offs: February 16 and 23, 2023
- Round of 16: March 9 and 16, 2023
- Quarter-finals: April 13 and 20, 2023
- Semi-finals: May 11 and 18, 2023
- Final: June 7, 2023 at the Eden Arena in Prague (Czech Republic)
Which French teams have qualified for the Europa League Conference?
After finishing 5th in Ligue 1 during the 2021/2022 season, OGC Nice will know the identity of their opponent on August 2 during the draw for the play-offs.
As last season, UEFA has awarded the French TV rights for the 2022/2023 Europa League Conference to RMC Sport, M6 and Canal+ which will ensure the broadcast until the end of the 2023/2024 season. Canal + will co-broadcast with M6 the poster for each Thursday and RMC Sport offers all the remaining matches. M6 will broadcast the final scheduled for June 7, 2023 in clear. During the 2024-2027 period, this is Canal + who bought the broadcasting rights.
The Europa League Conference 2021-2022 is the new European competition launched by UEFA and therefore the third international competition for European clubs after the Champions League and the Europa League. Its first edition was launched for the 2021-2022 season. It groups European teams according to their results in the league or in the national cup. The winner of the Europa League Conference qualifies for the Europa League the following year.
184 teams play in the competition throughout the season, including at least one from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations and 46 from the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League according to the UEFA website. ‘. The group stage consists of:
- 17 teams from the UEFA Europa Conference League main path
- 5 teams from the UEFA Europa Conference League Champions Path*
- 10 teams eliminated in the UEFA Europa League play-offs
A group phase (eight groups of four) is therefore organized before a knockout phase (round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final). The eight group winners qualify for the round of 16. A play-off is played between the eight runners-up and the teams that finish third in their UEFA Europa League group.