Uefa Cup holders Shakhtar get favourable Europa draw

Shakhtar Donetsk, the last winners of the Uefa Cup, received a good draw in the rebranded Europa League.

MONACO // Shakhtar Donetsk, the last winners of the Uefa Cup, received a good draw when they were grouped with Club Bruges, Partizan Belgrade and Toulouse in the rebranded Europa League. Forty-eight teams were placed in 12 groups of four teams when the draw for the new competition was made on Friday. They will play each other home and away as Europe's second tier competition now reflects more closely that of the Champions League. Hamburg SV, who will host the final next May, were drawn to play Celtic, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Rapid Vienna, who qualified for the group stages by knocking out Aston Villa of the Premier League on away goals in their qualifying play-off.

Group A Ajax (Netherlands) Anderlecht (Belgium) Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) Timisoara (Romania) Group B Valencia (Spain) Lille (France) Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) Genoa (Italy) Group C Hamburger SV (Germany) Celtic (Scotland) Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) Rapid Vienna (Austria) Group D Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) SC Heerenveen (Netherlands) Hertha Berlin (Germany) Ventspils (Latvia) Group E AS Roma (Italy) FC Basel (Switzerland) Fulham (England) CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) Group F Panathinaikos (Greece) Galatasaray (Turkey) Dinamo Bucharest (Romania) Sturm Graz (Austria) Group G Villarreal (Spain) Lazio (Italy) Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) Salzburg (Austria) Group H Steaua Bucharest (Romania) Fenerbahce (Turkey) FC Twente (Netherlands) FC Sheriff (Moldova) Group I Benfica (Portugal) Everton (England) AEK Athens (Greece) BATE Borisov (Belarus) Group J Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) FC Brugge (Belgium) Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) Toulouse (France) Group K PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) FC Copenhagen (Denmark) Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) Cluj (Romania) Group L Werder Bremen (Germany) Austria Vienna (Austria) Athletic Bilbao (Spain) Nacional (Portugal) * With agencies