In the UEFA draw for the Europa League group stage, Maccabi Tel Aviv have been placed in group F with French FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Cypriots APOEL Nicosia and Germans Eintracht Frankfurt
In the UEFA draw for the Europa League group stage held today in Monaco, Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv landed in group F together with the French side FC Girondins de Bordeaux, the Cypriot champions APOEL Nicosia and the German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt. Maccabi reached the group stage automatically after their play-off match against PAOK Thessaloniki was cancelled due the Greek side returning to the Champions League play-offs following the suspension of the Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv. Maccabi's ranking within UEFA landed them in pot 4, leaving them to face higher ranked clubs from the three pots before them: Pot 1 supplied them with Bordeaux, pot 2 with APOEL Nicosia and pot 3 with Eintracht Frankfurt. Maccabi will kick off their campaign with a home tie against APOEL Nicosia on September 19th and finish at home against Bordeaux on the 12th of December.
Bordeaux finished 7th in the French Ligue 1 last season but won an automatic ticket to the group stage by winning the French Cup. Despite having lost their play-off tie with Belgian side Zulte Warengem 3-2 on aggregate, APOEL Nicosia reached the group stage after winning a special draw on Friday morning to replace the suspended Turkish club Fenerbahce. APOEL Nicosia are also the only side in the group that have faced Maccabi Tel Aviv in the past, beating them at home (1-0) and drawing away (2-2) to advance at Maccabi's expense in the second qualifying round for the now moribund UEFA Cup in 2005. Eintracht Frankfurt finished 6th in the German Bundesliga last season and gained entrance to the group stage by beating the Azerbaijani outfit Qarabag FK in the play-off rounds 4-1 on aggregate.
Maccabi Tel Aviv's complete group stage fixture schedule
Round one (September 9th): APOEL Nicosia (home)
Round two (October 3rd): Bordeaux (away)
Round three (October 24th): Frankfurt (away)
Round four (November 7th): Frankfurt (home)
Round five (November 28th): APOEL Nicosia (away)
Round six (December 12th): Bordeaux (home)
