On Friday the 26/27 Europa League group stage pairs were drawn at a ceremony in Monaco, and the Polish clubs learned who their rivals will be.
Out of the five teams from Poland competing on a continental level in the 26/27 season, four made it to the 4th and final round of the qualifiers concluded on Thursday – but just two progressed further to the league stage: Lech Poznań and Jagiellonia Białystok.
On the upside, the two managed to achieve it in the UEFA Europa League, the middle level of the three-tier continental competition, where no Polish club has featured since the 23/24 season.
The 2nd legs of the 4th and final round of the European qualifiers were played on Thursday evening.
In the Conference League (3rd European level) Poland's Raków Częstochowa lost at home after extra time 2-3 (0-1, 2-2, 2-3) to Croatia's Hajduk Split and was eliminated from the competition. In the first match, Raków drew 2-2 away.
Górnik Zabrze shared their fate in the competition, losing 4-1 (2-0) against France's AS Monaco FC. Górnik lost the first leg 3-2.
In the UEFA Europa League, Jagiellonia Białystok won 2-1 (1-1) away against Georgian side Iberia 1999 Tbilisi. The Polish side won the first leg 4-0, thus advancing to the league stage of the competition.
In the same competition, the 2nd leg was a mere formality for Lech Poznań, who hammered the Swiss Champions FC Thun 7-0 at home in the first game. Away, Lech drew 2-2, and also advanced further.
On Friday the 26/27 Europa League group stage pairs were drawn at a ceremony in Monaco, and the Polish clubs learned who their rivals will be.
Jagiellonia Białystok will face Olympique Lyonnais (France, home), Olympiakós (Greece, away), Anderlecht (Belgium, home), Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic, away), Crystal Palace (England, home), Sunderland AFC (England, away), Ararat-Armenia Yerevan (Armenia, home), and Levski Sofia (Bulgaria, away).
Lech Poznań's opponents will be Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany, home), SL Benfica (Portugal, away), Ferencvárosi (Hungary, home), Royal Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium, away), Sunderland AFC (England, home), Crystal Palace FC (England, away), SCU Torreense (Portugal, home) and OFI (Greece, away).
Each club will play eight matches against eight different opponents – two matches against teams from each of the four pots (one home, one away). In the league stage, teams cannot face domestic opponents and can only face a maximum of two opponents from one association.
Clubs finishing 1-8 in the Europa League table will advance directly to the Round of 16, teams finishing 9-24 will enter a knockout play-off round for a place in the Round of 16, and teams finishing 25-36 will be eliminated.
Matches will be played on September 16-17, October 15 and 22, November 5 and 26, December 10, and January 21 and 28.
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Source: PAP, IAR, 90minut.pl