Europe’s other club tournament, the Europa League, resumes on Thursday with a playoff round of it’s own. Just like Cousin Eddie, we accept that me must pay some level of attention to the Europa League but that doesn’t mean we have to enjoy its company.
UEFA Europa League 2013: Spurs, Fiorentina and Swansea look qualify for the group stages
The other big club tournament in Europe has reached the playoff round as 62 teams will vie for a spot in the group stages.
Michael Regan
If the Champions League is Hamburger Helper, the Europa League is Panburger Partner. In that it will fill you up but ultimately leave you craving for the original.
62 teams will play in 31 two-leg ties to decide who will play in the group stages of this season’s tournament. The 31 winners will be joined in the group stage draw by seven teams that have already qualified, along with 10 teams who failed to advance in the Champions League playoffs.
Several English, Spanish and Italian sides will look to continue their quests towards the final next May at Juventus Stadium in Turin including Tottenham, Real Betis, Fiorentina, Udinese and Sevilla. Capital One Cup winners Swansea City continue their first dive into the waters of European competition since an appearance in the 1991-92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
Here’s a list of all the first leg matches to be played on Thursday, August 22nd and their kick-off times.
9:00am ET
Aktobe Lento vs. Dynamo Kiev
12:00pm ET
Dinamo Tbilisi vs. Tottenham Hotspur
FK Qarabag vs. Eintracht Frankfurt
Jablonec vs. Real Betis
Kuban Krasnodar vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam
12:30pm ET
Atromitos vs. AZ Alkmaar
Maccabi Haifa vs. FC Astra Ploiesti
Minsk vs. Standard Liege
1:00pm ET
Esbjerg vs. St Etienne
Molde vs. FK Rubin Kazan
Nomme Kalju vs. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
St Gallen vs. Spartak Moscow
SV Salzburg vs. VMFD Zalgiris
1:30pm ET
FK Kukesi vs. Trabzonspor
2:00pm ET
Apollon Limassol vs. Nice
Elfsborg vs. FC Nordsjaelland
FH Hafnarfjordur vs. Racing Genk
Pandurii Targu-Jiu vs. Braga
Tromso vs. Besiktas
2:05pm ET
Swansea City vs. Petrolul Ploiesti
2:30pm ET
Chornomorets vs. Skenderbeu
Partizan Belgrade vs. FC Thun
Rijeka vs. VfB Stuttgart
Vojvodina vs. Sheriff Tiraspol
2:45pm ET
Udinese vs. Liberec
Zulte-Waregem vs. Apoel Nicosia
3:00pm ET
Grasshoppers vs. Fiorentina
3:05pm ET
Rapid Vienna vs. Dila Gori
3:30pm ET
Estoril vs. FC Pasching
Sevilla FC vs. Slask Wroclaw
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