Bournemouth and Sunderland will play mouthwatering ties against Milan in their Europa League campaigns, while the Crystal Palace head coach, Pierre Sage, faces a return to his previous employers Lyon.
The Cherries’ first season in Europe will bring Milan, the seven-times continental champions, to Dean Court in a match-up that once seemed unthinkable. In 2006-07, when Milan won their most recent Champions League title, Bournemouth finished 19th in League One. Sunderland will make the trip to San Siro to face Ruben Amorim’s side during their first season in Europe since 1973-74.
The rest of Bournemouth’s home league phase assignments will bring Viktoria Plzen, Sturm Graz and the Israeli side Hapoel Beer Sheva to the south coast. Hapoel’s visit will be the first to England by a team from Israel since Aston Villa played Maccabi Tel Aviv last November. Marco Rose will take his side to Real Sociedad, Sparta Prague, Celta Vigo and Lillestrøm.
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Sunderland will also visit Anderlecht, Lech Poznan and the Portuguese second-tier side Torreense, while welcoming AZ, Dinamo Zagreb, Poland’s Jagiellonia Bialystok and Levski Sofia to the Stadium of Light.
Palace, who qualified by winning last season’s Conference League, visit in Lyon a club coached by Sage between 2023 and 2025. The clubs have other common history in the form of ownership, John Textor having been a part-owner at Palace and the president of Lyon. Selhurst Park will host Real Sociedad, Lech Poznan, Sparta Prague and Hoffenheim, while Palace’s remaining trips abroad will be to Red Bull Salzburg, Jagiellonia and Besiktas.
Celtic, still licking their wounds from the disastrous Champions League playoff capitulation against Lask Linz, will host Marseille, Ferencvaros, Celta and Besiktas. They will travel to Benfica, Omonia, Union Saint-Gilloise and Torreense.
Brighton, having comfortably disposed of Tromsø in their playoff, can savour a first Conference League campaign. They were handed an attractive home meeting with Monaco, with Romania’s Universitatea Craiova and the Lithuanian club Kauno Zalgiris also travelling to Sussex. Their away ties will take place against Panathinaikos, Getafe and the Czech side Jablonec, who disposed of Rangers on Thursday night.
Hearts will visit Mohamed Salah’s Trabzonspor in their third Conference League proper campaign. Trips to Pafos and Thun also lie in store, while Tynecastle can await ties with Monaco, Borac Banja Luka and Nordsjælland.
The schedule and dates for the matches will be announced this weekend.
