MY ACCOUNT
West Ham and Anderlecht will clash in a repeat of the 1976 European Cup Winners’ Cup final after being drawn together in the same Europa Conference League group.
It was Anderlecht who won 4-2 at Heysel Stadium to land the silverware 46 years ago, but the task for each side this time around is to plot a route into the knockout rounds of UEFA’s newest men’s club competition.
West Ham can point to strong recent form against Belgian teams, having beaten Anderlecht’s domestic rivals Genk 3-0 in London last season in the Europa League after drawing 2-2 away from home.
They later knocked out Sevilla and Lyon on a run to the semi-finals, where eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt proved too strong.
FCSB and Silkeborg join West Ham and Anderlecht in Group B of the Conference League, while Villarreal also learned their early opponents.
After winning the 2021 Europa League and reaching the Champions League semi-finals last season, Villarreal will hope to avoid a bumpy landing in the tertiary competition, with Hapoel Be’er-Sheva, Austria Wien and Lech Poznan their Group C opponents.
Fiorentina, Nice and Koln are also aiming to make an impact in the competition, which is entering its second season.
The six rounds of group games take place from September 8 to November 3, with the Europa Conference League final to be played on June 7 at Slavia Prague’s Eden Arena.
Slavia are among the teams competing, drawn to face Cluj, Sivasspor and Ballkani in Group G.
Draw in full:
Group A: Istanbul Basaksehir, Fiorentina, Hearts, RFS
Group B: West Ham, FCSB, Anderlecht, Silkeborg
Group C: Villarreal, Hapoel Be’er-Sheva, Austria Wien, Lech Poznan
Group D: Partizan, Koln, Nice, Slovacko
Group E: AZ, Apollon Limassol, Vaduz, Dnipro-1
Group F: Gent, Molde, Shamrock Rovers, Djurgarden
Group G: Slavia Prague, Cluj, Sivasspor, Ballkani
Group H: Basel, Slovan Bratislava, Zalgiris Vilnius, Pyunik
