Thanks. Am I being mental though or did it not used to be like that? Im sure when Boro were in it they played some home and some away.
I think that was the later years of the Uefa Cup, when they were experimenting with a group stage. Then when the Europa League was born it took on a more conventional group format.
I seem to recall that when the Europa League started there were groups of 6 and you played 2 home/away and 3 away/home. (in hindsight it appears I may be mixing this up with the Six nations). Edit to add: As per what Tuckin said, this was the format prior to Europa League and was actually groups of 5 with 2 homes and 2 aways. Pot luck on which teams you played at home and which away (which kind of made it unfair if you ended up playing your aways in the Urals during winter).
The teams that have qualified already are as follows: IFK Goteborg Rosenborg Haugesund RoPS Honka VPS Sligo Rovers Dundalk FC Derry City Atlantas Ekranas Shakhter Karagandy (who were the first team ever from Kazakhstan to make it to the group stage) Astana Kairat Daugava Daugavpils Daugava Riga Fram Reykjavik FH Stjarnan Sliema Wanderers Birkirkara FC Linfield Crusaders Aberystwyth Town Airbus UK Broughton Nomme Kalju Sillamae Kalev Vikingur IF B36 Torshavn Libertas Shaktyor Salihorsk Dinamo Minsk Neman Grodno Rijeka AIK Molde Nacional Estoril Lokeren Panathanaikos FC Zurich PEC Zwolle FC Twente Some decent teams already in there. I'd like a Faroe Islands team, for family reasons, but failing that I'd happily take a Dutch, Belgian or even Portuguese side. The stadium chosen to host next season's Europa League final is the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw. So just a quick trip down the M6 if we get there.
Honka= Finnish team, ground has a 6000 capacity, just enough room for us to fill it with all our fans coming in on chartered jets
If were in the qualifying rounds I bloody hope we get Reykjavik or Stjarnan. I've always wanted to go to Iceland and there is my perfect excuse, albeit 3/4 months early. Be better in the groups with the away fixture being the last, although I'm skeptical either will make it that far.
I suspect John that our pre-season will include EL qualifying games(based on Arsenal winning the Cup). Hopefully either Malta or Cyprus would be nice.
^^^^ Just about sums it up for now. But keep an eye on the Europa League in Wiki as they will update which teams comes in where once the leagues and cup finals are done with. Cheap beer. btw... The 2015 EL Final is in Walsall. Sorry Warsaw - Poland.
When i am i do unlike some on here. Yes i think that Arsenal will win the cup but hope that i am wrong mind.
