The dust has settled and the lineups for this UEFA Europa League group stage have been officially unveiled, with all the big guns coming together. The list of first round qualifiers is as follows: French powerhouses Lyon and Monaco, Russian giants Spartak Moscow, German powerhouse Eintracht Frankfurt, Turkish giants Galatasaray, Serbian red stars Belgrade, Bundesliga powerhouse Leverkusen, and English side West Ham United. They are followed by the second-placed teams in the group, namely Scottish giants Rangers, Spanish side Real Sociedad, Serie A giants Napoli, Greek side Olympiacos, Italian powerhouse Lazio, Portuguese side Braga, Spanish side Betis, and Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.
According to the latest rule changes, the top teams of the eight UEFA groups will advance directly to the Round of 16. The team that finishes second in its group, as the seeded team, will play the team that finishes third in its UEFA Champions League group (the unseeded team) in a knockout round playoff for the remaining eight UEFA Europa League Round of 16 spots.
In the fierce competition, eight Champions League teams had the misfortune to fall to the UEFA Europa League. They are: Bundesliga team Red Bull Leipzig, Portuguese team Porto, German team Borussia Dortmund, Moldovan team Sergeant Tiraspol, Spanish team Barcelona, Italian team Atalanta, Spanish team Sevilla, and Russian team Zenit.
