Europa League Playoff Draw: Milan & Everton Among 44 Teams Fighting for Group Stage Place
Big spending duo Everton and AC Milan, 2017 finalists Ajax, Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg, and Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce are among the 44 teams that have learned their fate after the playoff draw for the 2017/18 Europa League was made on Friday afternoon.
After overcoming Slovakian outfit Ruzomberok 2-0 on aggregate in the third qualifying round, Wayne Rooney's Everton will now face Croatian club Hajduk Split.
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Having made a serious recruitment effort this summer, Milan have been paired with Shkendija from Macedonia as they look to continue their first season in European competition since 2013/14.
Meanwhile, Ajax were drawn against Norwegian club Rosenborg, and Zenit have to contend with a tie against Utrecht from the Netherlands. For Fenerbahce, it is Macedonian side Vardar.
2017/18 Europa League Playoff Round Draw in Full:
Shkendija vs Milan
Vardar vs Fenerbahce
Ajax vs Rosenborg
Osijek vs Austria Vienna
Crvena Zvezda vs Krasnodar
Altach vs Maccabi Tel Aviv
BATE Borisov vs Olexandriya
Club Brugge vs AEK Athens
Maritimo vs Dynamo Kyiv
Dinamo Zagreb vs Skenderbeu
Ludogorets Razgrad vs Suduva
Panathinaikos vs Athletic Bilbao
Apollon vs FC Midtjylland
Domzale vs Marseille
Partizan vs Videoton
FH vs Braga
Everton vs Hajduk Split
Utrecht vs Zenit St Petersburg
Legia Warsaw vs Sheriff
Vittorul vs Salzburg
Viktoria Plzen vs AEK Larnaca
PAOK vs Ostersund
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First leg ties will be played on Thursday 17th August, with returns one week later on 24th.
The 22 winners of these playoff ties will enter the group stage alongside the 16 clubs who qualified automatically and the 10 losers from the Champions League playoff round.
The draw for the group stage will take place in Monaco on 25th August.
