Europa Conference League draw: Aston Villa face AZ Alkmaar on European return, Fiorentina and Aberdeen also learn fate

Aston Villa will end a 13-year absence from European football with matches against AZ Alkmaar, Legia Warsaw and Zrinjski Mostar in Group E of the Europa Conference League, while last season's finalists Fiorentina also learned their fate after Friday's draw in Monaco.

Fiorentina, who will hope to go one better in the 2023/24 edition of the competition after losing last season’s final to West Ham, have been drawn in Group F alongside Ferencvaros, Genk and Cukaricki.

Aberdeen are the other British representatives in the competition, and will play 2022 Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt, as well as PAOK and HJK Helsinki in Group G.

Lille were the first team out of the hat in Group A, and the Ligue 1 side were drawn with Slovan Bratislava, Olimpja Ljubljana and Faroese side Kl Klaksvik, who are making their European group stage debut.

Fenerbahce were among the top seeds in the draw, and were placed in Group H, together with Ludogorets, Spartak Trnava and Nordsjaelland.

Fellow Turkish club Besiktas were third seeds and face Club Brugge, Bodo Glimt, and Lugano in Group D.

Meanwhile, Gent were the top seeds in Group B and will face Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Zorya Luhansk and European group stage debutants Breidablik.

Group C looks like it could be one of the tighter collections of teams, with Dinamo Zagreb and Viktoria Plzen, both appearing in the Champions League in recent years, joined by Astana and Ballkani.

Unai Emery's side will approach the task ahead with cautious optimism, particularly in light of West Ham's triumph in the competition last season.

The stiffest test is expected to come from Alkmaar, who finished fourth in the Dutch Eredivisie last season and were also semi-finalists in this competition.

They lost to The Hammers over two legs in the last four, and Villa will hope that serves as a lucky omen for more English joy against Pascal Jansen's side this season.

Meanwhile, the task looks considerably trickier for Aberdeen, who head into this competition after dropping out of the Europa League at the play-off stage.

Frankfurt are undoubtedly the favourites on paper, while Greek side PAOK have already overcome Scottish opposition following a two-legged victory over Hearts in the play-offs of this competition.

The group stage will begin on September 21 and conclude on December 14.

The final will be held in Athens this season on May 29, 2024.

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