The Submarine will face Panathinaikos, Maccabi Haifa and Stade Rennais for a place in the knockout phase
Villarreal learned their UEFA Europa League 2023/24 group stage opponents last Friday at the draw held in Monaco. The Submarine were drawn in Group F alongside Stade Rennais, Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos.
Panathinaikos FC
Panathinaikos Football Club is a Greek football club in the Super League Greece that reached the UEFA Europa League after losing 3-1 to SC Braga in the final round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
Founded in 1908 under the name Podosfairikós Ómilos Athina (Athens Football Club), the club plays its matches at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, named in honour of the president who died in 1980. However, as an extraordinary measure, the Greek team will play their European competition matches at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, with a capacity of 70,000, as the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium does not comply with the regulations for matches of this nature.
The club, also known by the nicknames To Trifylli (The Shamrock) or Oi Prasinoi (The Greens), is currently coached by Serbian Ivan Jovanovic. Panathinaikos FC are one of the most important clubs in the country, being the second most successful domestic club with a total of 20 league titles and 18 cups and the only one to reach the final of the UEFA Champions League – then the European Cup – in the 1970/71 season.
World-class players such as the Argentinian Juan Veron have played in their ranks and, today, players such as the Brazilian Bernard, others with experience in Spanish football such as Ruben Perez or Juankar and even old acquaintances of the Yellows Academy such as Aitor Cantalapiedra stand out.
These are the kick-off times for the matches between Villarreal and Panathinaikos:
- Panathinaikos vs Villarreal (MD1), Thursday 21st September, 6:45pm CEST, Athens Olympic Stadium
- Villarreal vs Panathinaikos (MD5), Thursday 30th November, 9pm CET, Estadio de la Cerámica
Stade Rennais
Stade Rennais are another of Villarreal’s opponents in the Europa League group stage. The team from the city of Rennes, Brittany, booked their ticket to the prestigious tournament after finishing fourth in Ligue 1 in 2022/23.
Les Rouges et Noirs (the red-and-whites) or Les Rennais, as the French club is nicknamed, was founded on 10 March 1901 by a group of students, but did not gain professional club status until 1932. Since then, Stade Rennais have spent more than 50 seasons in the top flight of French football, have played in the UEFA Champions League once and the Europa League five times, with the last 16 in the 2018/19 season their best-ever finish in that competition.
Rhoazon Park, with a capacity of 29,778, is the home stadium for French head coach Bruno Génésio’s side. The historic French club have three French Cups and a Super Cup to their name and have had world-class players such as Eduardo Camavinga, Jeremy Doku, Petr Cech, Raphinha, Dembele and Gourcuff in their ranks, while others such as Matić, Terrier and Mandanda are part of the current squad.
These are the kick-off times for the matches between Villarreal and Stade Rennais:
- Villarreal vs Stade Rennais (MD2), Thursday 5th October, 9pm CEST, Estadio de la Cerámica
- Stade Rennais vs Villarreal (MD6), Thursday 14th December, 6:45pm CEST, Rhoazan Park
Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa Football Club, one of the great teams of Israeli football, will be another of the teams that Villarreal will have to face to get through the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.
The reigning Israeli champions were founded in 1913, but it was not until the 1980s that they became one of the leading lights of Israeli football. Now, the team coached by Messay Dego, which plays its home game at the Sammy Ofer Stadium (30,780 spectators), is aiming to achieve the ambitious goal of reaching the group stage of the competition for the first time in its history, after being eliminated 3-0 by Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
Maccabi Haifa have played in European competition 28 times: 10 times in the UEFA Champions League, where they have recorded prestigious victories such as last season’s win over Juventus, 12 appearances in the Europa League, one in the Conference League, three in the Cup Winners’ Cup and three in the Intertoto Cup.
They have also won the Israeli Premier League fifteen times and the Israeli Cup six times.
These are the kick-off times for the matches between Villarreal and Maccabi Haifa:
- Villarreal vs Maccabi Haifa (MD3), Thursday 26th October, 9pm CEST, Estadio de la Cerámica
- Maccabi Haifa vs Villarreal (MD4), Thursday 9th November, 6:45pm CET, Sammy Ofer Stadium
