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Europa Conference League group stage draw: West Ham to face Anderlecht

  /  autty

West Ham have been drawn to face Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League group stages while Scottish Premiership club Hearts will take on Fiorentina of Serie A.

The group stage fixtures are due to begin on September 8 and West Ham will be hoping for another deep run in a European competition, having reached the Europa League semi-finals last season.

The Hammers have been drawn to face FCSB of Romania, Belgian outfit Anderlecht and Danish side Silkeborg in Group B of their inaugural Europa Conference League campaign.

Hearts have been drawn alongside Italian outfit Fiorentina, who are the stand-out opponents of their first group stage in European competition since 2004.

The Tynecastle side, who lost to FC Zurich in their Europa League play-off on Thursday, will also be joined in Group A by Turkish team Istanbul Basaksehir and Latvian side RFS.

The matches against Serie A side Fiorentina are likely to be particularly eagerly awaited by supporters, with Hearts not having played Italian opposition since they met Bologna in the UEFA Cup 31 years ago.

The Florence-based outfit finished seventh in the Italian top flight last term. Basaksehir - for whom former Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil plays - were fourth in the Turkish Super Lig last season.

Riga-based RFS, who only qualified for the group stage following a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Linfield in the play-off round, won the Latvian league title last year and are currently third with three games remaining of this year's campaign.

Europa Conference League group stage draw in full

What's the Europa Conference League format?

The group winners advance directly to the round of 16 with the group runners-up progressing to the knockout round play-offs, where they will face eight teams transferring from the Europa League having finished third in their groups.

When are the Europa League group stage games?

The full fixture list for the group stage will be revealed after the draw, but UEFA has confirmed the matchday dates.

Matchday 1: September 8
Matchday 2: September 15
Matchday 3: October 6
Matchday 4: October 13
Matchday 5: October 27
Matchday 6: November 3

When are the key Europa Conference League draw dates?

Knockout round play-offs: November 7
Round of 16: February 24
Quarter and semi-finals: March 17

All the key Europa Conference League dates

The 2022/23 Europa Conference League final will take place at Prague's Eden Arena on June 7 2023.

Knockout round play-offs: February 16 & 23
Round of 16: March 9 & 16
Quarter-finals: April 13 & 20
Semi-finals: May 11 & 18
Final: June 7 (Prague)