Bournemouth and Sunderland's European Challenges Await
Bournemouth’s date with Milan lights up a European draw that feels ripped from another era.
On one side, the seven-time champions of Europe, giants of San Siro, serial collectors of continental nights. On the other, Bournemouth, whose first steps into Europe will bring them face to face with the club that once defined the competition. In 2006-07, when Milan last lifted the Champions League, Bournemouth were finishing 19th in League One. Now, the Rossoneri are heading to Dean Court. Once unthinkable. Now very real.
Sunderland, too, are thrown straight into the deep end. Their first European campaign since 1973-74 sends them to San Siro as well, to meet Ruben Amorim’s Milan. Two English clubs, both outsiders on this stage, both handed the kind of glamour tie supporters dream about and dread in equal measure.
Bournemouth’s European baptism
For Bournemouth, this is not just a group. It is a tour of European football’s middle order with one superpower dropped in for good measure.
Milan are the headline act, but Dean Court will also welcome Viktoria Plzen, Sturm Graz and Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the league phase. Hapoel’s visit carries its own footnote: it will be the first time an Israeli club has played in England since Aston Villa faced Maccabi Tel Aviv last November.
Marco Rose’s side must also pack their passports. Trips to Real Sociedad, Sparta Prague, Celta Vigo and Lillestrøm await, each with its own style, its own atmosphere, its own trapdoors for a club learning on the run what European football really means.
Sunderland step back into the spotlight
Sunderland’s return to Europe comes with a schedule that blends nostalgia with hard reality. The glamour lies in Milan away, but the grind will define their campaign.
They will travel to Anderlecht, Lech Poznan and Torreense, the Portuguese second-tier side who will treat the visit of an English club as a statement occasion. The Stadium of Light, meanwhile, will stage its own mini-festival of continental football: AZ, Dinamo Zagreb, Jagiellonia Bialystok and Levski Sofia all head to Wearside.
For a club that has waited more than half a century to hear European anthems again, the variety is a gift. The test is whether they can turn that emotion into points.
Sage’s Lyon homecoming with Palace
Crystal Palace arrive in the Europa League as Conference League holders, and the draw has wasted no time in scripting a storyline.
Pierre Sage will walk back into Lyon as the visiting head coach, returning to the club he managed between 2023 and 2025. Across the technical area will stand a team and a fanbase that know him well, under an ownership structure that also carries a familiar name. John Textor, once a part-owner at Palace, now serves as president of Lyon. The ties between the clubs run deeper than one night’s football.
Palace’s home programme is heavyweight. Selhurst Park will host Real Sociedad, Lech Poznan, Sparta Prague and Hoffenheim, a sequence of fixtures that should keep the stands full and the floodlights humming. Away from home, Sage must take his side to Red Bull Salzburg, Jagiellonia and Besiktas, three venues that can turn hostile in an instant if the visitors show any sign of weakness.
Celtic regroup after Champions League pain
Celtic enter the Europa League still smarting from their Champions League playoff collapse against Lask. The draw offers no time for self-pity.
Marseille, Ferencvaros, Celta and Besiktas all come to Glasgow, each one capable of turning Celtic Park into either a cauldron of belief or a theatre of tension. The away schedule is equally unforgiving: trips to Benfica, Omonia, Union Saint-Gilloise and Torreense will demand resilience as much as quality.
For a club accustomed to judging itself on Champions League nights, this campaign now becomes a question of response. Do they sulk, or do they seize what is in front of them?
Brighton savour their first taste
Brighton brushed Tromsø aside in their playoff and now step into their first Conference League campaign with the kind of draw that suits their ambition and their style.
Monaco are the standout visitors to Sussex, bringing pedigree and expectation to the south coast. Universitatea Craiova of Romania and Kauno Zalgiris of Lithuania complete the home slate, fixtures that will test Brighton’s focus more than their imagination.
Away from home, Roberto De Zerbi’s side – built for control and precision – must adapt to Panathinaikos, Getafe and Jablonec. The Czech side arrive with a warning attached after knocking Rangers out on Thursday. Any hint of complacency will be punished.
Hearts head for Salah’s Trabzonspor
Hearts, now seasoned Conference League campaigners in their third straight group-stage appearance, have drawn a name that jumps off the page.
They will travel to face Mohamed Salah’s Trabzonspor, a tie that carries both star power and serious difficulty. Trips to Pafos and Thun add very different backdrops to the schedule, from Mediterranean warmth to Alpine air.
At Tynecastle, the crowd can look forward to Monaco, Borac Banja Luka and Nordsjælland. It is a run of games that offers both romance and opportunity for a side that has quietly grown used to Thursday nights under the lights.
The full schedule and dates land this weekend. Once they do, the countdown begins: travel plans, ticket scrambles, tactical debates. For Bournemouth and Sunderland especially, the question is no longer whether they belong in this company. It is what they intend to do with the chance.
