Unless you were under a rock towards the end of last season, you’ll know that West Ham have qualified for the 3rd qualifying stage for the Europa League. With the draw on Friday, we look at what the Hammers may face.
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West Ham were unsuccessful last year in their attempt to qualify for the main competition but if you take a look at the players we have brought in, and are looking to bring in, it shows we are ready to take this game seriously.
As a seeded side, West Ham should have a relatively simple draw, but we all said that we’d stroll past FC Astra and look how that turned out…
Because it is played over two legs, you’d hope we could beat any of the potential sides, but there are still some tricky ties that you’d hope West Ham could avoid. The highest ranked side West Ham could face would be Grasshoppers of Switzerland, featuring ex Arsenal player Kim Kallstrom as the only player I recognise when giving the squad a quick scan.
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Other recognisable sides in the potential draw are AEK Athens of Greece or Hearts of Scotland. The keen eyed among you will notice that Hearts will have to get past Birkirkara, the Maltese side that took us to penalties last year at the same stage of the competition. Brondby of the Netherlands are also a side with some European history.
With all due respect to the other teams in the unseeded side below…we should be besting these teams. West Ham should not be looking at any of the teams with fear if they have any ambitions to progress at any kind of rate in the in the competition.
| Seeded | Unseeeded |
| AZ Alkmaar (NED) | Grasshoppers (SUI) or KR Reykjavik (ISL) |
| Genk (BEL) or Buducnost Podgorica (MNE) | Neftci PFK (AZE) or Shkendija (MKD) |
| Lille (FRA) | AEK Larnaca (CYP) or Cliftonville (NIR) |
| Saint-Etienne (FRA) | Oleksandriya (UKR) |
| Gent (BEL) | AIK Solna (SWE) or Europa (GIB) |
| Krasnodar (RUS) | Slovan Bratislava (SVK) or Jelgava (LVA) |
| Rapid Wien (AUT) | Luzern (SUI) |
| Slovan Liberec (CZE) | Videoton (HUN) or Cukaricki (SRB) |
| Maribor (SVN) or Levski Sofia (BUL) | AEK Athens (GRE) |
| Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) or Kairat Almaty (KAZ) | Vojvodina (SRB) or Connah’s Quay (WAL) |
| Spartak Moskva (RUS) | Istanbul Basaksehir (TUR) |
| Austria Wien (AUT) or Kukes (ALB) | Stromsgodset (NOR) or SonderjyskE (DEN) |
| Partizan (SRB) or Zaglebie Lubin (POL) | Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR) or Domzale (SVN) |
| West Ham United (ENG) | Spartak Trnava (SVK) or Shirak (ARM) |
| Hertha Berlin (GER) | Brondby (DEN) or Hibernian (SCO) |
| Panathinaikos (GRE) | Heracles (NED) |
| Midtjylland (DEN) or Vaduz (LIE) | Panduril Targu Jiu (ROU) |
| Riejka (CRO) | Osmanlispor (TUR) or Zimbru Chisinau (MDA) |
| Sassuolo (ITA) | Slavia Praha (CZE) or Levadia Tallinn (EST) |
| Rio Ave (POR) | Debrecen (HUN) or Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino (BLR) |
| Vorskla Poltava (UKR) | IFK Goteborg (SWE) or Plast Gilwice (POL) |
| Maccabi Haifa (ISR) or Nomme Kaiju (EST) | Hearts (SCO) or Birkirkara (MLT) |
| HJK Helsinki (FIN) or Beroe Stara Zagora (BUL) | Admira Wacker Modling (AUT) or Kapaz (AZE) |
| Hajduk Split (CRO) or Iasi (ROU) | Ventspils (LVA) or Aberdeen (SCO) |
| Arouca (POR) | Hacken (SWE) or Cork City (IRL) |
| Apollon Limassol (CYP) | Giannina (GRE) or Odd (NOR) |
| Mlada Boleslav (CZE) | Lokomotiva Zagreb (CRO) or RoPS Rovaniemi (FIN) |
| Dinamo Minsk (BLR) or St Patrick’s Athletic (IRL) | Qabala (AZE) or MTK Budapest (HUN) |
| Omonia (CYP) or Beitar Jerusalem (ISR) | Viitorul Constanta (ROU) |