The first match day is September 8th, the group phase will be completed by November 3rd. The final will take place on May 31st in the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
Sturm’s sports director Andreas Schicker was happy about a “very attractive group”. The Romans, fifth in Serie A last season, are traded as favourites. The Italian squad includes prominent names such as striker Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. “If I only take the market values, all three teams are above us,” said Schicker.
“One victory” as a great success
Feyenoord Rotterdam in particular, with ÖFB defender and captain Trauner, showed up internationally last season, only losing to AS Roma in the Conference League final. Schicker therefore remained modest. “The goal of overwintering would not be right, that would be too big a goal,” said Schicker. “I hope we can win at least one game. That would be a great success.”
“Very exciting group”
It is a very exciting group in which the Styrians want to learn from the last few years. In the pre-season, the tally was two points in six group games against Monaco, Eindhoven and Real Sociedad. “I hope that we can show respect from the start this year,” said Schicker. With Midtjylland, which secured the runners-up title just behind FC Copenhagen, there is at least a team from a similarly large league.
In the Champions League qualifier, Sturm lost out to Dynamo Kyiv in the third round with an overall score of 1:3. The Ukrainians then lost in the play-off to Benfica Lisbon (ex-Salzburg coach Roger Schmidt) with a total score of 0:5. Kyiv now competes in EL Group B against Rennes (FRA), Austria-besieger Fenerbahce Istanbul from Turkey and AEK Larnaca (CYP).
Other Austrians in action
In the Europa League group H, Aleksandar Dragovic with Red Star Belgrade meets Monaco (FRA), Ferencvaros (HUN) and Trabzonspor (TUR). Christopher Trimmel faces Union Berlin in Group D with Sporting Braga (POR), Malmo (SWE) and St. Gilloise from Belgium.
Philipp Lienhart and Michael Gregoritsch with Freiburg (group G) meet Olympiacos Piraeus (GRE), Karabakh Agdam (AZE) and Nantes (FRA). Phillipp Mwene and PSV Eindhoven compete in Group A with Arsenal (ENG), Bodö/Glimt (NOR) and FC Zürich (SUI).
