Confirmed Europa League clubs 2023-24 – Greece, Poland, Serbia
The beauty of the Europa League is that you get to face clubs you had never previously heard of, as Brighton fans might be about to discover ahead of the draw for the 2023-24 competition.
Who knew that Fudbalski klub TSC existed, let alone they finished runners up in the Serbian SuperLiga last season or were founded because a beer company brought a football to the Austro-Hungarian town of Backa Topola?
Or that Polish champions Rakow Czestochowa are the second most famous thing in their city, after the Black Madonna which millions of pilgrims travel to Poland to visit every year?
Well, strap yourselves in because there is plenty more of that in the third part of our guide to clubs Brighton might face in the 2023-24 Europa League, covering participants from Greece, Poland and Serbia.
Just cover your eyes when you get the part about ticket allocations, unless you have 700 million loyalty points.
AEK Athens
The football team
AEK Athens were established in 1924 by Greek refuges who had settled in Athens after fleeing Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War.
Their distinctive gold and black colours are reflective of the club’s connections with Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.
AEK are the only club to have won all the competitions organised by the Hellenic Football Federation. They are 13 time Greek champions, 16 time Greek Cup winners, two time Super Cup winners and have one League Cup to their name.
The 2022-23 season saw AEK win the Super League Greece title. They will partake in the Europa League in 2023-24 after losing out to Antwerp in Champions League qualifying.
The stadium
AEK play at the OPAP Arena, the newest football ground in Greece having opened its doors in 2022. It has a capacity of 32,500.
Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 1,600 tickets.
The stadium is built on the site of the old Nikos Goumas Stadium, which was demolished in 2003 by former AEK president Giannis Granitsas.
Granitsas claimed it was too damaged by the 1999 Athens earthquake to be a viable home, arranging for it to be knocked down without any concrete plans or permission for how to rebuild it.
Numerous delays meant AEK remained homeless until moving into OPAP Arena some 19 years later, having used the Olympic Stadium from 2004 as a “temporary” home.
The place
With a recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was named after Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom.
Its rich history, climate and numerous sights makes Athens a popular destination with tourists. Pre-pandemic, the city attracted over five million visitors per year to see sights such as the Acropolis, the Panathenaic Stadium and Thanasis Kebab Restaurant.
Links with Brighton
Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named spent six months in charge of AEK between October 2015 and April 2016 before being the master of his downfall once again with comments to the press.
This time, Poyet You Know Who told the media that he would not be staying at AEK beyond the end of the season.
Those comments went down like a lead balloon with the board, who subsequently sacked Poyet The Dark Lord immediately despite AEK being in the semi finals of the Geek Cup and challenging for a place in the Champions League.
Panathinaikos
The football team
Also hailing from Athens are Panathinaikos. 20 times champions of Greece, eight time league and cup double winners, never relegated from the top flight and the only Greek club ever to make it to a European Cup final under the management of the legendary Ferenc Puskas in 1971.
Despite all that silverware, Panathinaikos have been in a bit of a rut of late. They last won the league title in 2010, followed two years later by the entire board quitting after serious riots at the Panathinaikos v Olympiacos derby caused the game to be abandoned.
The Greens came close to ending their 13 year wait for a championship in 2022-23, topping the Super League at the end of the regular season.
Unfortunately, they missed out to AEK in the playoffs. They join their cross-city rivals in the 2023-24 Europa League after elimination from the Champions League qualifies at the hands of Braga.
The stadium
Panathinaikos play at the 15,000 capacity Leoforos Alexandras Stadium. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 750 tickets.
The Leoforos Alexandras Stadium is the oldest football ground in Greece. It opened in 1922 and has a special place in Greek football history as the first stadium to have floodlights installed (1938) and the first with a grass pitch (1958).
Panathinaikos have been trying for many years to redevelop the ground but without success. This has led to a couple of spells ground sharing at the Olympic Stadium.
The place
It is Athens. Eat kebabs. Drink Mythos. Be merry. Presuming you are one of the lucky ones with enough points for a ticket.
Links with Brighton
Panathinaikos wear green and Brighton have a green away kit? About as good as it is getting, sorry.
Rakow Czestochowa
The team
Rakow Czestochowa have been on a remarkable journey over the past seven years. As recently as the 2015-16 season, they were playing in the Polish third tier before two quickfire promotions led them to the top flight for the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign.
2020-21 saw Rakow finish second in the Ekstraklasa and win their first Polish Cup. 2021-22 brought a second Polish Cup before a stunning 2022-23 campaign saw Rakow crowned champions of Poland for the first time in their 102 year history.
The 2023-24 Europa League will be the first time Rakow have made it to the group stage of a continental competition. Their previous two attempts to make it into the Europa Conference on account of being Polish Cup winners ended in qualifying round defeats.
The stadium
Rakow play at the 5,500 Miejski Stadion Pilkarski Rakow. Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 275 tickets.
After Rakow won promotion into the top division for the 2016–17 season, the stadium had to undergo serious rennovations to bring it up to league requirements. A roof was provided for 588 seats, damaged stands were repaired and “artificial lighting of the field” installed.
The place
Czestochowa sounds absolutely bloody brilliant. It is located in southern Poland on the Warta River and home to 214,342 inhabitants.
The city is known for the famous Pauline monastery of Jasna Gora. Millions of pilgrims from all over the world come every year to Czestochowa to see the Black Madonna painting, a shrine to the Virgin Mary within the monastery.
If religious tourism is not your cup of tea, then the traditional Old Square is a great place to visit and find a bar selling mind-altering Polish beers north of six percent.
Links with Brighton
Bizarrely, WAB itself has a tenuous link with Rakow. Around the same time Graham Potter walked out on the Albion for Chelsea, one of our Greek correspondents Dimitris Manakos had secured an interview with Rakow midfielder and his fellow countryman Stratos Svarnas.
In it, Svarnas said Rakow manager Marek Papszun would be a good choice to replace Potter at Brighton. Cue the local media in Czestochowa going wild linking Papszun with a move to the Amex.
Fudbalski klub TSC
The football team
Fudbalski klub TSC hail from the Serbian town of Backa Topola. Football was first brought to Backa Topola by the Karoly Beer company; quite literally, as in the first football ever seen in the town arrived with a beer.
TSC can trace their roots back to Topolyai Sport Club, founded in 1913 when Backa Topola was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Countless name changes, mergers, promotions and relegations occurred over the next 90 years until a 2005 merger between FK AIK Backa Topola and FK Bajsa led to the formation of the current TSC.
Their rise through the Serbian football pyramid has been even more impressive than Rakow climbing the Polish leagues.
The 2014-15 season saw TSC competing in the Backa League, part of the regionalised fourth tier. They were crowned champions at the end of that campaign to move up into the Vojvodina national third tier.
2016-17 saw TSC win promotion into the Serbian First League, which confusingly is the second division. At the end of the 2018-19 season, they were promoted into the Serbian SuperLiga for the first time in their history.
A second place finish in 2022-23 saw TSC enter the Champions League qualifying rounds. Portugese outfit Braga proved too good there, a 7-1 defeat on aggregate meaning TSC’s first experience of the group stage of a European competition comes in the Europa League 2023-24.
The stadium
Wikipedia is about as useful as an inflatable dartboard when it comes to information about the TSC Arena. All we know is that it was opened in 2021 and consists of four stands with a total seating capacity of 4,500.
Based on away clubs receiving a five percent allocation in the Europa League, Brighton could expect around 225 tickets if drawing TSC.
Let the meltdown between those who went to Gillingham, those who did the 7-1 defeat away at Huddersfield in 2009 and those who have not missed an away game since Gordon Brown was Prime Minister commence.
The place
Not only will securing a ticket for TSC be difficult, but getting to Backa Topola does not exactly look like a walk in the park either.
The town is located in the north of Serbia and home to just 14,573 inhabitants, giving it a similar population to Peacehaven.
Nearly 20 percent of the population are employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. The must-see sites include the main square, the fire station, the civil elementary school, the old windmill and something simply called lake, which one presumes is a lake.
Links with Brighton
Nikola Zigic hails from the Backa Topola area. In January 2013, Zigic took advantage of a howler from Tomasz Kuszczak to score an injury time equaliser against Brighton for Birmingham City in a 2-2 draw at St Andrews.
