Aberdeen land Frankfurt, PAOK and HJK in Europa Conference League group stage

Daily Record

01 September 2023

Aberdeen land Frankfurt, PAOK and HJK in Europa Conference League group stage

Aberdeen have found out who they are set to face in the Conference League this season as Barry Robson and his team look to shake off the Euro blues.

Eintracht Frankfurt, PAOK, and HJK Helsinki await in Group G.

It might seem like a downer after coming so close to the Europa League but it's no scant consolation prize.

Barry Robson's side avoided a clash with Aston Villa who formed the competition's group of death with AZ Alkmaar, Legia Warsaw, and Zrinjski Mostar.

Qualification for the knockouts after Christmas isn't out of the equation for the Dons but they'll certainly have to do it the hard way.

They sadly won't be joined by Hearts or Hibs after both Edinburgh sides crashed out and it means there will be one Scottish team in each UEFA competition this season.

Stick with us for reaction and to get the lowdown on the Dons' opponents in the groupstages.

Aberdeen will be hoping it's a Conference League campaign to remember and you can follow all of the reaction LIVE here.

The HJK Helsinki lowdown

FORMED: 1907.

STADIUM: Bolt Arena (10,770).

HONOURS: 32 Finnish titles, 14 Finnish Cups.

MANAGER: Toni Korkeakunnas. Former Finland Under 19s manager who succeeded axed Toni Koskela in July after previously being assistant.

STAR MAN: Bojan Radulovic. Born in Spain, but eligible to play for Serbia, he came through the ranks at Brighton before playing for Espanyol and AIK Stockholm. Netted twice this week against Farul Constanta - Gheorghe Hagi's team.

INTERESTING FACT: HJK are the only Finnish club to ever have participated in the Champions League group stages and have twice made it through to the Europa League group stages.

PAOK in the spotlight

FORMED: 1926.

STADIUM: Toumba Stadium (28,703)

HONOURS: 3 Greek titles, 8 Greek Cups.

MANAGER: Razvan Lucescu. Far-travelled Romanian manager who was in charge of his country for two years in 2009. Has managed in Qatar and Saudi Arabia too and is on his second spell at the Thessaloniki club.

STAR MAN: Taison. Brazilian attacking midfielder may be 35 now, but he put Hearts to the sword by netting a double against them this week when they met in Greece.

INTERESTING FACT: Their former president, Ivan Savvidis, was banned for three years from all football after storming the pitch with a gun in 2018 after a PAOK late goal was chopped off against AEK Athens.

Eintracht Frankfurt profiled

FORMED: 1899.

STADIUM: Deutsche Bank Park (58.000).

HONOURS: 1 German title, 5 German Cups, 2 Europa Leagues.

MANAGER: Dino Toppmoller. Was assistant manager to Julian Nagelsmann at RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich before being appointed Eintracht boss in June.

STAR MAN: Mario Gotze. The 66-times capped German international has also played for Borussia Dortmund twice and Bayern Munich.

INTERESTING FACT: Aberdeen have already played Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1979 UEFA Cup. Alex Ferguson's side drew 1-1 at Pittodrie, but lost the return 1-0 in West Germany.

Helsinki and PAOK being in the same group means Dons fans will be up and down the continent.

Then there's a stop in Germany in between.

It's some ask for fans right now but you can guarantee there will be a strong travelling contingent wherever they go.

Dons priced at 200/1

2023/24 Europa Conference League outright odds via LuckyBlock.com

Aston Villa - 6/1

Eintracht Frankfurt - 7/1

Fiorentina - 9/1

Fenerbahçe - 10/1

Lille - 11/1

Besiktas - 13/1

Club Brugge - 16/1

Bodo Glimt - 20/1

Gent, AZ Alkmaar, Ferencvárosi - 28/1

Genk - 34/1

PAOK, Nordsjælland, Viktoria Plzen, Dinamo Zagreb - 50/1

Aberdeen - 200/1

(*odds subject to change)

PAOK are certainly known too

Having got to this stage by dispatching another Scottish side with relative ease, it was almost inevitable they'd end up in Aberdeen's group.

The group as a whole feels similar to Hearts's last season with the only two games that jump out as winnable right now are probably the home games against PAOK and Helsinki. Get six points on the board there and maybe sneak in an away win an who knows...

Long time yet until the groups are over and Aberdeen shouldn't be written off by any means.

Eintracht Frankfurt known to Scottish fans

For obvious reason, Eintracht are known to Rangers fans.

The heartbreak of a few years ago in the Europa League final still hurts for most.

Losing on penalties was a sickener for them and Aberdeen will not take much encouragement from that result.

However, one Scottish club can offer some solace for the Dons. Just ask a Killie fan of a certain vintage.

The Fairs Cup was where Killie pulled off a truly sensational comeback.

Down 3-0 in their 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first-round tie, they took the tie back to Rugby Park and stunned the visitors 5-1. Winning with an aggregate score of 5-4.

It's doable for the Dons.

Conference League draw in full

Group A: Lille, Slovan Bratislava, Olimpija Ljubljana, Ki Klaksvik

Group B: Gent, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Zorya Luhansk, Breioablik

Group C: Dinamo Zagreb, Viktoria Plzen, Astana, Balkani

Group D: Club Brugge, Bode/Glimt, Besiktas, Lugano

Group E: AZ Alkmaar, Aston Villa, Legia Warsaw, Zrinjski Mostar

Group F: Ferencvaros, Fiorentina, Genk, Cukaricki

Group G: Eintracht Frankfurt, PAOK Thessaloniki, HJK Helsinki, Aberdeen

Group H: Fenerbahce, Ludogorets Razgrad, Spartak Trnava, Nordsjalland

Not the most favourable of draws

Ooft.

Frankfurt are formidable. PAOK dispatched Hearts with relative ease, particularly last night. Then Helsinki too.

Aberdeen will have their work cut out, to say the least.

Aberdeen in Group G

Eintracht Frankfurt

PAOK

Helsinki

Aberdeen

Pot 3 is over

The Dons' pot is about to be drawn from.

Group E gets the 'group of death' tag

Legia Warszawa in Group E now too. Aye right.

Group E looking tasty

AZ and Villa are in Group E. Definitely not where the Dons want to end up.

Right, it's draw time

We're almost there Aberdeen fans

'Mr. West Ham'

Mark Noble is here. He's West Ham's sporting director now. 'Mr. West Ham' is how he's introduced.

I promise we'll find out who Aberdeen have at some point today.

We've kicked off

The draw hasn't started yet, but the ceremony has.

So with the way these things usually go it'll be 3-4 working days until a team is plucked out of the goldfish bowl.

Draw procedure and matchday schedule

Number of clubs involved: 32

Number of matches: 96 (16 matches per matchday, i.e. 2 matches per group, on 6 matchdays in total)

Matchdays:

21 September 2023
5 October 2023
26 October 2023
9 November 2023
30 November 2023
14 December 2023

Villa could be back north of the border

Aston Villa are in Pot 2 from the draw and Aberdeen fans will surely be hoping they can avoid them.

Their performance over both legs against Hibs, the first in particular, showed just how big the gulf is between the league. Obviously due to the massive financial gap.

In an ideal world for Aberdeen, if they had to meet Villa it would be in the final. Maybe the semis.

Aye, but where do you want to go as a punter?

They'll be amongst the favourites to win it all but Eintracht Frankfurt would be a cracking away day. Sample the local beer halls and delicacies before visiting Deutsche Bank Park? It can't hurt...until full-time time anyway

There's only one answer in Pot 2 surely. Fiorentina. An away day with your pals, your family, your supporters boss cohort, yourself, whoever, in Florence? Sensational. It may not quite be the granite city of course but Florence can hold its own. They thrashed Hearts last year, aye, but the scoreline isn't as bad when you're soaking up the culture in such a historic city.

Pot 3 has a few options. Astana or Genk would be enjoyable trips for sure. As would Helsinki or Warsaw, no doubt about it. The winner here though, purely for enjoyment's sake, might just be the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. Spoiled for choice regardless at this point.

Pot 4? Well, they're all wanting a trip to Aberdeen for a buttery.

The best-case scenario... footballing-wise

Look, it's European football. No matter who you are and what competition you're in, it's always a tricky ask.

But, hypothetically, how favourable could this be for the Dons?

Well, in all honesty, Pot 1 looks solid across the board. Ferencvarosi mabe is who you'd fancy. Gent perhaps too.

Pot 2 you're probably wanting Ludogorets. PAOK were eye-catching at times against Hearts, particularly last night, but they're not unbeatable.

Pot 3? NK Olimpija Ljubljana or maybe even a crack at FC Zorya Luhansk.

See...easy days!

When does it start?

We're expecting the draw in Monaco to get underway at 2.30pm CET - around 1.30 UK time.

There will of course be a whole lot of faffing about before it actually starts - the procedure, video presentations, on-stage interviews with previous winners, a 10-minute chat about who's having what for dinner and so on.

But Aberdeen can expect to know their opponents before 2pm.

Since they're a Pot 4 team, they'll drop into a fully-formed group, which makes the life of a live blogger nice and easy!

Who could Aberdeen face?

Here's how the pots look ahead of the big draw in Monaco. The Dons are in Pot 4.

Pot 1: Eintracht Frankfurt (GER), GNK Dinamo (CRO), Club Brugge (BEL), AZ Alkmaar (NED), KAA Gent (BEL), Fenerbahçe SK (TUR), LOSC Lille (FRA), Ferencvárosi TC (HUN)

Pot 2: PAOK FC (GRE), ŠK Slovan Bratislava (SVK), Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR), FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE), Aston Villa FC (ENG), PFC Ludogorets 1945 (BUL), ACF Fiorentina (ITA), FK Bodø/Glimt (NOR)

Pot 3: KRC Genk (BEL), FC Zorya Luhansk (UKR), FC Astana (KAZ), Beşiktaş JK (TUR), HJK Helsinki (FIN), Legia Warszawa (POL), FC Spartak Trnava (SVK), NK Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN)

Pot 4: HŠK Zrinjski (BIH), KÍ Klaksvík (FRO), Aberdeen FC (SCO), FK Čukarički (SRB), FC Lugano (SUI), Breidablik (ISL), FC Nordsjælland (DEN), FC Ballkani (KOS)

Robson reacts

Barry Robson reckons Aberdeen did enough to beat Hacken on another night - but still feels it's a "job done" in qualifying for the Conference.

And he reckons group stage football, however it comes, will be something to savour.

We didn't want to sit in tonight and I felt we did enough to go through but they will probably say the same.
We got the job done of getting to the Conference League and it’s going to be great for the club and the city.

Hacken heartbreak

It wasn't in the script last night and it was a tough one for the Dons to take.

Having battled back from 2-0 down in Sweden, the Dons were fancied to take care of business at home but some wasteful finishing on their part - and the exact opposite from the Swedes - sent their Europa League hopes down the tubes.

Still out coefficient standing as a nation means all is not lost. They drop into the Conference which isn't to be snuffed at and will be eager to find out who lies in wait.