Page 58 - Soccer360 - Issue 103

2023-24
KEY DATES
GROUP STAGE
DRAW
September 1
GROUP STAGE
Sept 21 - Dec 14
ROUND OF 16
DRAW
Feb 23
ROUND OF 16
Mar 7 - Mar 14
DRAW
March 15
QUARTER FINALS
April 11 - 18
SEMI FINALS
May 2 - May 9
FINALS
May 22, 2024 at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
QUARTER FINALS
& SEMI FINALS
‘OF THE CLUBS WE ALREADY KNOW
WILL BE COMPETING IN THE EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE, ASTON VILLA AND FIORENTINA LOOK TO BE THE BEST’
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
If the Europa League is hard to predict, then the Europa Conference League is just about impossible. With so many clubs transferred from both the Champions League and Europa League, this third- level competition ends up being a little confusing
- but always enthralling. West Ham showed last year that a little commitment can make a lot of difference for any relatively big club taking part. As we have mentioned, Roma used their triumph in 2022 as a springboard to almost go all the way in the Europa League last season, and teams of
a similar stature should really learn from those lessons this year.
Of the clubs we already know will be competing, Aston Villa and Fiorentina look to be the best.
Unai Emery has revolutionised the Premier League club since joining last year and will look forward to testing himself in Europe once again. Fiorentina are only here because of Juventus’ ongoing financial issues, but they will be hoping to push on from a very impressive performance last year. 2022 Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt and Lille will also be dreaming of making a splash in continental competition and using the Europa Conference League as a stepping-stone to even greater success in the future.
All three of the UEFA club competitions will be radically changed after the end of this campaign, with the formats altered. That won’t make a difference to the clubs competing for the titles though, as they look to emulate some of the
biggest names in the history of the game by lifting the trophies in London, Dublin and Athens at the end of May and the beginning of June next year. Manchester City finally winning the Champions League in June felt as though a chapter of European football had ended. But the competitions carry on and there will be three new champions at the end of this campaign. We can speculate all we like now as to the identities of those sides. But all that can be guaranteed is that we will have nine months of exhilarating football before we find out.
58 SOCCER360 MAGAZINE
DID YOU
KNOW?
Fiorentina has only won
one Europe Continental Championship - the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup in 1961. They also have won the Serie A scudetto only twice, 1955–56 & 1968–69
Aston Villa’s Argentinian midfielder Emi Buendia celebrates after scoring a goal
Fiorentina’s Arthur Cabral (R) celebrates with his teammates after scoring
COMPETITIONS OF EUROPE