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Köln professional Skhiri (in the second leg against Fehervar)
Photo: Marton Monus / dpa
Union Berlin and SC Freiburg caught solvable problems in the group stage of the Europa League.
Union Berlin meets Sporting Braga from Portugal, Malmö FF (Sweden) and Belgian runners-up Union St. Gilloise.
On their European comeback, Freiburg will face Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus, Qarabag Agdam from Azerbaijan and FC Nantes from France.
Heavyweights like Manchester United, AS Roma or FC Arsenal were spared the duo.
"It's not impossible to progress in the group," said Freiburg captain Christian Günter: "Piraeus has a brutal stadium, a brutal atmosphere.
It feels like you've always become champions in recent years.
At Qarabag we might have wished for a different opponent.
That's one of the longest journeys you can have.«
Cologne to Favre
The group stage begins on September 8th and ends on November 3rd.
The group winners qualify directly for the round of 16, while those runners-up play in the final round playoffs against those third in the Champions League.
Third-placed teams continue in the second round of the Conference League.
There, 1. FC Köln caught an interesting group.
In the main round, the Bundesliga club meets OGC Nice with coach Lucien Favre and former Bayern defender Dante, Partizan Belgrade and Czech Cup winners FC Slovacko.
Having finished seventh in the previous season in the Bundesliga, Cologne prevailed in the playoffs against Fehérvár FC from Hungary.
After a 1-2 draw at home, the Rhinelanders won 3-0 in Hungary on Thursday.
The first group matchday takes place on September 8th, the last on November 3rd.
bka/dpa/sid
