The final of the Greek Novibet Cup and its conquest by AEK led Olympiacos to qualify for the Europa League via 3rd place in the Stoiximan Super League. The Piraeus don’t yet know in which round as they can jump from the 3rd qualifier and end up in the playoffs if certain scenarios materialize, but they do know that they will start this year’s European presence in August.

Interesting appointments

If Olympiakos’ commitments start from the 3rd qualifying round, it means that the first game will take place on Thursday 10 August, with the second game taking place on Thursday 17 August (draw on 24 July). If it makes the playoffs, it will make its debut on Thursday, August 24 and secure a spot in the institution’s groups on Thursday, August 31 (the draw will take place on August 7).

The group stage draw will take place on September 1st and the games will start on Thursday September 21st.

Naming instead of lottery by grace of Panathinaikos

The peculiarity of the Europa League qualification from 2021 and the creation of the Europa Conference League is that the coefficient of each team does not matter much, since the strengths and weaknesses are mostly calculated using a different method.

In the 3rd qualifying round champions path, the ten teams eliminated from the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League are split by their coefficient, but that’s about it.

On the normal path, in which the representative of Greece will also participate, the clubs that start their European presence with this event are strong and those excluded from the Champions League 2nd qualifying round and non-champion path are weak.

According to the interpretation, Olympiakos will be among the strong together with the representative of the Czech Republic Slavia, and the weak will include the two runners-up from Belgium, Switzerland, Ukraine and … Greece, who were excluded from the Champions League League.

It should be noted that the draw takes place before the 2nd qualifying round matches, so balls featuring Champions League pairs and not clubs are included in the draw. Civil war must be avoided in qualifying, so Olympiacos can count on an opponent from the pair that does not include Panathinaikos. In this case, the pair that will produce Olympiakos’ opponents will be announced on June 21, when the draw for Panathinaikos takes place, rather than on July 27, when the draw for the Europa League 3rd qualifying round is held.

The eight possible opponents in the 3rd qualifying round

.The teams are already known. This is the runner-up from Belgium, Ukraine or Switzerland. In Belgium, Antwerp and Union managed to turn things around after the regular season, leaving Genk behind in the title playoffs. Brugge is fourth, so the championship is a matter for all three.

With two games remaining, Antwerp and Union have 45 points each and face each other next Sunday in a game that, if there is a winner, will likely determine the winner. Genk are three points behind and waiting for a draw to remain in the title race. Basically everything will be decided by Sunday’s derby because if there is a loser they will face Genk for 2nd place resulting in the same draw as Panathinaikos.

In Ukraine, Shakhtar edged Zorya out of title contention on Wednesday while second-placed Dnipro suffered a surprise home defeat to Vorskla. This means that the Donetsk team only has a mathematical chance of missing out on the title and taking second place, as Dnipro (64) and Zorya (61) fight for that spot. As in Belgium, much is likely to be decided next Sunday when the relevant top-flight derby takes place, with Shakhtar hosting Dnipro.

Finally, Switzerland have two games left and Servette with 54 points and Lugano with 51 points are the only teams that can finish second in the standings behind the champions Young Boys.

Three of these eight teams will compete in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League and the path of non-champions together with Panathinaikos and two of them will form the pair that does not contain a “clover leaf” and will be determined as opponents (the losing pair) of Olympiakos in the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League.

The difficult opponents in the playoffs

Even if the Greek team qualifies, its coefficient will not play a role in the playoff draw. The new (and complicated) system includes four priority groups, each of which includes groups from different… sources.

• The group 1st priority Includes cup cardholders from Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Austria, Serbia and Ukraine 3rd team (as this year’s national cup was canceled due to the war).
• The group 2nd priority includes the six losers of the Champions League 3rd qualifying round and the champions path. AEK could also be in this group if they are disqualified at the first hurdle they encounter in the top club competition qualifiers
• The group 3rd priority comprises the five winners from the qualifying round of the Europa League champions
• The group 4th priority These include the two winners from the non-champions path of the Europa League qualifying round and thus Olympiacos Piraeus and the holder of the Swiss Cup ticket

With the way the draw will take place, the three teams from the 4th priority group (including Olympiacos) will open the process and will be drawn with three teams from the 1st priority group. Consequently, it cannot be ruled out that Olympiacos will face a very strong opponent such as e.g Ajax, Eindhoven, Antwerp, Union St. Gilois, Dynamo Kiev. Among the most accessible are LASK, Backa Topola or Čukaritski from Serbia and some of the Scottish women who will participate in the lottery.

The draw for the playoffs will take place on August 7th, ie before the games of Olympiakos in the 3rd qualifying game, so the “Red-Whites” will go into the draw as a pair with their opponent from the preliminary round.

What happens in case of exclusion?

If the Piraeus team (also) succeeds in the playoffs, then they are in the draw for the Europa League groups. Otherwise there is always a “lifeline”.

Teams eliminated in the Europa League 3rd qualifying round then progress to the Europa Conference League playoffs and only need to eliminate one team to reach the groups. The teams that are eliminated from the Europa League playoffs are automatically displayed there.

Consequently, it is certain that Olympiacos only need one qualification to secure the European groups and from there they will look to build the best possible future.

As games progress and domestic leagues approach their finals, the data is becoming clearer. Until then the Sportish offers a glimpse of what Olympiacos Piraeus can expect.

THIRD ROUND OF QUALIFICATION – PATH OF CHAMPIONS (10 TEAMS)

Strong (5 teams)

• 5 Defeated Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round – Champions Path*

Powerless (5 teams)

• 5 Defeated Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round – Champions Path*

(*Teams of the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League – Champions Path)

• dynamo (Croatian) 55,000
• Molde (Norway) 24,000
• Sparti (Czech Republic) 14,000
• Copenhagen (40,500) or Norway (5,565) or Viborg (5,565) – Danish champion
• + 16 winners from the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League – Path of the Champions

QUALIFICATION ROUND – NON-CHAMPIONS PATH (4 TEAMS)

Strong (2 groups)

• Slavia (Czech Republic) 52,000
• Olympiacos (Greece) 39,000

powerless (2 groups)

• Champions League 2nd qualifying round 2 defeated – non-champion path*

(*Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round Teams – Non-Champions Path)

• Antwerp (17,000) or Union (19,000) or Genk (18,000) – Second from Belgium
• Servette (6,335) or Lugano (6,335) – Second in Switzerland
• Shakhtar (63,000) or Dnipro (8,000) or Zorya (16,000) – Second Ukraine
• Panathinaikos (Greece) 5,045

PLAYOFFS – JOINT WAY (20 TEAMS)

Priority 1 (6th groups)

• Ajax (89,000) or Eindhoven (43,000) – Dutch Cup Winner or Third
• LASK (Austria) 36,000
• Antwerp (17,000) or Union (19,000) or Genk (18,000) – Cup winner or third in Belgium
• Dnipro (8,000) or Zorya (16,000) or Dinamo (35,000) – Tuesday UKRania
• Inverness (7,280) or Aberdeen (8,000) or Hearts (7,280) or Hibernian (7,280) – Scottish Cup Winner or Third
• Backa Topola (6,475) or Chukaritsky (6,475) – Cup winner or third Serbia

Priority 2 (6th groups)

• 6 Champions League 3rd qualifying round defeated – Path of champions*

(*Teams of the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League – Champions Path)

• young boys (Switzerland) 34,500
• AEK (Greece) 11,000
• + 10 winners from the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League – Path of the Champions

Priority 3 (5 teams)

• 5 winners from the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League – Path of the Champions

Priority 4 (3 groups)

• 2 Europa League Qualifying Round Winners – Non-Champions Path
• Servette (6,335) or Lugano (6,335) or Lucerne (6,335) – Swiss cup winner or third

Group stage (32 teams)

FIRST SKILL GROUP (8 GROUPS)

1. holder European Conference League
2. Manchester United (104,000) or Liverpool (123,000) – Cup Winners or Fifth in England

FIRST OR SECOND OR THIRD OR FOURTH POTENTIAL GROUP

• Brighton (England) ≥21,799
• Real Sociedad (33,000) or Villarreal (82,000) – Spanish Thursday
• Betis (37,000) or Athletic (≥18,571) or Osasuna (≥18,428) – Sixth from Spain
• Inter (≥96,000) or AC Milan (50,000) or Atalanta (55,500) or Roma (≥96,000) or Juventus (101,000) – Italian Thursday
  
• Inter (≥96,000) or AC Milan (50,000) or Atalanta (55,500) or Roma (≥96,000) or Juventus (101,000) – Italy’s sixth
• Eintracht (77,000) or Union (17,000) or Freiburg (≥16,496) – Cup winner or fifth in Germany
• Union (17,000) or Freiburg (≥16,496) or Leverkusen (72,000) or Wolfsburg (22,500) or Eintracht (77,000) – Fifth or sixth from Germany
• Monaco (29,000) or Lille (30,000) or Rennes (44,000) or Lyon (61,000) – Fourth from France
• Sporty (Portugal) 52,000
• + 4 defeats from the Champions League Playoffs – Path of the Champions
• +2 Champions League Playoff Losses – Non-Champions Path
• +4 Defeated from Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round – Non-Champions Path
• + 10 Europa League playoff winners

SECOND OR THIRD OR FOURTH POTENTIAL GROUP

• Toulouse (France) 12,232