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2.10.2020Europa League

Bayer 04 meet Slavia Prague, Hapoel Beer Sheva and Nice

The UEFA Europa League draw has provided the Werkself with three interesting opponents in the group stage: Slavia Prague (Czech Republic), Hapoel Beer Sheva (Israel) and Nice (France) await in Group C with the matches to be played from the end of October to the middle of December. The draw on Friday afternoon was made by the former Italy international and 1989 UEFA Cup winner Ciro Ferrara in Nyon.
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The Werkself will play Hapoel Beer Sheva and Nice for the first time. The only previous meeting with Slavia Prague was in 1992/93 in the group stage of the Intertoto Cup – Bayer 04 won the first leg 3-1 and the second leg ended in a 0-0 draw. 

Simon Rolfes: "With Slavia Prague and Nice we’re up against two established European clubs. Opponents we have to take seriously – Slavia are the Czech champions, Nice are a top team from the country of the World Cup winners. On top of that, there's the cup winners from Israel whose qualification for the group stage is perhaps a bit of a surprise. It's clear we have the ambition to go through."  

Group C fixture dates:

Matchday 1: 22 October 2020

Matchday 2: 29 October 2020

Matchday 3: 5 November 2020

Matchday 4: 26 November 2020

Matchday 5: 3 December 2020

Matchday 6: 10 December 2020

Return of fans

The UEFA Executive Committee decided on Thursday, 1 October to allow a limited number of spectators to attend Europa League matches. At the same time, UEFA referred to the national and regional regulations on staging games during the coronavirus pandemic. Against that background, Bayer 04 are assuming that the capacity of 20 per cent for Bundesliga games will apply to the first home game in October; obviously under the hygiene and organisational concept applied to the Leipzig fixture and the seven-day infection rate in Leverkusen being below 35. The procedure for allocating match tickets will be the same: A ballot will be held amongst season ticket holders with the BundesligaPlus model who have taken out the ‘Draw’ option.

 

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