After qualifying for the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League competition on Thursday after defeating Serbian side TSC Backa Topola, Maccabi Tel Aviv found out its opponents for the upcoming competition in the draw in Monaco on Friday afternoon.

In the new 36-team competition in which during the initial league stage each team plays against eight different opponents, Maccabi will have home fixtures (in Budapest due to the ongoing security situation in Israel) against Porto (Portugal), Real Sociedad (Spain), Midtjylland (Denmark) and RFS (Latvia), while they are scheduled to play away at Ajax (Holland), Sporting Braga (Portugal), Bodø/Glimt (Norway) and Beşiktaş (Turkey).

All three UEFA club competitions for the 2024/25 season will have a new look, with the format changing from the group phase to the league phase. In each of the Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League, 36 teams will participate in the league phase. In the Champions League and the Europa League, each team will play eight different opponents in the initial stage (four at home, four away), while in the Conference League, each team will play six different opponents in the initial stage (three at home, three away). Thereafter, the top eight teams will advance to the knockout round of 16, while the teams ranked from ninth to 24th will play knockout playoff games for the last eight spots.

“I don’t know. It’s exciting and we are excited to see how it will be,” Maccabi coach Zarko Lazetic said of the new format for the competition after his squad secured its place. “I really don’t know exactly how it will be, but we will see. For sure, it will be interesting. A lot of matches and we are excited to be part of the new format.”

Maccabi is the only Israeli team left in European competition after each of Maccabi Petah Tivkah was knocked out of the Europa League qualifying by Braga and then the Conference League qualifying by CFR Cluj (Romania), Maccabi Haifa were eliminated out of the Conference League qualifying by Sabah (Azerbaijan) and Hapoel Beer Sheva was sent packing by Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic) in Conference League qualifying. However, there will be no shortage of Israelis appearing for their respective European clubs in continental competition this season.

Attacking midfielder Oscar Gloukh’s Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) will feature in the Champions League, drawing home games against Paris Saint-Germain (France), Atlético Madrid (Spain), GNK Dinamo (Croatia) and Stade Brestois 29 (France), with away games against Real Madrid (Spain), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany), Feyenoord (Holland) and AC Sparta Praha (Czech Republic).

Midfielder Mohammad Abu Fani’s Ferencvárosi TC (Hungary) will also play in the Europa League, drawing home fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur (England), AZ Alkmaar (Holland), Malmö (Sweden) and Nice (France), with away games against Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), PAOK (Greece), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) and Anderlecht (Belgium).

Attacking midfielder Omer Atzili’s Omonoia (Cyprus) and Omri Gandelman’s Gent (Belgium) will both appear in this year’s rendition of the Conference League, with Gent drawn to host Omonoia. Gent will also play at home against Molde (Norway) and TSC, while they will play away at Chelsea (England), Lugano (Switzerland) and Larne (Ireland). Omonoia will host Legia Warszawa (Poland), SK Rapid (Austria) and Víkingur (Iceland), traveling to Hearts (Scotland) and Borac (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The schedule is still to be released by UEFA. The Champions League league games are scheduled to begin on September 17, the Europa League league matches are going to start on September 25 and the Conference League league contests are slated to begin on October 3.