Europa League Draw

Everton to face Benfica, AEK Athens and BATE Borisov in the group stage.

Everton will face Benfica, AEK Athens and BATE Borisov in the group stage of the Europa League.

The draw for the next phase of the competition was made on Friday lunchtime.

Having progressed past Sigma Olomouc on Thursday evening, Everton were grouped amongst the second seeds for the draw, which saw them placed in Group I.

Portuguese outfit Benfica are the first seeds and boast a squad containing the likes of Pablo Aimar, Nuno Gomes and Javier Saviola.

AEK Athens finished third in the Greek league last term and have a cosmopolitan squad including Spanish veteran Juanfran and on-loan Liverpool forward Krisztian Nemeth.

BATE Borisov, from Belarus, have a largely local squad but did enjoy success in the Champions League last season, earning home and away draws with Juventus.

Speaking at his press conference on Friday, Blues boss David Moyes' said he was happy with the draw - even if the long trip to Athens is further than he hoped to go.

"I'm happy enough with the draw and I'm pleased to be in it," he said.

"The travelling is maybe a little bit longer [than I'd have hoped]. Going to Athens is a longer journey than you'd probably like.

"But it's a couple of nice places for the supporters to go and see and a couple of good games for us all so we're looking forward to it."

Look out for much more on our opponents in the coming days and weeks on evertonfc.com

The games will take place as detailed below:

Everton will announce ticketing and travel arrangements for these games in due course. Supporters should note, however, that applications for the European Travel Club are currently not being accepted.

Supporters should note that the Premier League games against Blackburn (19 September), West Ham (7 November) and Birmingham (19 December) are set to be moved back one day. Details will be confirmed on evertonfc.com soon.