Europa League Draw 2016: Full List of Group-Stage Fixtures and Dates

Manchester United will play Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk in the UEFA Europa League group stage, it was confirmed on Friday.

The Red Devils are the big favourites for the trophy, having failed to qualify for European football’s top-tier competition, the Champions League, last term. Elsewhere, Southampton will go up against Inter Milan, Sparta Prague and Hapoel Beer-Sheva in their group. 

The first round of fixtures will be played on Thursday September 15, with the United's first game away at Feyenoord.

Here is the draw in full and a closer look at a couple of teams expected to go far in this season’s competition.

Group A	Group B	Group C
Group D	Group E	Group F
Group G	Group H	Group I
Group J	Group K	Group L
Manchester United	Olympiakos	Anderlecht
Fenerbahce	APOEL	Saint Etienne
Feyenoord	Young Boys	Mainz 05
Zorya Luhansk	FC Astana	Gabala
Zenit Saint Petersburg	Viktoria Plzen	Athletic Bilbao
AZ Alkmaar	Roma	Genk
Maccabi Tel-Aviv	Austria Vienna	Rapid Vienna
Dundalk	Astra Giurgiu	Sassuolo
Ajax	Shakhtar Donetsk	Schalke 04
Standard Liege	Braga	Salzbug
Celta Vigo	Gent	Krasnodar
Panathinaikos	Konyaspor	Nice
Fiorentina	Inter Milan	Villarreal
PAOK	Sparta Prague	Steaua Bucharest
Slovan Liberec	Southampton	FC Zurich
Qarabag	Hapoel Beer-Sheva	Osmanlispor

The full competition schedule is available on the UEFA website.

Manchester United

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Having appointed one of the world’s best coaches in Jose Mourinho, a world-class forward in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, the most expensive player of all time, this summer, United’s squad is one that plenty would expect to go far in the UEFA Champions League.

While their absence from that competition will be a disappointment, it means Mourinho has a great chance of steering his side to a European title in his first season in charge. The Portuguese will be confident of overcoming Fenerbahce, Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk in the group stage too.

He certainly has the personnel to warrant the favourites tag. Oliver Kay of the Times believes the early signs are positive for the Red Devils:

It’ll be fascinating to see just how often we see the likes of Pogba and Ibrahimovic in this competition throughout the season. Mourinho doesn't tend to make wholesale changes, although the Europa League is notoriously draining for the teams taking part.

For players such as Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, it’ll be a brilliant chance to show they can make an impact in vital games after breakthrough campaigns last year. Should United make a deep run in the tournament, expect the team to get stronger and stronger.

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It’s a competition that should trigger happy memories for Mourinho. As noted by Sporting Intelligence, the last time he was involved in it, he was successful:

The Premier League title is likely to remain United’s priority, though, and it therefore wouldn’t be a great surprise to see some tinkering in these fixtures. Mourinho may see the competition as an ideal stage to formulate clearer opinions on players on the periphery of his starting XI.

Inter Milan

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New Inter manager Frank de Boer has plenty of work to do at the San Siro this season, although a trophy win would certainly aid in endearing himself to the Inter faithful.

The club fell into a malaise under his predecessor, Roberto Mancini, with uninspiring football making for some arduous matches in Milan. The Dutchman will at least seek to play a more expansive style in 2016-17, and a possession-based ethos could see them thrive in this season's Europa League.

After a 2-0 loss to Chievo in their Serie A opener, the size of the task at hand would have become a lot clearer for the Dutchman.

Journalist David Amoyal believes the appointment of De Boer is a risky move:

Sparta, Southampton and Hapoel Beer-Sheva will be hoping to capitalise on an Inter side that may well be in transition when the fixtures are played—and the Nerazzurri will likely have one eye on upcoming Serie A challenges.

Nevertheless, De Boer has a lot of quality to call upon, with an attack consisting of Mauro Icardi, Antonio Candreva and Ivan Perisic enough to cause major issues for any team in the competition, especially when supported by two-time Europa League winner Ever Banega.