Rangers Set for High-Stakes Europa League Encounters with Manchester United and Tottenham.
Rangers are bracing for an intense Europa League campaign as they face both Manchester United and Tottenham in the newly revamped league phase of the competition. The Scottish Premiership side will host Spurs at Ibrox and make a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, marking their first meeting with the Red Devils in 14 years.
This season’s Europa League has undergone significant changes, adopting a league phase format similar to the Champions League. The traditional group stage has been replaced with an expanded 36-team competition where each team plays eight fixtures—four at home and four away.
Rangers will have their work cut out for them with other challenging fixtures including a visit to last season’s Europa Conference League champions, Olympiakos, and a trip to French side Nice. The Glaswegian club’s home encounters against Lyon and Union SG will also be pivotal as they look to secure one of the top spots in the league.
Manchester United Fixtures
Rangers (H)
Porto (A)
PAOK (H)
Fenerbahce (A)
Bodo/Glimt (H)
Viktoria Plzen (A)
FC Twente (H)
FCSB (A)
Rangers Fixtures
Tottenham (H)
Manchester United (A)
Lyon (H)
Olympiakos (A)
Union SG (H)
Malmo (A)
FCSB (H)
Nice (A)
Tottenham Fixtures
Roma (H)
Rangers (A)
AZ Alkmaar (H)
Ferencvaros (A)
Qarabag (H)
Galatasaray (A)
Elfsborg (H)
Hoffenheim (A)
Teams who finish in the top eight will qualify automatically for the last 16, while those who place ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for the chance to join them.
Whoever finishes 25th or lower will be eliminated and will not be entered into the Conference League.
The number of matches in the new format will increase from 125 to 189.
Each team will play a minimum of eight games – instead of six – and a maximum of 17.
Europa League action begins on 25-26 September, and with the increased number of fixtures, the league phase runs until 30 January rather than finishing before Christmas.