- Sunderland, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace Handed Contrasting Europa League Challengess
Sunderland will mark their return to European football after more than half a century with a trip to the San Siro to face seven-time European champions AC Milan, after the Premier League club was handed one of the standout fixtures of the 2026/27 Europa League league phase.
The Black Cats, back in continental competition for the first time since 1973, qualified after finishing seventh in the Premier League last season and will play eight opponents under the competition’s league-phase format.
AC Milan provide the biggest name on Sunderland’s schedule, but the English side will also host AZ Alkmaar, GNK Dinamo, Jagiellonia and Levski Sofia, while travelling to Anderlecht, Lech Poznan and Torreense.
The draw represents another significant moment in Sunderland’s revival, with a generation of supporters set to experience European football for the first time.
The Italian giants remain one of European football’s most decorated sides and the San Siro is among the continent’s most imposing venues, making the fixture both commercially attractive and competitively demanding.
Bournemouth, competing in Europe for the first time in their history, will welcome Milan to England as part of a league-phase schedule that also includes an away meeting with Real Sociedad.
The Cherries will host Viktoria Plzen, Sturm Graz and Hapoel Be’er Sheva, while their other away assignments take them to Sparta Praha, Celta Vigo and Lillestrom.
Bournemouth’s qualification represents a significant milestone for a club whose recent history has been defined largely by the challenge of establishing itself in the Premier League.
European football now provides a different test: maintaining domestic competitiveness while handling additional travel, squad rotation and the demands of midweek continental fixtures.
Crystal Palace arguably face the most difficult set of opponents among the three English representatives.
Palace will host Real Sociedad, Sparta Praha, Lech Poznan and Hoffenheim, with away fixtures against Lyon, Salzburg, Jagiellonia and Besiktas.
The campaign will be Palace’s first appearance in the Europa League after the club was demoted from the competition last July following a breach of UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
Real Sociedad and Lyon bring considerable experience from Europe’s major leagues, while Besiktas offer the challenge of one of European football’s most intense away environments.
Salzburg and Hoffenheim add further quality to a group of fixtures that could test Palace’s squad depth from the opening rounds.
For Sunderland, Bournemouth and Palace, the league-phase format also changes the nature of qualification.
Rather than traditional four-team groups with home-and-away fixtures, clubs face a broader selection of opponents, increasing the importance of collecting points consistently across matches against teams of varying strength.
Scotland’s Celtic have also been handed a demanding Europa League schedule after dropping out of Champions League qualifying.
The Scottish champions will host Marseille, Ferencvaros, Celta Vigo and Besiktas, while travelling to Benfica, Union SG, Omonia and Torreense.
Celtic entered the competition after surrendering a four-goal advantage against LASK in their Champions League play-off tie, leaving the Europa League as their principal continental competition for the season.
Their meeting with Benfica in Portugal will be among the most difficult fixtures, while Marseille and Besiktas provide further high-profile opposition.
Brighton have been paired with Monaco, Panathinaikos, Craiova, Getafe, Kauno Zalgiris and Jablonec. The Premier League side will host Monaco, Craiova and Kauno Zalgiris, while travelling to Greece to meet Panathinaikos, Spain for Getafe and the Czech Republic for Jablonec.
Hearts, meanwhile, have been handed a potentially intriguing trip to Turkey to face Trabzonspor, alongside fixtures against Monaco, Pafos, Borac, Nordsjaelland and Thun.
The Scottish club will host Monaco, Borac and Nordsjaelland, while travelling to Pafos, Trabzonspor and Thun.
For the Premier League trio in the Europa League, however, attention will inevitably centre on whether their domestic success can translate into competitive European campaigns.
Their return after 53 years gives the club an opportunity to re-establish itself on a stage it has not occupied for generations, while a fixture against AC Milan provides an immediate symbol of the scale of that return.
Bournemouth enter entirely new territory, with European football adding another chapter to the club’s rise. Crystal Palace arrive with greater expectations after recent continental experience but face arguably the toughest schedule of the English sides.
The league phase will ultimately determine whether all three can progress deep into the competition, with the Europa League final scheduled for Frankfurt on May 26, 2027.
Six days later, the Conference League final will be held in Istanbul. For Sunderland, though, the first headline has already been written. More than five decades after their last European campaign, the Black Cats are returning to continental football and one of the sport’s most famous stadiums awaits.
