GNK Dinamo Zagreb has learned all its potential opponents for the Europa League group stage. The draw that will determine the exact pairings for the Croatian champion is set for Friday, August 28, at 1 PM, with coverage on Arena Sport 1.
Dinamo has been placed in Pot 2 for Friday's draw. This means they will draw two opponents from each of the four seeding pots, for a total of eight matches in the league phase. Four will be played at Maksimir Stadium and four away. According to the competition format, the top eight teams after the league phase advance directly to the round of 16, while teams placed 9th to 24th enter a playoff round.
The first seeding pot contains the toughest potential opponents, including German side Bayer Leverkusen, Portuguese club Benfica, and Italian giants Juventus and Milan. The French representatives are Olympique Lyon and Olympique Marseille, alongside Dutch AZ Alkmaar, Greek Olympiakos, and Spanish Real Sociedad. In Dinamo's own Pot 2, alongside the Zagreb club, are Hungarian Ferencvaros, Czech Viktoria Plzen, Belgian Royal Union SG, Austrian RB Salzburg, Scottish Celtic, Czech Sparta Prague, French Rennes, and Belgian Anderlecht. Pot 3 consists of Austrian Sturm Graz, Polish Lech Poznan and Jagiellonia, English clubs Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Sunderland, Slovenian Celje, Cypriot Omonia, and Spanish Celta Vigo. Pot 4 features German Hoffenheim, Turkish Besiktas, Portuguese Torreense, Israeli Hapoel Beer Sheva, Dutch NEC, Greek OFI, Norwegian Lillestrom, Bulgarian Levski Sofia, and Armenian Ararat-Armenia.
The schedule for the league phase matches is already set. The first round will be played on September 16 and 17. Matches follow on October 15 and 22, then November 5 and 26. The final round of the group stage is scheduled for December 10, with any postponed matches to be played on January 21 and 28, 2027.
After the league phase, the playoffs for the round of 16 will be held on February 18 and 25, 2027. The knockout phase then begins in March with the round of 16. The quarter-finals are scheduled for the first half of April, and the semi-finals for late April and early May. The Europa League final will be held on May 26, 2027, at the Eintracht Frankfurt stadium in Frankfurt. For Dinamo, this is an opportunity to continue its European story after failing to qualify for the Champions League. The club's current squad and player statistics are available on the squad and stats pages.
Dinamo enters this phase of the competition as Croatian champions, and their Europa League journey will begin in just over two weeks. The first match against an as-yet-unknown opponent will be played on September 16 or 17.
