PAOK welcome Maccabi Haifa

PAOK FC welcome Israeli visitors for a fourth time, with Maccabi Haifa FC eager to maintain their unbeaten away run.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.

• PAOK's six games against Israeli sides have ended W3 D1 L2 (W2 D0 L1 at home – W1 D1 L1 in Israel).

• Maccabi Haifa's four matches against Greek clubs have ended W1 D1 L2 (W1 D0 L1 at home – though both games were played in Nicosia, Cyprus, because of security concerns – W0 D1 L1 in Greece).

• The last four games between clubs from Greece and Israel on Greek soil have ended in home wins.

Match background
• PAOK replaced FC Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Champions League play-offs after the Ukrainian side, who had beaten PAOK in the third qualifying round, were excluded from Europe. They lost 4-3 on aggregate to FC Schalke 04 but moved into the UEFA Europa League for what is their fourth group campaign; they failed to progress in 2005/06 but made it to the round of 32 in 2010/11 and 2011/12.

• Maccabi Haifa are yet to lose on their travels this season, following up an 8-0 win at Xäzär Länkäran FK with three draws.

• This is Maccabi Haifa's third attempt at this group stage. They reached the round of 16 on their UEFA Cup group stage debut in 2006/07 but did not advance to the knockout stage in 2011/12.

Team facts
• PAOK set a new competition landmark when Dimitris Salpingidis struck their 90th-minute equaliser at AZ Alkmaar on matchday two; the 1-1 draw was their seventh successive away fixture in the UEFA Europa League without defeat, surpassing the previous record shared with Club Atlético de Madrid, FC Porto and Fenerbahçe SK.

• Salpingidis has made 63 UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League appearances; four more in the group stage would leave the 32-year-old level with Walid Badier in fourth place in the all-time standings.

• PAOK defender Nikos Spyropoulos's next UEFA Europa League game would be his 50th in UEFA club competition.

• Three of Maccabi Haifa's current players have represented Greek clubs: Edin Cocalić (Panionios GSS), Rayo (Asteras Tripolis FC) and Shimon Abuhazira (Larissa FC).

Coach information
• PAOK coach since June 2013, Huub Stevens won the UEFA Cup as a player with PSV Eindhoven in 1977/78 and as FC Schalke 04 coach in 1996/97. A defender, he spent his best years as a player with PSV, who he later coached. Schalke fans named him as their coach of the century in 1999, and he also coached 1. FC Koln, Hamburger SV and FC Salzburg before embarking on a second, less successful stint with Schalke in 2011.

• Stevens is one of four coaches in the group stage to have had their hands on the trophy before. FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk's Juande Ramos (Sevilla FC, 2006 & 2007), AZ Alkmaar's Dick Advocaat (FC Zenit, 2008) and Tottenham Hotspur FC manager André Villas-Boas (FC Porto, 2011) are the others.

• Israel's most capped player, with 94 international appearances, former defender Arik Benado has been coach of Maccabi since November 2012, having won seven of his nine domestic titles with the club – the other two coming during a spell at Beitar Jerusalem FC. After retiring at the end of 2010/11, Benado returned to the club that his father Shlomo had also played for as a youth coach before being given the first-team job.