Basel and Monaco among Europa League entrants

Final hosts FC Basel and the first-ever Albanian side to get this far are among ten clubs that have transferred to the UEFA Europa League group stage after losing their UEFA Champions League play-off ties

Basel, whose St. Jakob-Park stadium stages the 2016 final on 18 May, lost on away goals to Maccabi Tel-Aviv on Tuesday to switch to a competition in which they reached the 2012/13 semi-finals and 2013/14 quarters. By contrast, Skënderbeu will be the first Albanian team to play in a major group stage, though Dinamo Zagreb beat them to the UEFA Champions League.

Other clubs transferring include last season's UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists AS Monaco, former European Cup winners Celtic and Club Brugge, appearing in the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup for the 20th consecutive campaign.

Already in the UEFA Europa League group stage were the sides receiving byes, including last term's runners-up Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. The play-off draw is streamed live in the UEFA.com DrawCentre from 13.00CET on Friday and the lineup will be completed by the 22 UEFA Europa League play-off winners on Thursday.

Albanian debutants Skënderbeu©AFP/Getty Images

Teams transferring to UEFA Europa League group stage:
APOEL (CYP)
AS Monaco (FRA)
Celtic (SCO)
Club Brugge (BEL)
FC Basel (SUI)
Lazio (ITA)
Partizan (SRB)
Rapid Wien (AUT)
Skënderbeu (ALB)
Sporting CP (POR)

Dnipro will hope to go one better than last season©FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

Teams with byes to UEFA Europa League group stage:
Schalke 04 (GER)
Napoli (ITA)
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP)
Marseille (FRA)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR)
Braga (POR)
Fiorentina (ITA)
Anderlecht (BEL)
Liverpool (ENG)
Beşiktaş (TUR)
Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS)
Augsburg (GER)
Asteras Tripolis (GRE)
Groningen (NED)
Sion (SUI)