Atletico face Udinese, Spurs against Rubin in Europa League draw

Aug 26, 2011, 12:21 GMT

Monaco - Last year's winners Atletico Madrid come up against Italy's Udinese, while Premier League hopes Tottenham Hotspur face Russian Rubin Kazan in the Europa League group draw in Monaco Friday.

Udinese, who impressed in their Champions League play-off exit to Arsenal, will be favourites alongside 2010 winners Atletico to advance in a group with France's Stade Rennes and Swiss side Sion.

Tottenham will also be favourites to reach the knock-out phase in a group with Rubin Kazan, Greek side PAOK and Ireland's Shamrock Rovers.

Sporting Braga, who lost the 2011 final to fellow Portuguese side Porto, are up against Brugge, English Championship side Birmingham City and Slovenian champions Maribor.

Fulham, who lost the 2010 final to Atletico Madrid, face Dutch hopes Twente, Odense of Denmark and Polish champions Wisla Krakow.

Fellow Premier League side Stoke City have a tricky group with Ukrainians Dynamo Kiev, Turkey's Besiktas and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Serie A's Lazio and Sporting Lisbon will be favourites to advance in a group with Zurich, who went out of the Champions League play-offs to Bayern Munich, and Romanians Vaslui.

Germany's two representatives will be hopeful of progressing after avoiding some of the big names.

Schalke meet Steaua Bucharest, Maccabi Haifa and Cyprus outfit AEK Larnaca, while Hanover, playing in Europe for the first time since 1992, are drawn with Copenhagen, Standard Liege and Ukrainians Vorskla.

Matches will be played on September 15, September 29, October 20, November 3, Novermber 30/December 1, December 14/15.

The knock-out phase begins in February. The final is in Bucharest on May 9. *** brDraw:

Group A: Tottenham Hotspur, Rubin Kazan, PAOK, Shamrock Rovers

Group B: Copenhagen, Standard Liege, Hanover, Vorskla

Group C: PSV Eindhoven, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Rapid Bucharest, Legia Warsaw

Group D: Sporting Lisbon, Lazio, Zurich, Vaslui

Group E: Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas, Stoke City, Maccabi Tel Aviv

Group F: Paris Saint-Germain, Athletic Bilbao, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava

Group G: AZ Alkmaar, Metalist Kharkiv, Austria Vienna, Malmo

Group H: Sporting Braga, Brugge, Birmingham City, Maribor

Group I: Atletico Madrid, Udinese, Stade Rennes, Sion

Group J: Schalke, Steaua Bucharest, Maccabi Haifa, AEK Larnaca

Group K: Twente, Fulham, Odense, Wisla Krakow