Manchester United and last year's finalists Arsenal heline an English trio that also features Europa League newcomers Wolves while record five-time champions Sevilla figure to be among primary contenders as group st begins Thursday. Scottish rivals Celtic and Rangers face testing paths to kckout rounds as bitter foes Roma and Lazio bid to end Italy's two-dece wait for title. Porto, PSV Eindhoven, and Feyeord are or former European Cup winners in a competition that will welcome eight third-place finishers from Champions League groups for kckout phase.

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Ro ahe for Man United and Arsenal

United, Europa League winners in 2017, will host Astana in Group L as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side face opponents from Kazakhstan for first time in club history. y will be expected to progress with relative ease from a group that also includes Partizan Belgre and former finalists AZ Alkmaar of Nerlands. Unai Emery's Arsenal return to competition after last season's 4-1 defeat by Chelsea in final in Baku saw Blues pip m to Champions League qualification. Gunners visit Eintracht Frankfurt to kick off ir campaign, with 10-time Belgian champions Standard Liege and Portugal's Vitoria Guimaraes also in Group F. Wolves, in ir first European campaign since 1980, will meet Portuguese club Braga in ir opening game at Molineux. Nu Espirito Santo's team came through three ties just to reach group st. y beat Tori 5-3 on aggregate in play-offs."I think any team in Europa League are a good team who we will respect going up against m. We will give everything, try to play and try to beat any team," said Wolves winger ama Traore.

"Any player wants to play in Europe, but Europa League is exciting, it is a new thing for us and it's a good thing." 

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Six newcomers  

Scottish champions Celtic travel to French Cup holders Rennes in Group E, with Italian Cup holders Lazio and CFR Cluj, Romanian side to whom y lost in Champions League qualifying, completing a tricky section. Steven Gerrard's Rangers are at home to Jaap Stam's Feyeord on Thursday and will do well to navigate a group with Porto and Swiss champions Young Boys. Roma will take on Istanbul Basaksehir in ir first game while Moenchenglbach host Austria's Wolfsberg t to be confused with German outfit Wolfsburg. Austria boast two representatives with LASK Linz among six debutants -- alongside Espanyol, Wolves, Wolfsberg, Olexandriya and Ferencvaros in tournament. UEFA will distribute 560 million euros to clubs competing in this season's Europa League, just over a quarter of 1.95 billion euros allocated to those participating in Champions League. Each of 48 clubs in group st will receive a base of 2.92 million euros, with lifting trophy worth just under 18 million euros in basic prize money. Teams will net 570,000 euros per win and 190,000 for a draw with ditional revenue coming through television markets and money depending on each team's UEFA ranking.

By comparison, Champions League winners stand to take home around 75 million euros before considerable sums are tacked based on market pool and coefficient ranking. final will be held in Polish city of Gdansk on May 27, 2020. 

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