Illustration photo – West Ham footballer Vladimír Coufal in an English league match on February 11, 2023.
Nyon (Switzerland) – West Ham footballers Vladimír Coufal and Tomáš Souček will face the Cypriot team AEK Larnaca in the round of 16 of the European Conference League. Fiorentina, for whom another Czech representative Antonín Barák plays, will challenge the conquerors of Slavia in the Sivasspor group. The first matches will take place on March 9, the return matches a week later. It was decided by the lottery in Nyon, Switzerland, which was in charge of European vice-champion and Champions League winner Vladimír Šmicer.
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Photo gallery: European Conference League 2022/23
Slovak Bratislava with Czechs Jaromír Zmrhal and Yuri Medvedev will play against Basel. Last year's opponent of Pilsen from the preliminary round of the Champions League, Šeriff Tiraspol, will play Nice, which faced Slovácko in the group. Lech Poznań will face Djurgaarden, Anderlecht Brussels will face Villarreal and Gent will face Basaksehir.
West Ham dominated the group in the autumn. He didn't drop a single point in six games, securing direct promotion to the top 16 teams. However, they are struggling in the English league and are on the first relegation rung. In Thursday's rematch of the 2nd round of the Conference League, Larnaca eliminated the Ukrainian team Dnipro.
Also, Fiorentina had to overcome the opening elimination round, in which they dealt with the Portuguese Braga. Sivasspor won the “Slavic” group and drew twice with Prague 1:1. The Vršovice team finished in non-promotional third place.
The final of the competition will take place on June 7 in Prague's Eden, where Slavia is based, from where Coufal and Souček left for West Ham. AS Roma dominated the premier edition of the Conference League last season.
EKL football round of 16 draw (first matches on March 9, second leg on March 16):
AEK Larnaca – West Ham (Coufal, Souček), Fiorentina (Barák) – Sivasspor, Lazio Rome – AZ Alkmaar, Lech Poznań – Djurgaarden, Basel – Slovan Bratislava (Medveděv, Zmrhal), Sheriff Tiraspol – Nice, Anderlecht Brussels – Villarreal, Gent – Istanbul Basaksehir.
