Belgian football clubs who qualified for European competitions last season have discovered their future opponents in the UEFA draw on Monday in Nyon, Switzerland.
Brussels-based club Union Saint-Gilloise will face Swiss club FC Lugano in the Europa League play-offs. After finishing third last season in the Jupiler Pro League, Union begin their European journey at the play-off stage for the 2023/24 campaign.
Union will need to better their result from last season, when they reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League on their return to European football after 58 years.
Also playing in the Europa League are Limburg side Genk, who will need to beat Greek club Olympiakos on 10 August and 17 August to join Union in the play-off round, and face Serbia’s FK Cukaricki.
The Jupiler Pro League runners-up were relegated to the third qualifying round of the Europa League after being eliminated by Servette Genève in the Champions League.
The Europa League play-offs will take place on 24 and 30 August. If they get through the play-offs, the Belgian clubs will play in the Europa League group stage. If they lose, it will be the Conference League group stage.
If they are eliminated by Olympiakos, Genk could also find themselves in the Conference League play-offs with Club Brugge and KAA Gent.
Following Monday's draw, Club Brugge will play Iceland’s KA Akureyrar, while KAA Gent will face Poland’s Pogon Szczecin in the third preliminary round (first leg 9-10 August, second leg 17 August) of the Conference League, Europe's third-tier competition.
Belgian champions Antwerp have qualified for the Champions League play-offs and will play the winner of the game between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb.
If they qualify, the Great Old will play in the group phase of the Champions League, but if they are eliminated, the Antwerp club will be relegated to the Europa League group stages.
