Omonia drawn to host Besiktas, Benfica and Celtic in Europa League

Nicosia, Cyprus. Cypriot champions Omonia will host Turkish side Besiktas in the Europa League league phase, alongside Benfica, Celtic and Celta Vigo.

League phase fixtures

Omonia will play four home matches and four away matches in the league phase. Their home opponents are Besiktas, Benfica, Celtic and Spanish side Celta Vigo.

The club will travel to face Juventus, French side Rennes, Slovenian champions Celje and NEC Nijmegen of the Netherlands. Juventus have won two European Cups, while Benfica and Celtic have won three European Cups between them.

The dates of all eight fixtures are due to be announced on Saturday.

Besiktas connection

Besiktas finished fourth in last season’s Turkish Super League. The Istanbul-based club has a Cypriot connection through chairman Serdal Adali, whose father was originally from Kyrenia.

According to Turkish public broadcaster TRT and newspaper Kibris, Adali holds a Republic of Cyprus passport.

Besiktas have never previously played a competitive match in Cyprus, despite being drawn against Apoel in the 1986/87 European Cup.

Previous Cypriot-Turkish ties

According to newspaper Phileleftheros, Apoel faced pressure from the government led by Spyros Kyprianou and the church leadership and did not travel to Turkey for the tie.

Besiktas were awarded a 3-0 walkover victory, while the second leg, which was due to be played at the old GSP Stadium in Nicosia, did not take place. Uefa initially imposed a two-year ban on Apoel from European competitions, later reducing it to one year.

Matches between Turkish and Cypriot clubs in European competitions have since become more common. The most recent example involved Fenerbahce and Aek Larnaca in October 2022, when Fenerbahce won 2-1 in Larnaca and 2-0 in Istanbul.

Benfica strengthen squad

Benfica finished third in last season’s Portuguese Primeira Liga and have since appointed former Fulham manager Marco Silva. The club have also signed former Aston Villa and Fenerbahce striker Jhon Duran on loan from Al-Nassr.