West Ham to face Shakhtyor Soligorsk or Domzale in Europa League third qualifying round

European dreams: Bilic will hope to take West Ham far in the Europa League
Paul Gilham/Getty Images
James Benge15 July 2016

West Ham will face Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus or Domzale of Slovenia in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

The Hammers will have their opponent confirmed next week when the two teams meet in the second leg of their second round match. The tie is currently at 1-1 with Domzale set to host Shakhytor on July 21.

West Ham are expected to ask Uefa to reverse the order of the fixtures so that they can play their opening game at the Olympic Stadium. The Hammers have been drawn to play at home but would be unable to do so at their new home due to a UK Athletics event that finish just four days before the tie's first leg.

If Uefa approve the request the stadium's opening game will be on August 4. West Ham play Juventus in a prestigious friendly at the ground three days later.

Slaven Bilic’s side must navigate two rounds of fixtures before they earn a spot in the group stage proper. Were they to reach the final – due to be held in Stockholm on May 24 2017 – West Ham will have gone through 19 European fixtures.

Last season a somewhat weakened side exited in the third qualifying round to Romanian side Astra Giurgiu. However co-owner David Gold has vowed that West Ham will take the tournament more seriously this year.

“We should take this competition seriously and we are good enough to win it,” he said.

West Ham 2016/17 pre-season fixtures

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“It will also be another great opportunity for our young players to get European experience and a number of them showed their quality when we played in the early rounds last summer.”

Having added Havard Nordtveit, Sofiane Feghouli and Gokhan Tore to a squad that challenged for a Champions League place last season West Ham are considered to be dark horses to win the tournament by many bookmakers.

Manchester United are almost universally ranked the favourites to win the trophy, which Jose Mourinho claimed at Porto in 2003. The Hammers are priced between 20/1 and 50/1 by leading bookmakers.

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