After the defeat of AS Roma in the Europa League final, Ajax knows that it will definitely enter the play-offs of the Europa League next season. The draw for this round will not take place until August 7, but it is already known which opponents the team from Amsterdam may have. A number of decisions still need to be made.
Ajax is classified in the so-called Priority 1group, the first pot. That group contains the six teams from the countries with a higher UEFA coefficient that only enter in this round. In addition to Ajax, LASK Linz, FK Cukaricki, the winner of the Scottish Cup, the number three of Ukraine and the cup winner of Belgium are also in that group. Royal Antwerp already won the Croky Cup, but could possibly become champion. Then that last ticket goes to the number three in the competition. All the above clubs cannot play against Ajax.
Three clubs in Priority 1 will be a club from the Priority 4face the group. The three clubs in the fourth pot are two winners of the third qualifying round of the Europa League and the Swiss FC Lugano, which has already qualified for the play-offs. The latter club is therefore one of the clubs that Ajax can play against. The two teams in the third qualifying round with the highest number of coefficient points are Slavia Prague and Olympiacos. So, if they fulfill their role as favorites and survive the third preliminary round, they could also play against Ajax afterwards.
The remaining three clubs out Priority 1which is therefore not against a club Priority 4 lots, will get an opponent from pot three. It contains five clubs that have become champions in their own country this season and have eventually reached the preliminary round of the Europa League. This only concerns teams that went to the preliminary round of the Champions League as champions and were eliminated there. Because the champions of the first ten countries on the coefficient list go directly to the group stage of the Champions League, Ajax cannot meet them.
The teams that have become champions in countries that are not in the top ten of the UEFA coefficient list, could therefore possibly end up in the play-offs of the Europa League and become an opponent of Ajax. These are clubs such as Galatasaray, AEK Athens, Shakhtar Donetsk, Crvena Zvezda and Young Boys. If one of those example clubs is eliminated in the second or third qualifying round of the Champions League, they become a possible opponent of Ajax.