Although West Ham slumped to a lowly 14th placed finish in the Premier League last season, the Hammers enjoyed a successful European adventure under manager David Moyes, which culminated in a final showdown against Italian side Fiorentina. Moyes' side won the game 2-1 after a late Jarrod Bowen strike, earning them a place in the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League.
As the sixth favourites to win the competition (priced at 20/1 at the time of writing), West Ham will be hoping to enjoy a long and successful European journey once more, but their group stage opponents could make or break that dream. So, who exactly are they facing, and what do you need to know about them? VAVEL has got you covered.
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Olympiacos
Olympiacos are no strangers to European football, having reached the quarter finals of both the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Champions League in previous editions of the competitions. The 2021/22 Greek Super League champions are known for their incredible, and intimidating, fans who make any visit to Greece both memorable - but also very challenging for the visiting team.
Olympiacos will be looking to get out of the group stage for the first time since the 2020/21 season, and will be optimistic about their chances of doing so having made a number of promising signings this summer.
It may be 58 years since these sides last met in a competitive fixture, but the Hammers will take some degree of comfort in the knowledge that they have never lost against the Greek side, having won once and drawn the other game in their limited encounters against each other.
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SC Freiburg
Freiburg have qualified for the Europa League group stage for just the second time in the last decade but, in a promising sign for the club, the second consecutive year too. They can feel somewhat unlucky, too, having missed out on a coveted Champions League place by just 3 points, having finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season.
In last season's edition of the tournament, the German outfit topped their group ahead of Nantes, Qarabag and, ironically, Olympiacos. They then, however, succumbed to a 3-0 defeat against Italian giants Juventus in the round of 16.
There are no results to look back on, as this will mark the first encounter between these two sides. They will also be the Hammers' first German opponent since they lost 3-1 in the semi-final of the 2021/22 Europa League - against eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt.
David Moyes and co will no doubt fancy their chances in their two games - but they will be far from easy. They conceded the second fewest goals at home last season - which means that West Ham's trip to Germany may not be all that they would hope for, and they will do so without fans - as punishment from UEFA over incidents at last year's Conference League final.
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FK TSC Bačka Topola
No, that is not a typo, nor are they made up. Bačka Topola ply their trade in the Serbian top flight, and finished second last year - some 20 points behind Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade). Based in a town with a population of around 26,000, nobody would have expected them to reach these heights. In fact, West Ham's London Stadium is almost 20 times the capacity of Bačka Topola's!
It is the first time that they have ever reached the group stage of a European competition - and it will prove an enormous test for them. Undoubtedly it will be more about the experience than any meaningful results but, that does not mean it will be plain sailing for visiting teams or fans!
The nearest airport (with regular direct flights from the U.K.) to the stadium is in Belgrade and, with no railway connecting the town, it is a 1 hour and 45-minute drive to reach it. But even when fans and players arrive, there are just a handful of hotels to choose from, which creates a very interesting dynamic - before the game has even kicked off.
Obviously, there are no head-to-head results to examine between the two sides, and anything other than two Hammers wins would go down as one of the biggest upsets in recent history. This should be as close to a formality as you can get in European competition, or it will create an amazing storyline to remember for years to come!
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Summary
In all, it is a draw that the Hammers can be very pleased with - especially after seeing what a tough group fellow Premier League side Brighton received.
Moyes and his team have a very good chance of progressing from this group, and will hope to run deep into the competition but, he will need to carefully manage his squad as they look to compete across every competition.
With the additions of Mohammed Kudus, Edson Álvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Konstantinos Mavropanos, West Ham have a very strong squad and, after an impressive start to the Premier League campaign - who knows how long their European journey could last!