Betis, Fenerbahçe, FCSB, and Celta coming to Zagreb, blue visiting Lille, Maccabi, Midtjylland, and Malmö

Dinamo's European season at Maksimir will be enhanced by Betis from Seville, Turkish Fenerbahçe, Romanian FCSB and Spanish Celta, while the Blues will visit French Lille, Maccabi from Tel Aviv, Danish Midtjylland and Swedish Malmö. This was the ball draw on Friday in Monte Carlo where the Maksimir club, therefore, learned its opponents in the Europa League.

This season, Dinamo has qualified for the group stage of UEFA competitions for the 21st time in its history, of which 11 times in the league phase of the UEFA Cup or Europa League.

In the new format introduced last season, 36 clubs will participate and together they will form a unique ranking although not everyone will play against each other. Each participating club will play eight matches against eight different opponents, four at home and four away. UEFA will define the match dates on Saturday.

So, the draw for the first time in the history of European competitions has connected the Zagreb team with Lille, Midtjylland, and Celtic.

There are also "old acquaintances" of the Blues. Dinamo skipped Betis in the knockout phase play-off of the Conference League in spring 2024, was more successful than Fenerbahçe in the Europa League group stage in the fall of 2018, and especially remembered is the Champions League play-off when the people of Zagreb were better than Malmo in two matches in 2011. FCSB formerly played under the name Steaua, the Blues were better in the 2nd round of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1964, but the Romanians celebrated in the Champions League preliminary round in 1993 when the club from Maksimir was the host in Ljubljana. Dinamo drew twice against Maccabi in the 1st round of the UEFA Cup in 2001, but the "yellow-blues" progressed thanks to away goals.