Opponent known on July 26^th
Thanks to finishing seventh in last years Bundesliga campaign, Hannover 96 are one of 58 teams trying to qualify for the Play-Off-Round of the UEFA Europa League. Firstly however, they need to see off whichever team manages to progress from the 2^nd Qualification Round, which is due to take place on July 19^th (first leg) and July 26^th (second leg). The draw for this round will be on Friday, July 20^th. Should Hannover overcome their opposition in the 3^rd qualifying round (2^nd and 9^th of August), they will have successfully qualified for the Play-Off-Round, which will take place on the 23^rd and 30^th of August.

Hannover among seeded teams?
96 should be amongst the seeded teams thanks to their high club coefficient, which would mean that Mirko Slomka’s men would face a presumably easier opponent from the unseeded pot. Last season, Hannover was in the unseeded pot and consequentially faced a tough opponent in FC Sevilla. However, the Reds prevailed thanks to a superb performance and deservingly found themselves in the group stages of the Europa League. This year however, after their successful run last season, Hannover should be among the seeded teams.

Group stages with twelve groups of four
28 teams will qualify for the group stages through the Play-Off-Round. Ten teams will join the draw, having lost the 3^rd Play-Off-Round for the UEFA Champions League and ten teams are automatically in the group stages (Bayer Leverkusen being one of them). These 48 teams will then be split up into twelve groups of four. In every group, each team plays the other in a first and second leg between September and December. The two best teams from each group qualify for the Knockout Phase, the Round of Last 32. Here, the third placed teams for the UEFA Champions League group stages are added to the competition. From then on, the campaign is played out in the usual knockout format. It’s a long way to go for the Reds but who knows? Perhaps they will be on the pitch in the Amsterdam ArenA on May 15^th, 2013 – trying to win that coveted UEFA Europa League trophy!