Roma qualify for Europa League group stage as AC Milan kicked out
Paulo Fonseca’s new side Roma have received an early season boost as they gain access directly to the Europa League group stage.
Roma only finished 6th in the league last season and were expected only to qualify for the Europa League second qualifying round.
That would have meant that Roma’s season would have begun as early as 25th July.
Indeed, the second qualifying round draw for Europe’s secondary competition has already been made, with Roma going into the hat; they were due to play the winner of Debrecen and Kukesi in a bid to progress to the third qualifying round.
However, even at this very late stage, they have had a change in their schedule and instead have been bumped straight up to the Europa League group stage.
That is because AC Milan, who finished 5th in the league standings last year and were therefore supposed to earn direct qualification to the Europa League group stage, have been excluded from the competition due to failure to comply with FFP regulations.
