Europa League Draw

European soccer will continue after Christmas for the four German clubs contesting the Europa League this season after Hertha Berlin secured a 1-0 win at home to Group D winners Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night. With Werder Bremen also qualifying for the next round as winners of Group L, wrapping up a dominant group stage with a 3-0 away at Athletic Bilbao, and Hamburg assured of progress ahead of their last game on Thursday, the three Bundesliga sides will go into the pot for the last 32 draw on Friday in Nyon, Switzerland.

Werder waltzed unbeaten through their group, dropping just two points on the way, and will be confident ahead of the draw while Hamburg, facing second-placed Hapoel Tel Aviv on Thursday for first place in Group C, have also breezed through, losing just once. Hertha, in last place in the Bundesliga, needed a win to guarantee their qualification and will have to hope for a benevolent draw.

As well as being joined in the next round by the 21 other best teams from the group stage, the Germans also face the possibility of being drawn with any of the eight teams dropping into the Europa League from the Champions League.

Among them is defending Bundesliga champion VfL Wolfsburg, who make it a quartet of German teams in the Round of 32 after finishing third in their Champions League group behind Manchester United and CSKA Moscow.

While the old Volkswagen factory team would provide stiff, if familiar, competition for the other Bundesliga sides, it may be being drawn into potential clashes against other wounded giants which Hamburg, Hertha and Werder will be most wary of.

Down but not yet out

The list of Champions League outcasts this year features Juventus, Liverpool, Olympique Marseille, Atletico Madrid, Russian champions Rubin Kazan, Romania's Unirea Urziceni and Belgian title holders Standard Liege.

The prospect of Hamburg facing Liverpool in European competition resurrects memories of eras of dominance for both sides. During the 1970s, Liverpool and Hamburg featured in six European cup finals between them; Liverpool won their four finals, Hamburg won one and lost another.

While neither club has hit the dizzy heights of that golden era in the decades that followed, both have a strong European tradition and a Europa League fixture would be an attractive affair. The two cities also share a close relationship forged through their common history as port cities, their connections to the Beatles and Kevin Keegan's swapping of Merseyside for Hamburg in 1977.

Facing Liverpool would certainly not strike fear into Hamburg hearts on current form – the Reds are struggling in sixth place in the English Premiership and tamely crashed out of the Champions League – but HSV will certainly have respect for a team who have contested two Champions League finals in the last five years.

Last year's beaten UEFA Cup semi-finalists Hamburg would also relish taking on another down-on-its-luck European giant in the form of Juventus. HSV's European Cup win in Athens in 1983 came at the expense of the Turin side. While Juve may want revenge for that distant defeat, Hamburg will want to get the better of a club which twice ended their UEFA Cup campaign at the quarterfinal stage, the last taking place almost 20 years ago.

Werder eye revenge against Diego's Juventus

Drawing Juventus would also give Werder Bremen the opportunity to avenge their Champions League defeat to the 'Old Lady' in the first knock-out round of 2006.

A match-up with Juventus would also see former Werder favorite Diego face his former team in competition for the first time since his summer move to Turin, making a clash between Bremen, last year's beaten UEFA Cup finalists, and three-time winners Juve an extra spicy affair.

Hertha Berlin, meanwhile, have little experience squaring against most of this year's Champions League outcasts, Wolfsburg aside. Again, though, it is Juventus who feature in Berlin's distant past in the old UEFA Cup. Back in 1970, Hertha notched a 3-1 home win in the first leg of the second round and held Juve to a goalless draw in Turin to progress at the Italians' expense. However, given their current fluctuating form, most of the big guns coming into the round of 32 would probably give the 2009-vintage Hertha a serious test.

German teams likely to progress

On current form and European history, it would not be unthinkable to imagine at least three of the four German teams making it into the last 16, with Hertha the most likely to fall in the next round.

Given Werder Bremen's record in last year's competiton and the stroll they took to qualification this year, they look a good bet to reach the last couple of rounds again, along with Hamburg - who have the extra incentive of the final being held in their home stadium.

Wolfsburg, who gave the likes of Manchester United a scare in their first, all-too-brief foray into the Champions League, would also not be a surprise to make it through to the quarter-final round, or even further.

All-in-all, aside from Hertha, any of the German teams looking ahead to Friday's draw in Nyon would not be presumptuous in foreseeing a deep run in this year's Europa League.

Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Matt Hermann