The Europa League will make its return later this month, and the draw for the new-look competition took place at the end of August with a 36-team league phase rather than the traditional group phase.
Each team will face two opponents from each of the four groups with the aim of finishing as high as possible in the league standings to qualify for the knockout stage.
It remains to be seen how successful this new format will be, but there are sure to be plenty of surprises in store, and there could be some outsiders worth backing in the outright betting.
With that in mind, our expert takes us through his best three 11.00+ bets in the Europa League winner market.
Best Europa League Outsider Bets
- Athletic Bilbao @13.00 with 1xBet
- Galatasaray @23.00 with 1xBet
- Eintracht Frankfurt @23.00 with 1xBet
All odds are courtesy of 1xBet, correct at the time of publishing and subject to change.
Athletic Bilbao @13.00
With the final taking place at their San Mames Stadium in Spain, Athletic Bilbao will be especially determined to go the distance in this season's Europa League.
Managed by Ernesto Valverde, who has been in his second stint at the club since 2022, Athletic Bilbao are a stable club who finished fifth in La Liga last season.
But they also showed they can impress in cup competitions by winning the Copa del Rey and they will be determined to impress in their first European competition since the 2017-18 season.
They have a decent spine to the team with the likes of Dani Vivian in defence and Ander Herrera in midfield, while the retention of winger Nico Williams for another season was arguably their best piece of business this summer.
And while they open with a testing away trip to Roma, they actually have one of the easier fixture lists in the league phase with AZ Alkmaar, Slavia Prague, Elfsborg and Viktoria Plzen, their opponents at home.
Galatasaray @23.00
At an even bigger price of 23.00, Galatasaray might make outright appeal to some punters.
Last season, Galatasaray were involved in the group stage of the Champions League, so they have continental experience behind them, and the squad is littered with big names.
Mauro Icardi struck 32 goals in all competitions for the club last term, while Dries Mertens, Kerem Demirbay and Hakim Ziyech are experienced options in midfield.
In the summer transfer window, they added talented Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Sara from Norwich, while the loan signing of Victor Osimhen looks like a coup.
Galatasaray have a strong squad to compete and their fixture list looks one of the easiest with Latvian outfit RFS and Swedish pair Elfsborg and Malmo amongst their opponents.
Eintracht Frankfurt @23.00
Eintracht Frankfurt won the Europa League as recently as the 2021-22 season and they could again be worth backing at 23.00.
The league phase could well suit the Eagles, who finished seventh and sixth in the last two editions of the Bundesliga.
They also made it to the knockout round playoffs of the Europa Conference League last term, although the Europa League is likely to be taken even more seriously.
Former Leipzig and Bayern Munich assistant coach Dino Toppmoller remains in charge and reinforced his squad with the signings of Arthur Theate on loan and Can Uzun on a permanent deal this summer.
Also, among the teams with an easier fixture list, they have a good chance of starting strongly with three of their opening four matches at home against Viktoria Plzen, RFS and Slavia Prague.