USMNT Europa League preview: Competition is loaded with Americans

For USMNT players in Europe, one of the obvious goals is to play for a club in the UEFA Champions League and have a chance to compete against the top teams in the world. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case during the 2026-27 campaign. On the bright side, there will be over a dozen Americans participating in the UEFA Europa League, whose league phase gets underway on Wednesday. This includes some of the top players in the USMNT pool. While Champions League is certainly the better competition, USMNT fans are going to enjoy following Europa League this season a lot more. Here are the teams to be watching closely.

AC Milan

Both Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah will suit up for AC Milan, which is among the favorites to win the competition. It’s been well-documented that Pulisic has had a hard time just getting on the field this season. Musah, on the other hand, has been a regular for Milan and a key cog in the midfield. If he’s going to return to the USMNT picture, playing well in Europa League is a good way to state his case. Milan opens Europa League against Benfica, with matches against Bournemouth, Olympiacos, and Sunderland 

Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen’s modest sixth-place finish in the Bundesliga last season banished them to Europa League. However, Malik Tillman and company will fancy themselves as serious contenders. Tillman hasn’t quite picked up where he left off during the World Cup, but he should feature regularly for Leverkusen in Europa League. The German side opens up its European campaign against Slovenian side NK Celje, although matchups with Marseille, Dinamo Zagreb, Besiktas, and Lyon should be far more compelling.

Bournemouth

How about the Cherries? They finished sixth in the Premier League last season. The club’s best finish ever, allowing Bournemouth to make its European debut this season. As long as he stays healthy, Tyler Adams will be a big part of Bournemouth’s Europa League campaign. After all, he has previous European experience from his days at RB Leipzig earlier in his career. Some may recall he scored the game-winner for Leipzig in the 2020 Champions League quarterfinals. Bournemouth visits Real Sociedad on Thursday to begin Europa League play, with additional games against Milan, Celta Vigo, and others.

Celtic

With the USMNT duo of Auston Trusty and Cameron Carter-Vickers at center-back, Celtic blew a huge lead in the Champions League play-off round to George Bello and LASK. That banished the Scottish side to Europa League rather than playing in Champions League. Nevertheless, Trust and Carter-Vickers will have a chance to lead Celtic to success in Europa League, which is a potential silver lining to their Champions League failure. For Celtic, the campaign begins with Hungarian side Ferencvaros on Thursday, with matches against the likes of Benfica, Celta Vigo, Besiktas, and Marseille to follow, as the Scottish side will face some tough challenges during the league phase.

Crystal Palace

English side Crystal Palace should have been in Europa League last year but were bumped down to Conference League. But after winning the Conference League trophy, there was nothing that could keep Chris Richards and the Eagles out of Europa League this season. It hasn’t been the best start to the Premier League season for Richards or Palace thus far. But they will be an interesting side to watch. Richards will also get a chance to anchor the Palace back line against some quality teams. Zavier Gozo may also see some action if Palace rotates its squad during the Thursday-Sunday turnaround. The Europa League opener is Thursday against Polish side Lech Poznan, with games against Lyon, Besiktas, Hoffenheim, Real Sociedad, and Sparta Prague also on what looks like a difficult European schedule for the Eagles.

Juventus

Juventus is another team that’s more accustomed to playing in Champions League. But a disappointing sixth-place finish in Serie A last season put them in Europa League instead. Weston McKennie, despite intermittent usage because of a minor injury during the early part of the Serie A season, will certainly be used during the European campaign. The Italian side begins Europa League against NEC on Thursday, followed by games with Celta Vigo, Rennes, and Real Sociedad, among others, during the league phase.

Lyon

Tanner Tessmann of Lyon is another player who should not be overlooked during the next World Cup cycle despite being excluded from the 2026 roster. Similar to Celtic, Lyon stumbled in the Champions League play-off, forcing the French side to settle for Europa League. Playing time has been limited for Tessmann thus far in Ligue 1, but the extra European games should allow him to see more of the field. Lyon’s league phase begins on Wednesday against Anderlecht. The highlights of their Europa League schedule also include Crystal Palace, Hoffenheim, Real Sociedad, and Bayer Leverkusen.

Marseille

Not only is Tim Weah playing for Marseille in Europa League this season, but he’s leading the way as the squad’s captain. Serving as the captain of a team in a European competition is new territory for a USMNT player, so there should be a lot of eyes on Weah and Marseille. The French club will visit Besiktas on Thursday to begin the Europa League campaign. Weah and company will also face Olympiacos, Bayer Leverkusen, Celta Vigo, Celtic, and Anderlecht during a challenging league phase.

Rennes

One final American to keep tabs on during Europa League will be Bryan Reynolds of Rennes. Still just 25, he has seven USMNT caps on his resume and is in his first season with the French club after spending the last few seasons in Belgium with Westerlo. Reynolds has struggled to get on the field this season, but if he can get an opportunity during Europa League, it’ll help his chances of getting back into the mix with the national team. The campaign begins with Sturm Graz on Wednesday, with games against Juventus, Olympiacos, and Dinamo Zagreb also on the schedule.

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