Nottingham Forest's 30-year wait ends with Europa League opener at Real Betis

SEVILLA, Spain (AP) — Nottingham Forest returns to European competition after three decades with a trip to Spain to face Real Betis in its Europa League opener Wednesday.

The Premier League team reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, the predecessor of the current second-tier competition, in the 1995-96 season and hasn't been back.

Forest is still looking for its first victory under new coach Ange Postecoglou after two losses and a draw since the former Tottenham manager took over from the fired Nuno Espírito Santo.

Postecoglou was fired by Tottenham in June despite winning the Europa League for Spurs' first trophy in 17 years after a season in which they endured their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 17th.

Forest is in the Europa League instead of Crystal Palace, the English FA Cup winner which was demoted by UEFA in a complex case relating to owners having stakes in multiple clubs. Crystal Palace will play the third-tier Conference League.

Among the other games Wednesday, Roma kicks off its campaign at Nice, Bundesliga’s Freiburg hosts Swiss champion Basel, Feyenoord travels to Braga, Celtic meets Red Star in Belgrade and PAOK plays Maccabi Tel-Aviv at home.

The remaining nine games are scheduled for Thursday.

The Europa League uses the same 36-team league format as the Champions League. Teams play eight different opponents during the league phase and are ranked in a single-standings table.

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