Hammers seeded top in first European round

West Ham have been seeded top of 104 teams in the Europa League first round.

In the first qualifying round teams are divided into teams based on their 2015  UEFA club coefficients and then drawn into two legged home and away ties.

The club coefficient rankings are determined by the results of clubs in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League over the previous five seasons, as well as by the coefficient of the clubs’ association. The club coefficient is the sum of the points earned by the club over the five seasons plus 20% of the club’s association coefficient.

With no experience in Europe over the past five years, West Ham’s coefficient score of 16.078 is purely down to other Premier League club’s success in Europa and Champions league. England is ranked second in the country coefficient rankings behind Spain.

Second ranked team is Moldovan team FC Sheriff Tiraspol with a score of  14.500 with third ranking going to Norwegian team Rosenborg Ballklub with a coefficient of 11.875.