Having qualified for the Europa League 'proper', Hammers will soon find out who they are likely to face in the group stages. There will definitely be some familiar faces when the games begin, but first several potential rivals have to 'duke'it out in order to reach the group stages.
Strangely enough, as a result of the changed rules for the new season and the establishment of the lower tier Conference Cup, teams that drop out of the Champions league qualifiers now have to play qualifiers to see if they can qualify, it that makes any sense.
The upshot of all this is that West Ham could face, in no particular order, Manuel Pellegrini's Real Betis, Felipe Anderson's Lazio, Dimitri Payet's Marseille, Eintrecht Frankfurt and FA Cup final heart breaker Steven Gerrard's Rangers. That's the bad guys dealt with, Hammers also may have to face Slavia Prague, the team ungraciously called West Ham's feeder team, due to them selling Vlad the impaler Coufal and Tomas Soucek to the Irons.
Pay back time? -Ed
